Washing machines live ionger with Calgon...

[champagnesupernova]

Really?
Do they?
I live in a massively lime-scaley area - proper crusty bits on my taps etc

Read the thread recently about all the maintenace washing etc and do that often enough religiously

But don't like the idea of using whatever is in Calgon (presumably some kind of hideous chemicals like Viakal on my baby's clothes

Thoughts MNers?

Thanks

I have never used Calgon and have only owned two washine machines in our 30 years of marriage. We live in a medium area for water hardness BTW.

I have never used Calgon either. Based on current price of £8 for 30, that's £3.64 per week based on 2 loads a day, so x 52 thats a cost, just for Calgon of
£189.28 per year. After two/three years you could have bought a new washing machine for the money you've spent!

really hopes my maths is correct

We live in a very hard water area and I've never used it either. I don't think I've had an excessive amount of washing machines or had hard water related problems with them.

'Washing machines live longer with Calgon'. They would say that wouldn't they

What a maintenance wash btw?

A maintenance wash is a bit of vinegar and bio if you don't normally use it with a on old t-towel that you boil wash. There was a thread about this recently but I cant find it.

Anyone know what is in Calgon??

shoppingveggie I'm sure our new machine cost about £150, which is less than a year's supply of Calgon (my maths was about the same as yours), robbing fuckers.

is there an own brand equivalent?
Dont much fancy putting vineagr in every wone of my babys washing.

"Which" have challenged the claim used in Calgon's advertising since it appears to be unsupported by evidence.

I occasionally use white vinegar instead of conditioner. Having said that, I have no idea how much vinegar you would need to use to successfully keep in check the limescale issue.

I live in a soft water area so it is not an issue I need to grapple with.

All the supermarkets have their own brand version of Calgon. Much cheaper. I have no idea if they help though!

champagnesupernova why not? It's a very good fabric softener, cheap, doesn't smell once dry and isn't full of harsh synthetic chemicals unlike half of the cleaning things we use in our homes! And on top of that, it does the same job as Calgon!

You can do a maintenance wash with nothing but on the hottest setting.

I live in a hard water area and have never used calgon. I always suspect its a waste of money tbh.

I've never used calgon and when I asked the WM engineer who came to fix my incontinent machine last year about it he said not to bother and that soda crystals and vinegar did the same job.

My machine still does have a bit of scale, but it's more than 5 years old and we live in one of the hardest water areas in the country (also according to him). I do a maintenance wash once a month, clean out the filter and the drawer (not that I use it as powder goes in the drum, but it still gets manky) and feel that that's enough.

I don't use conditioner, but use vinegar for towels or when I think about it and use a very small amount of BioD washing powder. The clothes seem to come out clean and that's all that matters!

Our washing machine engineers said not to use Calgon as (a) it was cheaper to replace the washing machine than use the recommended amount of Calgon and (b) it didn't work anyway so there was no point. We live in a very hard water area.

I use soda crystals and use vinegar in my monthly maintenance wash, and we don't have any problems with limescale. I don't use fabric conditioner, but if I wanted something like that, I'd use white vinegar.

I live in a harwater area and do use Calgon. I think it does work but I am at the price per year that was posted above. I use a scoop of the powder rather than the tablet version and that is much cheaper. Probably buy a box at £3.60 every month or so. Have tried the cheaper supermarket own brand but after a while you could see the limescale building up on the inside of the door. It never does that with the Calgon so switched back and the limescale disappeared.

I use normal soda crystals-much much cheaper!- the amount spent on calgon in a year would be same amount for new machine. Ive they cut the price much lower id buy it

I spend about £30-40 a year max on Calgon so not really in new machine price bracket . might give soda crystals a try though. do you put a scoop in the powder drawer for each wash?

• flisspaps- does vinegar REALLY not smell once dry?

Don't want me washing to smell like a fish and chip shop!!

champagne honestly. DH would complain like buggery if he stank of a chip shop. You only use a capful or two in a normal wash, so it's very dilute (but effective!)