Becareful in regards to Sears detergents.

11 years ago

I just received my order today. I purchased one of the advanced formula powders, two of the powders with fabric softener, and two of the perfume and dye free liquids. All of them literally stink. They all smell like burnt or cheap plastic/latex. The odor is strong and is tranferring to the laundry, which I have to rewash. In fact, the load of towels I have in now I will have to rinse and rinse and rewash again. Opened the door and they still stink.

I'm going to take a trip to the closest Sears and try to exchange for some that doesn't stink or get my money back. I just figured I would give you guys a heads up because I know some of you use this brand too.

I don't know what they did to their detergent, but no one is going to want to buy it if it all smells this bad.

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Comments (11)

fordtech
11 years ago
I hope you arent having an issue with your machines.
fpmom
11 years ago
Try Charlies Soap!
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This is an interesting convo going on here. I am a tried and true powder person. I have tried liquids over the years w/o a whole lot of success. Not sure if it's our water softener or what. I just recently purchased my first box of Persil and I am loving it so far. I wanted to give it a try before my new washer came so I would know if it was the detergent or the machine. With every other variable the same, the Persil is doing a better job for me than Sears, Charlies or homemade did. I haven't used Tide in years do to the scent. All of my clothes have been coming out soft, I don't use softener. They look, feel and smell clean and it's the first time I could ever say "blinding white". Now I will grant you that some of those whites are brand new, so the jury is out on how long they will stay that way. I've never had luck w/whites no matter what I do. I've boil washed, warm washed, different detergents etc. I truly believe that some issues are related to water quality. I also think the water difference are why different individuals love different detergents. When, and if I start having issues w/Persil, I may look into the Tide Totalcare and take another stab at a liquid. Thanks everyone for sharing your input.
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First I take issue with P&G having scents on everything. Not true at all. I have been using the Tide Free/Sensitive Skin for years now and there's no scent there and no itching. Even the stench version has no itching for me anymore, and even a cousin and another friend with psoriasis have no troubles with Tide anymore, one did with the stench version but not with the "free"; My sister who is also sensitive has no trouble with Tide, though both she and I did have big troubles with Tide 20 years ago. And I'm finding I'm a lot more sensitive to more detergents as I get older so that suggests to me that Tide has improved and not me becoming less sensitive. Consumer reports? Line a birdcage with it. That's all they're good for in my opinion. I've found that detergents perform differently for different people and their particular needs. Generally speaking, enzyme detergents clean far better than non-enzyme. Virtually all P&G products have enzymes. Wisk has enzymes. Ultra Plus Sears has them as well as the Great Value powder (or at least used to) as do some other brands. But there's more to getting clean clothes. Using your machine properly, using the proper temperature, water conditions, pretreating and other variables all make a difference. One brand will work well for one person and work poorly for another. Sometimes, expectations play a big roll. (To me, Persil at $1-$2 per load is expected to wash, dry, fold, hang, put away the clothes and dress me while it's at it.) I will say that since switching to Tide (which cost me about 1ÃÂ¢ per load or less) now called Free & Gentle, I don't use anywhere near the additives I used to use with more expensive detergents. Sun required a lot of additives, Great Value some, Arm & Hammer quite a bit, etc. I use the gauge that clothes should not smell days after washing or right after washing for that matter. When they smell is when you should wash them IMO.
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I did watch that video, and It was interesting. I do have a problem with his statement that "No one should be using more than a tablespoon of detergent to wash a load of clothes." To make a general statement like that is incorrect. Everyone does not have the same water conditions. I also wonder, (and this is just my cynic mind working here), since his "cleaner" is a citrus based cleaner, wouldn't the "brown stuff" shown in the window, with the suds, just be a reaction of the citrus with the detergent? They did not show what it looked like on the second run through. However, it did get me to thinking. I do have a bucket of Sears advanced formula ultra plus with fabric softner it my laundry room that I use from time to time. A sears scoop is 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup. At this measurement, it does do a great job in my Kenmore HE3. So, If sears is only a quarter cup, then why wouldn't tide be any different? When I was younger and watched my mother do laundry, and she always used tide and had a toploader, she would only use a 1/2 cup back then (this was in the 70's). I said to her once "the box says to use 1 cup." to which she stated "you can always use less then what they say. They just want you to buy more." We did have well water then that went through a whole house water softner. Today, I have city water to my house. It not hard, nor is it soft. It's medium. However, if you think about what he said in that " the majority of use are just washing out body oil and perfume from our clothes, unless your a farmer or something...." that does make sense. Which brings me to my next point that has been debated here over and over again Given that most of us are just washing out the body oil and perfume from our clothes, then why would regular, non HE powder, in reduced amount, work as well? I know that HE detergent has "more dirt suspension and dye trasfer inhibators, but since the small water amount in the bottom of the drum, and lets say you use 1/4 cup of reg. detergent instead of the 1/2 cup recommended, do the same trick? I'm only rising these questions, as I too, will overdose from time to time, using what is recommended. And, i'm trying to re-teach myself.
