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Thread Number: 83981
/ Tag: Detergents and Additives
Commercial laundry detergent |
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| Post# 1083258 7/31/2020 at 12:30 (1,357 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver) | ||
Well, I ended up spending entirely too much money on laundry detergent, but that’s what happens when A: you buy the real commercial stuff by the bucket full, and B: you can’t decide on liquid or powder, so you get one of each...
What I got myself was Liquid Laundersol, 5 gallons, and HTD heavy duty powder, 25 lbs. Has anyone else here used either of these? | ||
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Post# 1083262 , Reply# 1 7/31/2020 at 13:07 (1,357 days old) by Mrsalvo  (New Braunfels Texas) |
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Curious where did you buy it? What is the brand? Could you take a picture of it? Barry | ||
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Post# 1083271 , Reply# 2 7/31/2020 at 14:18 (1,357 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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As have stated numerous times commercial/industrial laundries often have different priorities than domestic. This shows up in many areas but one main is in type of products used.
Commercial places still on average rely upon rather strong chemicals, and high pH (or acidic) to get achieve results. You can still easily find products with say lye today just as you could back in 1800's or 1900's. HTD "heavy duty" powder is a base detergent that relies upon TSP and other chemcials (likely a good dose of washing soda) to shift dirt. With a pH in solution of 11, it is rather powerful on that score. worldwidejanitor.com/detergents-... Over years a few members have purchased HTD powder detergent. www.automaticwasher.org/c... IMHO stuff isn't that much different than using Arm & Hammer powder detergent of old. Tried a box once and after one wash never used the stuff again. Left towels and other things hard and scratchy. This was of course thanks to heavy amount of washing soda which since Arm & Hammer is famous for shouldn't have surprised. Didn't know about using vinegar in final rinse then, but now understand why commercial laundries use "sour" rinses. You need an acid to neutralize alkaline substances from wash, and remove traces of same while making things feel less harsh so won't irritate skin. Laundersol also contains phosphates (if am reading product website correctly), but having a lower pH should be less harsh. worldwidejanitor.com/detergents-... | ||
| Post# 1083331 , Reply# 3 7/31/2020 at 21:59 (1,357 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver) | ||
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Interesting about the HTD leaving things scratchy, so would putting vinegar in the FS dispenser work?
I got the powder expecting it to be on the harsh side, and I guess I had the gut feeling something would be needed to completely rinse it out other than water, and now I know! I want to see how it does on things like shop towels and very dirty clothes. Know that I know what to do to make sure nothing is left behind from it I might try it on some whites. I figured the Laundersol would be more of the regular clothes detergent. | ||
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Post# 1083334 , Reply# 4 7/31/2020 at 22:14 (1,357 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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| Post# 1083339 , Reply# 5 7/31/2020 at 22:36 (1,357 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver) | ||
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Assuming I’m following the 1/4 or 1/2 cup instructions...
How much vinegar should I add? I’m eventually going to buy some laundry sour, I found some by the gallon jug on Amazon for not too much, but we’re still going to wait for the next paycheck, as this stuff wasn’t inexpensive! And I’d be very disappointed with the powder had you not told me about needing the acidic rinse. Thank you!
And I shouldn’t need To worry about that with the liquid? | ||
| Post# 1083406 , Reply# 6 8/1/2020 at 12:37 (1,356 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver) | ||
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Further research and thinking has me saying I think I’ll use vinegar as the sour rinse, all the commercial sour rinses I see are just acidic fabric softeners. I don’t really want any residues or scents left in the laundry, as they tent to either irritate me, or my eczema. I’m really after that scentless, spotless, soft, fluffy hotel towel experience. Sometimes you smell this sort of faint scent, and I’m wondering if it’s the light sent off vinegar, or some similar acid.
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Post# 1083457 , Reply# 7 8/1/2020 at 19:02 (1,356 days old) by imperial70 (MA USA) |
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septic system Where fabric softener is not safe in a septic system I was wondering if Laundry sour is safe for a septic system. | ||
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Post# 1083462 , Reply# 8 8/1/2020 at 19:53 (1,356 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Doubt many here would be using various powerful acids found in laundry sours at nearly levels to harm septic system. That is unless doing huge amounts of laundry per day, and copious amounts of chemicals. Still if concerned I'd run things by clean out service guy to be sure.
