Laundry sanitisers - worth it? Or just nonsense?

[ZeeR82]

Newbie here - apologies if this has been answered elsewhere.

In the last couple of years, I've noticed a new product on supermarket shelves called Laundry sanitiser which appears to hygienically eradicate germs, viruses and all sorts in your regular wash. I think they've come about since Covid and I wonder whether those big household brands are capitalising on people's fear of the virus, simply to make money.

However, before I knock it, I wanted to know if anyone has had experience of using these types of products and are they actually needed? or would my regular wash at 40C with normal detergent be sufficient? what benefits have you seen?

Our household consists of two adults, no kids, and one pet. None of us work in hospitals (or similar roles) and therefore not exposed to viruses or germs on a daily basis. However, I do pop to the gym 3-4 times a week (or at least I try!). I was thinking it would possibly be beneficial for sportswear, towels and bed linen - maybe?

Penny for your thoughts?

Complete nonsense, just run stuff like bedding and towels through at 60 and everything else at 40.

I LOVE the stuff! I ditched fabric conditioner altogether as I find it leaves a residue and replaced it with dettol laundry sanitizer. DH shirts and t shirts used to get build up on the armpits and gym kit used to have build up on it but the sanitizer is lovely. I now use it on babies clothing and it comes out lovely and soft.

Thanks all for the comments. Weighing things up, I'll give it a go on bed linen, gym kit and towels because even though I clean my washing drum regularly and ensure ventilation, I feel they could be fresher and I want to continue at 30-40C (trying to be environmentally conscious). We even have a water softener in the household.

Now, the question is which brand? Lol.

I've seen Dettol, Ariel and Persil. Even Astonish has one!

Also do you have to substitute fabric softener for sanitiser or can you do both at the same time?

I use it on my gym kit which can't be washed higher than 30°.

yes! bought in bulk from Amazon, for rinsing, after washing sportswear, Gi, which take days to dry, animal bedding, revives old dark coloured T shirts, revives older towels which become hard, often with an overload of built up soap powder.

Once they are dried, return them to the washer with a bottle of white vinegar for company, wash on 40, line dry if possible, this will force out the old residual reagent.
We used the Tesco disinfectant stuff as it is cheaper but no one could tolerate the smell.
Hot washes - occasionally! in the early evening, I will wash dishcloths, tea towels, pale hand towels white under pillowcases, whatever, with minimum powder on 90 - then at the point when the cycle pauses for half a second, as I am tuned in to it, before the machine suddenly spins, drains or takes in cold water, I switch it off.
I then leave it overnight to stew in its own juice, to switch it back on in the morning, reasoning, I spent allthatmoney heating water up to 90, it washes at that temp for 7! mins, then I’m going to let it go?! which is how my whites are white.

Vinegar secures dark dyes too, 35p a bottle from Asda or 40p Sainsbury.
Happy Washing

You need to run a very hot wash occasionally to clean the parts of the machine that you can't reach. Otherwise mould and grot can build up there and transfer some of that mustiness to your clothes.

A 40° full wash shouldn't leave washing smelly if you're also drying it thoroughly. Having said that I always wash towels at 60°at least.

#Lifeinlists, our machine has a small red light which comes on when we haven’t
run a hot wash, which we do once a month with a bottle worth of white vinegar in.

We empty the filter at the same time, take out the drawer the day before, scrub in the sink with a toothbrush and Napisan then in the dishwasher, just to be sure.

When we are away we leave the door and drawer wide open.

Once a month thats all, for sweet smelling machine and laundry

I only use it when washing pongy stuff like slippers and trainers. My adult son, who has always been quite a sweaty man despite showering, deodorant etc, recently said he was fed up with his clothes sometimes still smelling a bit musty after washing at 40 so as an experiment started washing shirts and tee shirts at 60, he said the problem was immediately solved, completely fresh after every wash now.
I wash towels, all sheets, tablecloths, cloths, at 60, I've got white sheets which are decades old and still white but I do put Vanish stain powder in with my white washes.

"I wonder whether those big household brands are capitalising on people's fear of the virus, simply to make money."

Those are my thoughts too.

Plus, washing machines are all "eco friendly" cold-feed only nowadays, minimal water so the detergent is designed to clean and disinfect your synthetic (non-boil wash) clothes at lower temperatures.

In ye olden days you did a boil wash to kill germs. Then left it out on the line all night for the frost to kill any that survived. And the absolute fail-safe was to iron them dead Can't do that with synthetic fibres and climate change.

Our very elderly neighbour told us that hanging sheets out by moonlight
bleaches them. Perhaps he meant a full moon and presumably clear sky.

Also planting radishes by moonlight makes them grow bigger. btw

😆

I started using laundry cleansers with my usual detergent because I often have a bit of bacne and find it does actually make a difference! I like the Astonish one.

You can make your own for pennies. It's just v diluted disinfectant.

Three capfuls of Dettol into an empty disinfectant bottle. Top up with water.

I add a generous slosh of it to the fabric softener draw of my machine when washing PE kits because they were still a bit whiffy after a 40 degree wash.

@SOxon my remarks were really for OP if she never heats above 40° but I didn't remember to tag her. Our machine has a similar red light but for after every 40 washes - with a stern warning to put nothing else in with it.

Anyway, while you're here - can you not set your machine to just the wash cycle and omit draining, rinsing etc whilst you soak the hot washing, without having to leap into action? I sometimes do that overnight, usually with an enzyme powder or napisan for stain removal, but at a lower temperature.

I only use it for washing cleaning cloths/bath mats/dog towels.

My tops that need to be washed at 30 can get a bit smelly if I don't use dettol laundry cleanser.

O sorry, I didn’t mean to jump in, sorry.

I will have a look in the instruction book, thanks.
There is a Soak cycle which I never used

I miss hot and cold fill
Our washer is nowhere near the sink otherwise I would run a hose from the hot tap into the washer drawer

I had a 50deg wash, used often, when 60 would be just that little bit too hot, then suddenly that option disappeared

Not a new thing although possibly a repackaged old thing - Napisan has been on the market for decades. I used to bung it in the wash in addition to normal detergent if I was washing baby nappies/ soiled bedding/ muslins etc, and baby clothes etc for the first 12 months.

If someone in my household is very ill, or I had someone old or otherwise a bit weaker immunity I’d include it, along with other increased hygiene measures.

It helps kill bugs when washing at lower temps. At higher temps you just don’t need it (eg boil washing).

For a normal healthy family I wouldn’t bother.

No, don't apologise. I see why you thought I meant you.

I agree about the 50° cycle. I used mine a lot. And the hot and cold fill. We now have a Samsung eco bubble which takes about 4plus hours to eco wash and probably bashes the life out of laundry so I don't use it. But... progress

I find it helps with my stinky teenagers t-shirts and sports clothes

I think they’re designed to deal with the fact that most people wash clothes on quite low temps these days - some eco washes as low as 20 degrees, which is significantly lower than human body temp. You’d be freezing cold sat in a bathtub of 20 degree water.

I use the Dettol sanitiser and I find my clothes always smell fresh and clean when done at these low temps, and they don’t go fusty rapidly if dried on radiators that are tepid.

My DP washes all of his clothes (at his house) on a 20 degree wash and dries on (often) cold radiators - I can smell the difference between the two households laundry.

We use Morrisons own Laundry Cleanser - much cheaper than a branded one, and just the same.

@SmashedPrawnsInAMilkyBasket Previously I have used the Dettol one but I just found one in Lidl for half the price so hopefully it does the job.

Doesn't this discolour whites though?

It hasn't discoloured mine.