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Tide HE is the only other powder form sold readily in most stores. The biggest box you can find of it is usually sold at Target, which does 63 loads if you measure by their scoop. There is also 7th Generation and other natural deteregents in powder form that can be found at stores. Then you have the internet where you can purchase a whole multitude of powder detergents for HE machines. Word of warning....the multipurpose powder manufactured by ALL is made for use in HE machines too, but it is terrible stuff. If you got the Tide HE powder, use no more than a 1/4 cup on a large soiled load, and only a tablespoon on average loads. In fact, you may want to rethink your views of liquid vs. powder all together. I will explain why. I was just goofing off surfing the web and checking things out. Came upon a website where people were disscussing washer problems; odors, mold, and total malfunctions of machines. Interestingly enough, most of the people were using powder detergents which had built up in machines and had actually eaten away aluminum parts in there machines. I got curious and did further research and came upon two videos. One was a man whose Kenmore's front loader aluminum spider assembly had pitted and broken from detergent. Another was of a ex repair tech who had developed a special cleaner for washers and he said no more than a table spoon of any detergent should be used to wash the average load of laundry. I also read another blog by a tech who said that powder detergents can actually shorten the life of a washer as they deteriorate parts faster. He only suggests liquids be used. Needless to say all of this info got me wondering, so I am currently doing a test on a variety of detergents here at home using an old aluminum baking pan I have. I'll let you all know the results.
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Cavimum
11 years ago
Does the bad odor come from the bottle and box of detergent, or just the laundry and washer?
dadoes
11 years ago
I bought a box of Sears detergent (orange/green box) a couple months ago, first time trying it. I was surprised to find it has no perfumed scent. It's a mostly-neutral, slightly chemical/plastic scent as HappyMom describes, although I don't find that to be a specific problem. The clothes don't pick it up. They either smell like "nothing" or pick up the scent of softener when I use it.
jdenyer232
11 years ago
I bought a bottle of their liquid detergent at their store and when I went to use it, it was as thin as water, apparently someone dumped out the detergent and filled it back up with water. Sears wouldn't take it back, claiming I could have done it to get free detergent. Oh well my shopping dollars now go elsewhere.
housefairy
11 years ago
As Fordtech commented I hope its not your machine. The only thing I purchase from Sears is their powdered detergent in the orange box. I haven't noticed what you describe and I have been using it for years. I have actually thought about trying the Kirkland brand just so I don't have to make a special trip just for the Sears detergent.
NoobtoLaundry
11 years ago
@ jdenyer232 I'd file a chargeback with my credit card company over that..
renee_b
11 years ago
HappyMom, I'm glad you posted this and it wasn't just me. A couple of months ago I purchased a box of the powdered detergent with Oxy and a small bottle of the regular liquid detergent. When I opened up the box it had a very strong smell of plastic and when I checked the liquid it had the same plasticky smell and it was very thin! I don't know what happened. I've been using Sears detergent for many years and never had this smell. Always had a clean lemony smell. I had to transfer the powder to another box to get rid of the smell. The plastic lining could be the culprit.
fordtech
11 years ago
Maybe it is manufactured in China now? I have purchased some tires made in China that the rubber reeked so badly from outgassing it could take your breath away. Maybe some plastics have a similar super strong outgassing odor like that.
Cavimum
11 years ago
I bought a box of the Sears Ultra Free/Clear powder today and opened it immediately because of what I read in this topic. It smells exactly like my 2-year old box of the same detergent and says "Made in U.S.A." on the outside of the box.

As soon as I have a full load of laundry in the next day or two, I'll use the powder from the new box. If it smells normal, I won't report back. (i.e., no news is good news)
fordtech
11 years ago
Glad to hear it is the same to you. I purchased 6 big boxes a year or two ago and still have a couple to consume and dont want to have to switch brands if I dont have to.

Becareful in regards to Sears detergents.

Comments (11)

fordtech

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