www.paradisevalleyseptic.... There are all sorts of laundry sours for commercial/industrial use; some are also softeners, others aren't. Personally would stick to distilled white vinegar for domestic use for host of reasons. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laundry_so.... Many of these laundry sours are potent and concentrated. They are designed like most commercial/industrial laundry products for dosing in machines starting at 50lbs upwards to over 200lbs. Unless dosage information is given with product, and or even if it is, you're going to have to do sums to scale dosage down to a washer that holds only 11 lbs to 18 lbs. Also keep in mind industrial/commercial washing machines are designed and built to withstand repeated use of commonly used harsh products. Unlike domestic washers most industrial don't have pumps; thus final rinse water that remains highly or even moderately acidic (from using too much sour) sitting for several hours or days isn't going to harm anything. OTOH many commercial/industrial products state clearly on package "not for use in homestyle washing machines" or words to that effect for a reason. Then you have fact cellulose fibers such as cotton and linen are harmed by exposure to strong or even moderate acids. The latter is more susceptible, but both can be damaged in long run with repeated use, or just one rinse where pH is too high. Ideally sour dosage will correspond to remaining alkaline pH level of textiles by final rinse so the two will cancel each other out. This results in a neutral pH by end of cycle. In theory rinsing thoroughly and long enough will bring down pH on its own since water is normally in neutral pH range. If moderate to near neutral products were used in laundering, souring as part of rinsing isn't always required. This is one reason why you've seen commercial laundries move away from brute force of strong chemicals, to more milder liquid products where possible. Not having to use a sour rinse saves not just on chemical costs, but water, time, etc..... | ||
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Post# 1083467 , Reply# 9 8/1/2020 at 20:47 (1,356 days old) by DADoES (TX, U.S. of A.) |
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| Post# 1083514 , Reply# 10 8/2/2020 at 01:31 (1,356 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver) | ||
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My goal in adding the vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser was a couple things. I know I keep hearing ‘final rinse’ but I don’t really want the vinegar in the final rinse, I want it in the first (and only unless extra rinse is selected) where there will be another full, agitate, and spray rinse. Both to completely rinse the acid from the clothes and from the machine. The vinegar not only seems the safer thing to use. How much would you recommend I use? 1/2 cup as most of the recommendations I see say?
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| Post# 1083515 , Reply# 11 8/2/2020 at 02:06 (1,356 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver) | ||
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Post# 1083524 , Reply# 12 8/2/2020 at 03:25 (1,356 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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"And the other question I have, do I need to be using the vinegar with the liquid too? "
No, you don't. It won't hurt anything, but neither is required nor necessary. Main purpose of laundry sour rinse is to bring textiles back down to a neutral pH after being laundered with highly alkaline substances. Most liquid detergents rely more upon heavy use of surfactants, solvents, and enzymes (maybe), to shift dirt and stains rather than blasting them with base chemicals. | ||
| Post# 1084111 , Reply# 13 8/6/2020 at 11:57 (1,351 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver) | ||
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Well the detergents have arrived! I’ve so far just tried the powder. It’s pretty potent stuff, and when I realized I was using too little, I realized this stuff is pretty sudsy too. I just went ahead and used vinegar in the rinse from the beginning, I decided it beat to just take your word on it, and the laundry all came out excellent! Spotless, scentless, and very soft.
Tonight on the way hone from work, I’m stopping and picking up a dispensing pump for the bucket of Laundersol, as I can’t think of another good way of going about that, and we’ll see how that does too! | ||
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Post# 1084148 , Reply# 14 8/6/2020 at 18:38 (1,351 days old) by Launderess (Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage) |
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Yes, you'll need a dispenser pump for those huge containers of liquid laundry products. That is how commercial or industrial laundries (main target customer) dispense these things unless they use automatic dosing systems.
Commercial/industrial laundry products tend to be potent. Dosing just several ounces for fifty pounds of wash gives you an idea how powerful things often are. In their native environment this is a plus, OTOH for domestic use you'll have to work out how to scale things down to a washer with capacity of 11 or 20 pounds. | ||
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Post# 1084171 , Reply# 15 8/7/2020 at 01:22 (1,351 days old) by abcomatic (Bradford, Illinois) |
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I still like Bubble Bandit for the laundry and for the dishwasher. | ||
| Post# 1084268 , Reply# 16 8/7/2020 at 17:59 (1,350 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver) | ||
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| Post# 1114013 , Reply# 17 4/7/2021 at 20:30 (1,107 days old) by Ultralux88 (Denver) | ||
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Well finally...
I’ve emptied both buckets of detergent! Before I ran out completely I reordered only one bucket. Like I said at the beginning, I expected to like the powder more, but I had decided to get both just because they were the two phosphate filled ones offered, might as well sample the whole buffet since it’s so small and such... And am I glad I did! While the powder did well, and met my expectations, I was really hoping to have my expectations raised to the next level... Although I did discover how magical a vinegar rinse is for laundry, it all comes out super soft but without that slippery feeling fabric softener gives.
I finally gave up on myself a few months in and just poured the Laundersol into a measuring cup carefully because I just HAD to try it and I was taking too long to order the pump dispenser thing (think huge hand soap bottle thing) and ran a cup in a super plus load of my shirts... Well, I was a bit blown away finally! Everything came out completely clean, even some tougher spots, and there was no smell at all. Once dried it was even still the softest I’ve felt yet. I discovered that I couldn’t get the balance of just enough to get things clean, but not enough to make it come out sticky, but gave up deciding the hard water just wasn’t cooperative and decided keeping with the vinegar in the FS dispenser was the best, along with just making sure I used plenty of detergent, for getting everything clean and soft. The Liquid Laundersol cleaned much better, using less of it at a time. So I am going to keep using this as long as I am able to get it. | ||
| Post# 1114057 , Reply# 18 4/8/2021 at 16:45 (1,106 days old) by panasonicvac (Northern Utah) | ||
I'm looking into trying out some Ultra Tide Professional detergent and see if I like it any better than the residential ones.
www.amazon.com/Tide-Profe... | ||
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