To those of you who have been using these "home made" detergents, are you experiencing any odor, mold or mildew issues? The reason I ask is because castile soap builds up into a gooopy, gel-like gunk if not properly rinsed. This could potentially cause problems in washers. Every home-made product I've tried - from detergent to fabric softener - has proven unsatisfactory. Either the products don't clean well, they risk building up in my machine or on my clothes or they just don't work. Price is not the only consideration, which is what appears to be driving this homemade laundry movement.

Sodium citrate/citric acid (same thing) is in practically every liquid detergent I've researched. Yet I know that precipitates and hard water did NOT cause my towels to feel stiff and harsh. I got this stiff result after ONE wash (so, no "buildup" possible) with a liquid detergent (Kirkland Free & Clear) that by itself, or with hard water minerals, feels soft even when not rinsed out of the fabric. 1) I used exactly the same detergent and the same hard water in my TL; towels came out soft. 2) My experiments have proven that hard water alone, or hard water plus liquid detergents, even when completely left in the fabric and allowed to dry, do not leave the fabric feeling stiff Now, powder detergent (Gain, Clout) and cleaning agents (OxiClean, borax) not rinsed out DO leave fabrics feeling stiff. But this was not what caused my towels to be stiff. Fabrics with liquid detergent residue not rinsed out all feel soft. (Woolite, which contains a lot of soap, also feels slightly, well, soapy. NOT stiff or scratchy, though.) After rinsing though, SOME liquids leave fabrics feeling softer than others. The ones that leave fabrics feeling softer contain "fabric conditioners." "Fabric conditioner" is another name for "fabric softener." These work by leaving a residue behind -- a soft-feeling residue.

In an "HE" clothes washer (e.g. a frontloader or a Calypso), it's important to use a low-sudsing detergent for optimum cleaning results. Excessive amounts of suds can hamper the wash action (by cushioning the clothes as they fall), and in extreme cases can even be harmful to the machine itself (by overflowing the drum and getting into mechanical and electronic parts). Many laundry detergents today carry the actual "HE" label, or are otherwise indicated for use with frontload washers. Depending on one's local water hardness and degree of soiling in the washload, it's often possible to use carefully measured amounts of "regular" laundry detergents as well. The most important factor is generally that the formulation be reasonably low-sudsing. To determine the sudsing level of a given detergent, here's a sample test procedure... -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- [Originally posted in the Appliances Forum by Rich (spambdamn_rich), on 28 January 2002 in the "(AKA) Best Laundry Detergent Part 4" thread - many thanks, Rich!]: Here's a simple test one can do before putting a detergent of unknown sudsing potential into their front loader. It may help avoid a "suds lock" or other messy disaster. It will also give you an objective and scientific way of comparing various detergents for their suitability for front loader washing: 1) Get a nice glass or clear plastic jar with a tight fitting lid. A clean pickle jar does nicely for me. 2) Add a set amount of the detergent sample to the jar. I suggest maybe 1/4 teaspoon. Fill jar no more than 1/2 full with 1 or 2 cups of hot tap water - the hottest your tap will produce. 3) Put lid on jar and tighten. Shake jar for about 10 seconds vigorously. Set on counter and measure the suds level, in inches. 4) Do the same thing with HE detergents and "unknown" regular detergents. Use the sudsing level of the HE detergent as the benchmark. If you get too much sudsing with the HE detergent, you may have to reduce the amount added in step #2. In this case you may need to do a 2-step dilution: add a set amount (like 1/4 teaspoon) to a cup of water. Mix, and then add a set amount of that solution to the pickle jar with the hot water (maybe 1 oz. of the diluted detergent to the hot water in the shaking jar). 5) Keep a record of your results. It's very easy to forget which did what a week, month, or for me, even minutes later. 6) Be consistent! 7) This method should eliminate guesswork, and the variability of your water hardness and water heater temperature. If you also have data on the hardness of your tap water, that would be helpful to others you want to share your data with. Otherwise, listing your results with a known HE detergent, like Tide or Sears HE powder, will help calibrate your system and interpret your results. 8) Have fun! P.S. I used a system like that about a year ago to check out Cheer powder. I rejected it as being way too sudsy for use in a front loader. I also rejected Ariel and Foca detergents for similar reasons. ----- I re-ran some of my tests, albeit with different equipment. Here is a summary of results. Technique: 1 cup of 140F tap water, about 5 grains hardness, in a 24 oz. clean Gray Poupon jar, with 1/4 tsp of various powdered detergents. Here they are with suds level and notes: Detergent...........Suds Level ---------------------------------------- Sears HE............1 inch suds Sears HE:STPP 2:1...1/2 inch Tide HE.............3 inches, quickly subsiding to 1 All HE..............2 inches Ariel...............4+ inches (to top of jar) Foca................4+ inches (to top of jar and beyond) Cheer...............4+ inches (top of jar with force) Deluxe..............4+ inches Supreme.............1 and 1/2 inches (notes: The Deluxe detergent is a highly phosphated custom detergent sold by a local chemical warehouse. The Supreme detergent is a phosphated low sudsing detergent sold by a local Cash & Carry restaurant supply house. Its recommended amount is 1 oz. per 10 lb. load in front loaders) Based on these results, I'm going to try using the Supreme phosphated product in the Neptune. Since its recommended amount for a 10 lb. load in a front loader is only 1 oz., 1/2 the amount recommended for Sears HE, it should have comparable sudsing characteristics plus the benefit of phosphates. I would not recommend Cheer, Ariel, Foca, or the Deluxe products for use in front loaders. Although the All HE is relatively low sudsing, the recommended amount is 1/4 cup, and I noticed that even at that amount, the wash water was not slippery and the cleaning results were poor. Your results may vary. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- --Tom. [first added to Appliances FAQ: 5 October 2002] [moved to Laundry Room FAQ: 28 December 2004] [last edited: 28 December 2004]

@Mitch, thanks for the info! Yes, I think you *need* to order them to give them another try. Or if you want I would be happy to send you some so you can test them out! Do you still like the German or UK persil powders? I tried the German liquid/gel and the scent was too strong for me (I like very mild scents), so wondering about persil powder, but I think I recall Larsi saying that the german persil has changed in recent years and is no longer so great? @Mama, I recall the Ph of Tide liquid being lower than powder detergents....for a while I used Tide liquid F&C and was pretty happy with how it cleaned. Hmm, laundry has become quite complicated--ph, water temp, water hardness, presence of enzymes, rinses, cycle time, soak, brighter, bleaches, liquid vs. powder... OH MY!