Hi Matt,
We're a Tide Liquid family all the way. And, as I've been known to get a bit of food on the front of my shirt, my wife always uses Shout first. She sprays it on, waits a minute or two, then adds it to the wash. My shirts come out clean every time. Hope this helps,
kcred

Hi Matt,

I have the Nexxt 500 plus w/d and use the Sears Ultra Stain Fighting detergent as well. Even though the HE recommendations should include FLs, HE TL use double the amount of water. Therefore, I just use 1/2 a scoop of the detergent for full loads of lightly soiled clothes. I do pretreat stains with Shout, Spray'n'Wash and/or an Oxiclean paste (made out of Oxiclean and hot water). I don't have any problems with the cleaning results and the rinsing performance, so I feel that 1/2 a scoop is enough. I have added Oxiclean to the wash cycle, but it works better when you pretreat the stain directly with it. My white towels get white without it and I just add it to some seriously soiled loads now.

Hope this helps.

I use Sears Ultra Stain Fighting detergent too. I am the queen of getting food on the front of my shirt :) I just pretreat the spots with Shout. I only use a 1/2 scoop of detergent. I find that is plenty for my washer! I do put a scoop of oxygen cleaner in most loads-- just because I miss a lot of stains that my kids get into! I also had to do that when I used Tide. I find that the Sears works as well as the Tide for my family!

I highly recommend Bi-O-Kleen Premium Plus powder, it is only about $12 for a 54-load 5 lb. box and it cleans better than Tide HE. It's also green/natural, rinses exceptionally well, and you use so little and get tremendous results. Bi-O-Kleen also discloses its ingredients on the box, which is important to me because if I don't see a list of ingredients I get suspicious.

I've tested Tide HE, Cheer HE, Persil, Country Save, All Small & Mighty (whatever), Wisk HE, Tide Coldwater, blah blah. I love my Bi-O-Kleen. Not only does it clean better than any of the above, you only use 1 TBS and it comes in a smart little package that consumes less paper products and costs far less in fuel to ship.

It's important for me to reduce my impact on the earth wherever possible, and for the longest time I couldn't find a green product that would deliver acceptable results with my laundry until now.

We have the LG WM2688.
We currently use Tide HE liquid. We use about half of the recommended amount. There is some discussion about being too sudsy. We are going to try the Sears Ultra Plus w/ Fabric Softener powder 275 loads.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/s_10153_12605_Appliances_Washers+%26+Dryers_Detergents+%26+Cleansers

And add some OxiClean (not for silk or wool) from Sams's Club.

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?catg=535&item=339129

I also highly recommend Bi-O-Kleen Premium Plus powder. It seems to be the only one that rinses clean in my front loader...cleans well also!

To those using Bi-0-Kleen Premium powder: I had problems of oversudsing with their liquid. Is their powder lower-sudsing?
DianeKy

i live under a rock.where do i get bi-o-kleen?

try drugstore.com or amazon.com

I currently use ECOS by Earth Friendly Products (ecos.com). I get it at Costco and if you have an HE machine you can get about 200+ loads out of it for about $12.00. It's a natural product and I've noticed a big difference in the feel of our clothes. My husband has also stopped coughing at night. I suspect it is because the detergent doesn't contain the harsh chemicals he used to breathe in all night. I also used the Bi-O-Kleen and was very happy with that. The ECOS is just easier to get (I had to order the Bi-O-Kleen) and more economical.

ebear1271-

Is hte ECOS you use a liquid?

I use All Free Clear liquid. All makes an HE product also, but I've used the "regular" liquid for years, both in TLs and my FL. I have an allergic family member, so no perfumes is an important feature for me.

All Free Clear is formulated for allergic folks and has always been a very low sudsing product, even in the old TL (low sudsing = easier to rinse out).

I've tried the Sears Ultra Liquid free and clear product, which works fine, but gives me suds (not necessarily oversudsing, but suds). The same amount of All gives me no suds, maybe a few bubbles.

