Thread Number: 64178
/ Tag: Modern Automatic Washers
One long or 2 shorter washes? |
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Post# 867611 , Reply# 1   2/17/2016 at 16:04 (2,962 days old) by whirlykenmore78 (Prior Lake MN (GMT-0500 CDT.))   |   | |
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Post# 867627 , Reply# 2   2/17/2016 at 17:36 (2,962 days old) by appnut (TX)   |   | |
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Post# 867643 , Reply# 3   2/17/2016 at 17:57 (2,962 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)   |   | |
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It has been shown, known, researched, documented, reported, proven, etc.... that for most whites and or badly soiled clothing two washes even if short give better results than one long wash.
For this reason commercial laundries most always run "flush" cycles or a pre-wash or soak before the main wash or series of same. Until recently at least European front loaders the default "Normal" cycle came with a pre-wash. Rationale for use of a short wash or soak before the main is based upon several factors. The ability of soap or detergents to suspend soils is finite. Thus washing in "dirty" water can lead to dull, dingy and grey whites or colors because dirt eventually will resettle during long cycles. Washing or soaking in cool, lukewarm or even warm water first removes certain stains and soils such as perspiration and protein before they are set by a hot water wash. More so today with modern enzyme laundry products that function best within certain temperature ranges. Before the advent of modern domestic washing machines whites and colorfast laundry was routinely presoaked or at least washed before the main event. This continued even when early semi-automatic washers such as wringers or spinners came along. For those familiar with using conventional (wringer) washers you know the drill, lightly soiled things went first then came progressively dirtier items. The idea was you started with cleaner items because they would leave less much for the successive loads. Even adding more soap or detergent again cannot compensate for really mucky water. In past and perhaps still now commercial laundries achieve a higher standard result because they use several changes of water. Depending upon what is being washed a normal cycle can have two, three or more washes followed by an equal or more rinses. Yet overall total cycle times aren't very long. It is a very luxurious way of doing the washing with all those changes of water, but the results often speak for themselves. Have noticed my whites are much brighter if I pre-soak or pre-wash the load before main wash in any machine, this includes the Miele or OKO/AEG Lavamat. The way round pre-soaking or washing is to group laundry together by soil levels. That is lightly stained or soiled things washed by themselves with heavy/dirty items in another load. For instance I no longer wash the socks I wear round house indoors with "whites" routinely. Either do them by hand/other methods, or resort to a pre-wash if they are included in main load. This all may be more important since phosphates have been largely removed from laundry products. As we all know not one single chemical or substance invented since does the work of phosphates alone when it comes to soil suspension and anti-redeposit. If you are noticing your whites (especially tighty-whites, t-shirts and other undergarments) are taking on a tattle-tale grey hue despite good laundering practices, you might want to consider soil redeposit as the culprit. This post was last edited 02/17/2016 at 22:13 |
Post# 867653 , Reply# 4   2/17/2016 at 18:48 (2,962 days old) by esty (New Jersey)   |   | |
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How much detergent do you put into the prewash, and then to the main wash in a standard top loader? Thank you! |
Post# 868090 , Reply# 7   2/20/2016 at 22:34 (2,958 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage)   |   | |
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Using lines or whatever from American laundry detergents. For powders dose by teaspoons or using my various Miele measuring cups. Liquids are doses using the Ariel Excel gel combination cap/dosing device.
American detergents never used to rely upon caps or whatever, but gave dosage in instructions in Imperial measure going from one quarter (or less) to one cup or more. Even where detergents of old such as Fresh Start stated to use "two cap full" they also stated that came to 1/4 cup of product. |