soaking vs dry pailing

[sweetas]

pros and cons?

I started off soaking - and quickly got fed up with handling sloppy wet stinky nappies, so swapped to dry pailing ... it was a no-brainer for me.

In the dry pail, I had a net to put the nappies in, I put 5 drops of tea-tree in the base of the bucket, and put the nappy soak in the washing machine.

Nappies came out white and clean - and no problem with sorting out stinky slops!

I've just switched to dry pailing as an experiment. I now rinse the nappies thoroughly under the tap before pailing and they seem to come out just as clean as before. They don't smell in the pail and they are much easier to get to the washing machine. Somehow seems less gross too

Will watch with interest to see how others have got on

I started wet pailing and it was a total PITA. Dry pailing is much easier and neater. I just had a net in the bucket and slung all the nappies in the machine straight from the bucket, no draining, no drips, minimal mess. I just did a prewash before a main wash at 60. The sun got rid of any stains. Smell no better or worse either way. The water is supposed to be changed every day if you wet pail and is just an extra job you don't need to do. HTH.

Do you need to soak? I just put mine in an airtight bin until the wash and they've always come up fine. I woudl imagine soaking to be very messy - getting the nappies from the pail into the machine I mean...? And also I imagine soaking to be a bit yukky, resulting in a sort of pooey sewage-soup-in-a-bucket! But as I say, I've never done it, so I wouldn't really know.

Maybe I'm a bit of a sloven, but I don't even pre-rinse or pre-wash or anything. I literally put the pooey nappies in the bin (in a net) and when it's full I hoof the whole lot (in the net) into the machine, wash at 60, normal washing powder, that's it. No stains, nothing. In hot weather the bin does smell a bit when opened but it's airtight so only a problem for 2 minutes.

Am interested to know why other people do pre-wash etc. Do you find it's necessary to get the nappies clean? Is it to do with the kind of nappy you use?

I rinse because a. I don't like the idea of pooy nappies in the bucket and b. I don't have an air tight bin, just a bucket with a lid, and I found they smelt a bit too much. Just do what suits you I say

I dry pail too.

I can't bear the thought of the rancid water left in the bucket afterwards.

They don;t smell to bad, and if it does smell abit like a hamster cage, a bit of te tree oil does wonders.

Oh, and I rinse pooey nappies. (not a nice job, esp if you get splash back!)

I soaked to start with - nasty water, splashing and just general urgh.

Now dry pail and sooo much easier!!

I'm the same as MissGolightly. I use a flushable paper liner to catch most of the poo, but the nappy gets slung straight into the nappy bin. Use net and tea tree oil too.

i've tried both and dry pailing is far superior.

soaking is nasty and messy and not a fun thing to have to sort through every day and the reslts are worse not better

Soaked with bicarb at first thn forgot one day and never bothered since, dry pail (keep saying I ought to buy some teatree but not got round to it) I rinse off poo from liners but thats it. Sling the net in the machine, 1/3 scoop powder, no nappysan or anything and they don't smell or stain.

Dry pail no net, lidded bucket with tea tree oil round rim, wash with pre-wash

I always pre-washed and never questioned it . I think I like the idea of a quick rinse through to get any yucky bits I may have missed or that didn't flush off before a proper wash.

Have started dry pailing with no net - I do have a net, but don't know why it would be better to use it - is it just so you don't have to touch the nappies when loading them into the washing machine? I use rubber gloves for that bit.

exactly for that Lio, so you can just grab the bag and dump it in!

i put all hard poo down the toilet, but dont flush the rest off, to much effort!! lol and i dry pail with a couple of drops of either lavender or tea tree oil on a bit of fleece. havea net so just grab it out, shove in the machine and go! i do do a pre-wash on nappies tho, just to get most the yucky stuff off, and dilute the urine before the proper wash starts!

Dry pailing is infinitely easier, I find. And my latest revelation (after a mere 27 months of cloth nappies lol!) is to use 'wet bags' rather than a bucket, like this TotsBots one

You can hang them up out of reach of small fingers. They are really easy to unload into the washing machine (and of course you just bung them in there with the nappies, so you never have to wash/wipe out a manky bucket); And they're also really handy for days out.

dry pail - reusable wipe with a few drops of lavendar or tea tree oil.

i dry pail after hoofing what can down the loo but generally thats not much as were still quite 'sticky', all chucked in a net and stuck in washer in one go - sometimes i do a prewash with no powder if theres alot of rancid ones in there - no nasty wiffs as i run a bit of tea tree oil round rim - my frend tapes cotton buds to roof of her bin dipped in tea tree oil which i intend doing but cant find my tape!!

dry pailer here! all the way.

i once tried soaking and added some php nappy soak, as per instructions. what a disaster. when i opened the bucket it smelled like perming lotion and had reacted in some way and gave my rainbow bots lovely lilac couloured stains. the smell was awful and the poop was sort of, half dissolved and slimy! eeewwww!

i am never doing that again needless to say.
i find no problem with drypailing. if they are particularly nasty i put them on a rinse first, thats all thats needed.

Definate dry pail convert here!

Used to soak in cotton bottom stuff or php or tea tree oil...but still smelt bad and emptying wasn't pleasant even with a net...then ds knocked over a particularly nasty bucketful one day and euurrgghh enough said! Friend introduced me to dry pailing and have used it since, smells same/less and less hassle so why bother soaking. Never had a problem with stains using either method.

Definate dry pail convert here!

Used to soak in cotton bottom stuff or php or tea tree oil...but still smelt bad and emptying wasn't pleasant even with a net...then ds knocked over a particularly nasty bucketful one day and euurrgghh enough said! Friend introduced me to dry pailing and have used it since, smells same/less and less hassle so why bother soaking. Never had a problem with stains using either method.

I like the idea of a wet bag. Flamesparrow has them too!

I think I may need two. One for at home and one for when I'm out. I wonder if I can find a smaller one for my changing bag...?