I have an older FridGEmore and I'm using about 2 Tablespoons per load. I pretreat stains with Zout or Shout (or whatever I have).

The ultimate food oil stain remover for stubborn stains is --- Dawn dishwashing liquid. Just squirt a small amount on the stain, work it in so the stain is wet (use as little as possible). Let it sit for awhile. I usually wait at least a half hour, often more. Then wash. This will take out food oil stains that have been through the washer AND the dryer. I use this as my "backup" stain treatment. A load of clothes with several items treated this way would probably be very sudsy --- not what you are looking for.

CMC

Hi,

I've found that whatever detergent I'm using, it makes a huge difference to add some OxyClean powder to the wash along with it. I used to have a problem with "mystery spots" showing up on my t shirts, and the OxyClean has stopped that and removed all the spots.

Also, I have a flannel duvet cover which was getting grayish and grungy looking. I can't use regular bleach with it, but after one wash with the oxyclean, it was almost all back to clean again.

Having said that, I did a check of Consumer Reports, and they rated liquid Gain HE and Tide HE as the best. I have been using the Gain for about 3 months now, and it seems to be doing an excellent job.

Oh, I have a FL washer, if that makes a difference.

DianeKY, I see absolutely no suds with the Bi-O-Kleen Premium Plus powder while I do see some sudsing during the rinse cycle with Tide HE. I am on a whole-house softener and use an Asko washer. I know you have been having some sudsing/rinsing issues, and you may have better luck with the Bi-O-Kleen since it uses only 1 TBS and contains nothing that should cause excessive sudsing.

mwkbear, I would suggest trying Ecover non-chlorine bleach powder. You can find it on drugstore.com or on kokogm.com. It is a 100% formulation of the active ingredient in OxyClean -- sodium percarbonate -- whereas OxyClean is only 50-60% active ingredient. You get more for your money with the Ecover product.

LetÂs see,

Ecover $3.99 / (14 oz = 14oz percarbonate) = $ .28 ½ ( per oz )
at http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=160709&catid=47514

Oxiclean $11.87 / (11 lbs = 176 oz @ 50% percarbonate = 88 oz of percarbonate ) = $ .13 ½ ( per oz )

Sam's Club link below

Here is a link that might be useful: Sam's Club in-store OxiClean 11 lbs $11.87

I now use Sun Oxygen cleaner-- I find it works better for me than OxyClean. It takes less per load (the scoop is smaller). I buy it at Dollar General at $5 for 6 lbs. Our local grocery store is HyVee and their store brand is also made by the same manufacturer as Sun. It works just as well at a cheaper cost than the actual OxyClean brand.

regus_patoff, that is definitely a good deal. A 30lb. pail of sodium percarbonate can be purchased directly at www.thechemistrystore.com for $70.70, which comes to about $.15 per oz. I was comparing prices to similarly sized packages of Oxiclean.

It doesn't make sense to me why you would use twice as much of a certain product, therefore buying a package twice as large and putting twice the burden on our environment and raw materials, just to save some money. For every scoop of OxiClean I use, half of that scoop is filler material which unnecessarily ends up on my clothing and in the environment. It also weighs twice as much, therefore costs twice as much in fossil fuels to ship and uses double the amount of paper for packaging.

For me, Ecover is the smarter way to go.

Most of the remaining percentage of OxiClean is sodium carbonate (soda ash):

"Domestically it is used as a water softener during laundry. It competes with the ions magnesium and calcium in hard water and prevents them from bonding with the detergent being used. Without using washing soda, additional detergent is needed to soak up the magnesium and calcium ions. Called Washing Soda or Sal Soda[2] in the detergent section of stores, it effectively removes oil, grease, and alcohol stains. Sodium carbonate is also used as a descaling agent in boilers such as found in coffee pots, espresso machines, etc."

