I've had to give up on Ecover laundry products, and I feel guilty

[sushistar]

My washing machiene was really skanky and smelling. I use cloth nappies, it NEEDS to get clean - otherwise poo smell hangs around in there! I loved Ecover at first, have used it for 2 years, but have finally givven up on eco solutions to the stink (tried vinegar, borax, bicarb, several extra hot empty washes, etc etc).

Now have a big box of ariel. I know I am murdering little fishies in the atlantic who are now drinking it. I feel crap.

We used Ecover with cloth nappies and it was fine: nappies with nappy liners (so the poo goes down the loo with the soiled liners), but the wet liners & all nappies into nappy buckets where they were soaked with Nappyfresh. Then we washed them at 60 degrees with Ecover laundry liquid and hung them out to dry on the line. No problems!

I don't think it was the cloth nappies that made it smell - the skankyness started before ds was born! I think Ecover just didn't clean very well. I have mouldy black marks all round the door seal, and grey gunge in the crevaces, and a nasty smell. I was just aware that washing pooey nappies in a machiene with gunge and limescale in it would mean the poo was more likely to stick around more, iyswim.

The ariel has cleaned the machiene like a dream, and got rid of the smell.

I am comforting myself with the hope that using ariel is better for the environment than getting a whole new washing machine...

Ecover made my washing machine all gunky. Soap nuts are crap too. Most of my whites have permanent stains now.

I am a bit sad. Ariel is soooo perfumed and has little electric blue granules in it

But damn it WORKS. I wish it didn't but it does.

Yes, environmentally friendly products are crap really, aren't they

can't say I blame you.
I stopped usuing ecover when I realised my clothes were not getting clean.

to hell with those little fish

Lazarou I use EVERYTHING eco friendly - washing up liquid, toilet cleaner, shampoo, soap - all eco brands.

All except the ariel, lurking under the sink, shaming my eco-credentials and tarnishing my halo!!

I like the capsules best, and the nice smelling fabric softener.

FABRIC SOFTENER?!?!?!

Goodness, that would RUIN my washable nappies!

Tarka, I could try that - does your machiene stay clean?

Oh, I don't use cloth nappies! Well, I used to but ds had really sore skin, so I had to go back to disposables.

There's a new servicing kit from Glo for washing machines called Service It.

Worked really well to get fusty smell out of our washing machine.

or adding a scoop or two of washing soda crystals to your nappy wash.

I tried a washing machine cleaning product - forget what it was called, got it in sainsburies. Smell dissapeared for a week, then came back

is your washing machine in need of a service?

the pipes, perhaps?

maybe it's actually the machine rather than the nappies.

if you want to go back to ecover there are things you can do to lessen a smelly washing machine.

after each use wipe round the door and door seal to dry it. leave the door slightly open.

wash the drawer and slot where you put the drawer once a week to get rid of any build up. even better dont use the drawer, and put powder straight into the drum.

once a week if needed, monthly if not, run a hot wash with a tiny amount of bio powder. this helps breakdown any gunk. not great i know for enviroment. the other option is lots of vinegar. or soda crystals.

we cant use ecover unfortunatly as dd's are allergic to it. i did try many different ones.

I had a similar problem with ecover and I use cloth nappies too (not that I thought they caused the problem). On washing machine engineers advice I bought a cheapo box of biological powder and did an empty hot wash with that once a month at most (the first time I cleaned the whole machine out, rim, filter etc first). It worked and the odd run like that every 1-2 months keeps the smell at bay. It also helps to keep the door ajar between washes (unless you have a DD with inquisitive stickle bricks like me )

Avoid liquid stuff at all costs esp those awful gel tablets as they leave a deposit in the machine.

Maybe I've got lower standards than everybody else - but we've been using Ecover for several years - and with cloth nappies for two children - and both they and our washing maching seem to have survivied fine and we've never had to 'de-gunk' it. The thing we did give up on was Ecoballs (little green plastic balls containing pellets that are supposed to clean by ionising - or something); Ecover's a dream compared to them!

Oh no overthehill my standards are very low - maybe thats how the gunk gets in there in the first place....nothing gets washed unless it crawls off into the machine of it's own accord

Also abandoned Ecover for laundry, although I use it for other things. It just doesn't get clothes clean - and I'm not talking about wanting frangranced clothes, just clean ones that don't smell of old sweat, etc. And really bad for nappies, I found. So now I'm on Tesco non-bio liquid and the clothes are clean!

Having said that, I do find that my washing machine starts to smell a bit every so often anyway - so I run a very hot cycle with a couple of cups of soda crystals and no clothes, and that helps for a bit. Will also try the biological powder tip. I thought that powders generally didn't work as well, left deposits on your clothes, etc? Not v well informed about these things, I think.

Have you tried any of the other eco washing things? Things smell a bit musty for us with Ecover, and DH thinks it makes his eczema worse, so we use either Bio-D or Clearspring (which if you get it in the big 5l things is also much cheaper). Clearspring works well for us. I do find that I need to put a bit of vanish on really horrible stains before washing if they're going to come out though.
I hate Ariel, I can't stand the smell!

I use eco balls and my machine is fine, clothes clean etc.

Now my loo on the other hand...if someone can cure my loo for me I would love them forever. I've been a bicarb and vinegar girl for ages but the past few weeks it has started to smell