Detergent Free laundry Ecoballs

Fedz

I was just looking around the The Co-operative Bank's website and found a link to their Voting Page for Climate Change Campaign.

One of the charities you can vote for is called Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT).

I was pleasantly surprised to find a whole host of great green stuff to buy.

One impressive Item (I ordered) called ecoball (TM) Laundry Kit:
An environmental breakthrough in laundry cleaning! The best-selling refillable ecoballs effectively replace detergents/softeners, are hypo- allergenic and can save water and electricity by greatly reducing rinsing requirements. Over 1000 washes from each kit (kit contains 3 ecoballs, refills and stain remover)..

It's a natural product, green, saves money on washing liquid ...etc. plus your buying from a green and ethical charity / company - all good (in my view).

Anyone got, used and or any opinions on the ecoball.

Kind regards

se999

I've always wanted to visit CAT, but not had the time yet unfortunately.

Eco Balls - Not used them/ similar products, but there was this thread on Old Style about wash balls including Eco Balls. I'd thought they sounded a good idea, but the feedback didn't seem too good to me:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=751403#post751403

If you want to look into some 'alternative' cleaning ideas for laundry, try the Old Style Mega indexed thread, and go into cleaning.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=69218

lynzpower

ONe of the things Ive read on the Oldstyle board which I have tried and its thoroughly true, is that water only on a 40 degree wash will clean surprisingly well. With the movmenet of the water is the main reason.

I have done a few "lightwashes" with stuff like bedsheets, tops, tablecoth, napkins in water only with a bit of cheapie Fabric conditioner to scent it ( i guess you could use essential oils too) and they always come out perfect.

arkonite_babe

Centre For Alternative Technology is listed in the useful links sticky if anyone needs to find it at a later stage

Fedz

After reading the thread / links provided I will give it a miss and cancel the order

I was impressed with it too :rolleyes:

I'll remain with Ecover laundry liquid as it works

I'll checkout the other 'impressive' goodies

Thanks for the feedback - appreciated.

SusanCarter

I use one of those persil tablet bags with a few stones in and a small (20ml) dose of Ecover and try not to overfill the machine. (Much cheaper than buying an eco ball.) I aways washed at 40 degrees anyway to avoid shrinking clothes but it's a good idea to do an empty 90 degree wash once a month to avoid soap/mould build up.

gromituk

I never do a 90 degree wash and my machine doesn't have deposits or mould. If you must do one, at least put some clothes in it!

Biological powders contain enzymes which work well at lower temperatures. Think before you wash: reduce the temperature. Heating water is what uses the most energy in a washing machine.

SusanCarter

gromituk wrote:

I never do a 90 degree wash and my machine doesn't have deposits or mould. If you must do one, at least put some clothes in it!

I don't want to ruin my clothes. Wouldn't it use more energy then as it's be heating up the clothes too? Do you do washes higher than 40 degrees? I never did until recently and it was mainly mould build up that was the problem for me (maybe because I don't use enough soap to get a build up of that) and I read somewhere (perhaps old style board or maybe something similar on another website) that if you do a hot wash once a month it keeps it at bay. Seems to be working so far but I'd be interested to know what you are doing differently to me (although I suppose it could depend on water supply as well).

gromituk

I agree that you wouldn't just dump any clothes in there on 90 degrees - cotton whites would be OK.

The amount of energy needed to heat up the clothes will be very small compared with what's needed to heat up the water, because water has a much higher heat capacity. So the amount of water used is the critical thing. If it's a super duper clever machine which can sense how much clothing is in there, it'll obviously draw a lot less water if it detects very little. But if it's a mere mortal machine which just looks at water level, I wouldn't have thought it would make much difference - you've got some fabric displacing some of the water below the surface, but also absorbing some above the surface.

Mould might possibly be influenced by water type. Do you leave the door open when the machine isn't in use? If the mould is in the drum or on the seals, this might cure it. I'm wondering if a cold wash with something else in it (vinegar?) might sort it out. I very rarely wash above 40 degrees.

SusanCarter

I've always left it open and have recently started using vinegar as fab con which will hopefully make a difference.

1jim

SusanCarter wrote:

I've always left it open and have recently started using vinegar as fab con which will hopefully make a difference.

We have cotton nappies and normally use a non-bi tablet and wash at 60degrees, we have just started using vinegar as a fabric conditioner..... was a bit sceptical at first but its great

we normally wash clothes at 40degrees but nappies get washed at 60 as does bedding (to make sure bed mited are all killed)