Anyone ever have STINK with soft water?

[tarahsolazy]

We never had stink in Oregon, where we had average hardness water. Since moving, we have VERY soft water, we have a water softener, because the water here is evidently too hard without it.

Since moving, we have stinky hemp. Now, a couple of my OC fitteds have a touch as well!

I think I'll spend all weekend doing hot rinses in my front-loader, but I'm gonna try Juliet's trick of adding an extra gallon of hot water as well.

I thought stink would be worse with hard water...

[mudder17]

Well, it depends. With super soft water (as in a water softener), it's very easy to use too much detergent, so buildup can occur very easily. I think extra hot water may actually help. Especially with a front loader, that doesn't use a whole lot of water. HOWEVER, you could also try using less detergent and see what happens. With my parent's front loader with a water softener where they were using HE detergent, even if I added just enough of the liquid detergent to cover the bottom of the dispenser, it was suds city! I sometimes had to do 2 extra hot cycles to get rid of all the detergent.


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
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[bcky2]

we have very soft water too and holy stinky hemp. i am in the process of trying different ideas posted here about stink. if you find the perfect remedy please let me know :)

[pritchettzoo]

Yes. I still can't decide whether we have hard or soft water...

Anyway, with soft water, you need less soap. So if you're using too much detergent, it may not be getting rinsed out (especially with a front loader).

One thing I read about frontloaders is to try using the wrinkle free or delicate cycle because it uses more water than cotton/sturdy cycles. And I would add a couple of gallons to the rinse cycle. You can just pour it straight in the detergent slot.

Can you tell I've been researching this WAY too much? :)

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03)
and a BOY! (coming July '05)

[holliam]

I have too much free time and have spent too much time researching this.

I don't think it's entirely due to water hardness. I think it's one of the factors, and like people said if you are using too much detergent, your front loader may not be successfully rinsing it all.

Did you dramatically reduce the amount of detergent when moving to the new water? If not, I bet that's what's happening.

I also think front loaders are more susceptible because they do not use as much water so it's harder to rinse detergent.

Finally, are you sure your water softener is working properly? Maybe it's something as silly as that!

We have VERY soft water and literally a teeny drop of detergent is all we need. It takes forever to wash soap off our hands in the bathroom, very little shampoo is necessary for suds, etc.

Holli

[pritchettzoo]

I hope you won't have the free time for long! :)

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03)
and a BOY! (coming July '05)