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Original poster

Done my first lot of laundry with the ecoballs!

41 replies

pippah · 09/11/2006 15:39

I was inspired by the '3 loads a day' washing thread to be a bit more of an 'eco-warrior' so I went on EBay and bought some ecoballs (for £10 less than RRP) and some dryer balls.

We tried them for the first time yesterday on 30 degree wash. I am pretty impressed with the results as I was not convinced that they would work. The only stain that didn't come out was the bright orange satsuma juice from all over DS's bobdysuit, but I'm not sure that those would have come out with normal detergent. I decided not to pretreat with the stain remover to give them a proper trial, so maybe if I had, the stain would have faded a bit. Everything else (mixed coloured of mine, DHs and DSs) came out great, even at the low temp.

The dryer balls also seem to work...not need for softener in wash or dryer sheets (which I am v allergic to anyway)and fluffed up towels nicely, bedlinen also tried and came out really soft and nice. Drying time is reduced by about 1/4.

I think it will take a while to get used to the fact that there is no smell to the clothes, but otherwise I am pretty happy with my purchases. They should do me 1000 washes so 2 years worth of washing approx. I should therefore save my money back by not using powder, softener and using less energy to heat the water and less dryer time...

Hope this is not too dull, but I did have a request (sorry, I forget who from) to post when I had tried them out.

OP posts:
docket · 09/11/2006 15:57

oooh, that's good to hear. i've been tempted to get some for a while but keep thinking they won't remove stains or get things 'clean' enough. you might just have convinced me to bite the bullet...

maretta · 09/11/2006 16:14

I've never heard if them. What are they? Would they be good for childreb with excema?

Radley · 09/11/2006 16:18

I've bought some too, but, for some reason, said that they only do 90 washes

Original poster
pippah · 09/11/2006 16:43

Maretta - they are plastic balls which contain little granules which apparently react with water to produce oxygen to clean your clothes (like oxy-action but without the chemicals - I'm allergic to Oxy-action type stuff) without the need for detergents. They have a foam ring around them so they don't get damaged by in the washer.

I read loads of internet reviews before buying and I managed to get some on EBay for ~£26 incl postage - they are supposed to be £35 plus postage elsewhere on the net or in health food shops. They were these ones: ecoballs

There are cheaper ones on there but I got the ones that people had written good reviews about. I think maybe its the cheaper ones that last for fewer washes?? I got the dryer balls from the same people - look in their ebay shop.

For your dosh you get 3 of them, plus refills of the granules and a little bottle of stain remover for grease or stubborn stains. The 3 balls are said to last 750 washes without refilling and then by using the refills you can get another 250 washes out of them.

I would just say that I have not tried them on really soiled clothes yet. When my new LO arrives in ~2 weeks I will be trialling them on newborn cloth nappies, so we'll see how they stand up to that hammering! I have to say though, the stains that were left (orange juice)were not ones that I would have expected Pesil to get out anyway. They did managed to completely clean my DSs white body suit which had a poo leak on it.

The dryer balls are little spiky balls which fluff up your clothes manually, they are supposed to reduce drying time by 25% as well. They have and RRP of #£10, again a got them a bit cheaper than this on Ebay, but not much. They are made by the same company.

I would say that the Ecoballs would be excellent for people with allergies as no chemicals needed. I got them mainly for 'green' reasons, to hopefully save money and to wash my new babies clothes and nappies with as I would prefer to avoid using detergents for him if I can get these to work.

HTH!

OP posts:
PandaG · 09/11/2006 16:46

I've been using mine for about 3 months, am very happy with them. Do occasionally use ecover for a particularly stained load, but mostly the ecoballs get all marks out.

Twiglett · 09/11/2006 16:48

I have to keep a Vanish stain remover spray and remember to spray any tough looking stains but apart from that am happy with ecoballs

Original poster
pippah · 09/11/2006 16:50

Thanks for that Panda and Twiglett - its good to know that I've not wasted my dosh and they do keep on working! I will get a stain remover spray I think...

OP posts:
docket · 09/11/2006 21:04

pippah, you've inspired me and I've bought some from the ebay shop you linked to. thanks!

laundrylover · 09/11/2006 22:27

I've been thinking about getting these for ages so maybe I should take the plunge.
On a similar note I just tried Clearsprings laundry liquid and it's tons better than Ecover and probably scores higher ethically too....gets my nappies white which Ecover never really did.

Cappuccino · 09/11/2006 22:37

I use ecoballs and find that a couple of drops of tea tree in the drawer makes a difference esp with nappies and Men's Things

laundrylover · 09/11/2006 22:39

Do you still use vinegar in the softener drawer or do nappies dry softer with no detergent?

hub2dee · 09/11/2006 22:41

Has anyone tried just not adding any soap at all ? I'm sure nice hot water (40 degrees) plus the action of a spinning drum would get rid of most stuff anyway, particularly for normal adult dirty clothes IYSWIM.

colditz · 09/11/2006 22:44

But what about the gusset of your pants? And smelly things? Please can someone who uses these check for smells?

I'm not bothered about stains on clothes, but hate smells!

hatwoman · 09/11/2006 22:49

I've just been googling and browsing - can anyone find a real independent explanation of these? it seems apparent from wide sources that they work but how? (and don;t say ionised oxygen - not enough) and do they actually work better than tennis balls or, come to that, nothing?

MrsDoolittle · 09/11/2006 22:51

I have been wondering about these. I think I would definitely use these for the children clothes but what about cloth nappies?

TheHighwayCod · 09/11/2006 22:52

they wont work
i bet you a £5 you are back onto normal after 2 months

hatwoman · 09/11/2006 22:55

well I've put the question to New Scientist's Last Word column. If I get an answer I'll report back.

Pruni · 09/11/2006 22:56

Message withdrawn

TheHighwayCod · 09/11/2006 22:56

iuam cross

Pruni · 09/11/2006 22:57

Message withdrawn

TheHighwayCod · 09/11/2006 22:58

keine ahnung
need to go to bed

Pruni · 09/11/2006 23:01

Message withdrawn

TheHighwayCod · 09/11/2006 23:02

no prob

sansouci · 09/11/2006 23:03

"just conceived my first child with the ecoballs"

ah, bedtime beckons, methinks

tinshoes · 10/11/2006 07:33

I'll be interested to see the response from new scientist. I was looking at this but all the reviews on the web are anecdotal and that's not enough to convince DH.