Here is a link that might be useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda_ash

I have been using SA8 Bioquest which was rated number one by CR. An 1/8 cup for front loaders and 1/4 cup for top loaders. Excellent cleaning and guarantees to rinse clear. I use along with the Tri-zyme (like oxi-clean and their all fabric bleach. Very economical also.

I also used Persil, which is also very good, but if you have sensitive skin, SA8 is better.

Hello Everyone.
sshrivastava, I am interested in the Bio-Kleen Premium Powder. Where do I buy this.

Thank You

Ray

Dear All,

I found BioKleen powder (I like powder over liquid) for $12.00 for 54 loads and picked up 2 and the cashier gave me a coupon to for that purchase. They also had 7th generation but two ladies stocking shelves told me they liked BioKleen better than 7th Generation. I'll try that this weekend when I do laundry.

I'm excited to see how this works and if it will clean better than the Sears detergent. Also, it says right on the box, only use 1T for large loads and I guess 1/2 for smaller loads.

Has anyone used the 7th Generation products? Oh, I picked up my BioKleen powder at my local all natural/organic food store. Most cities have these types of stores and also BioKleen's site has a listing of vendors by state/city.

Matt
Spfld, IL.

Matt,
I found many markets that carried BioKleen laundry powder but not the premium laundry powder (with enzymes) that Shri recommends.

Shri, right after I ordered mine I thought you posted a problem with bi-o-kleen causing some kind of odor/mustiness with your machine. So I have been reluctant to use it. What happened with that problem you were experiencing?

I am new to front load washing. In fact, for the last 20 years I have washed my clothes being blissfully ignorant of all this information. Now I wonder if my old clothes were ever clean ;).

I have been trying every combination to see if I can get better cleaning results and softer clothes, all to no avail. I have now used bio-kleen premium powder, charlie's soap, vinegar as a rinse agent, ecover non-chlorine bleach and calgon water softener in the laundry.
The clothes have been through several loads, I have done the charlie's soap approach of running a load to clean out my machine. I haven't seen tons of suds from my clothing and bedding that had been used in my previous top loader in which I never once ran an extra rinse cycle and used Cheer and Tide (free and clear).
After all this though nothing seems to give me like newsoft towels or clothes and I don't notice that my clothes seem or smell cleaner, except maybe for the bottom of white socks.

I think my husband is convinced from the looks of our laundry room and watching me load the machine that you need to be a chemist in order to operate our new front loader!

I must be lucky because I got the powder that Shri is using. I'm just excited about dirtying up clothes to try it. Perhaps I should go out and shovel all the snow in my yard...LOL.

Matt
Spfld, IL.

Bi-O-Kleen Premium Plus powder can be found at most of the higher end grocery stores like Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, etc. You can also find it at www.drugstore.com.

I did have a bout of mustiness after starting to use the Bi-O-Kleen, but realized that it had to do with my laundering methods. I would leave laundry in the sealed washer for a few hours before getting around to putting it into the dryer, and this was just enough time to allow the clothes to get musty. Living in Arizona, indoor temps are usually 75-85 all year, which makes for a bad combination when leaving wet laundry in a sealed wash tub.

The reason I noticed this after using Bi-O-Kleen is because it doesn't contain any perfumes to mask other odors. After rinsing, there is no residual scent in the wash unlike Tide HE or the commercial brands, which cover up any musty odors with perfume.

I now unload the washer as soon as it's done, or within an hour, and I have no issues. I've run several high temp empty loads with Cascade just to make sure there was nothing in the drum, and examining the drain water showed no evidence of mold or mildew. In hindsight, it was a false alarm.

I use the Sears HE powder with OxiClean built in. I find that is does a great job and gets most stains out without any pretreating. You might want to try that version of the Sears detergent.

For others who are looking for the premium powder: Our Whole Foods and Wild Oats(soon to be whole foods) only carry the regular bio-kleen powder, so I"d call first if making a special trip.

Shri, thanks for the update.

Whole Foods in the Denver/Boulder areas have the bio-kleen premium plus and it's only $8.99 for the 5lb box. Works great in our F&P Aquasmart.