Detergent Free laundry Ecoballs

kitekat

Hi you get 100 washes per ball,soap powder clings to your clothes and doesnt wash out hence why we get all these alergies.I watched a demo on tv once where the presenter rinsed out dry towels in plain water and the amount of washing powder that came out was unbelieveable,no such probs with washballs and you can add a few drops of essential oils to the wash for fragrance.

kitekat

Forgot to say the washballs on spirit of nature are not refillable,hence why they are cheap ive tried these but wasnt impressed.The ones i have are called aqua balls and are refillable.You get 2 filled washballs,2 bags of wash pellets and a stain remover stick.I bought them from 21st centuary web addy https://www.aquaball.com.

Volcano

All these gadgets exploit 2 facts:

1) For general washing, you don't really need washing powder

2) For heavy soiling, you don't need as much washing powder as you would think.

Balls that contain no detergents (such as eco balls) don't really do anything apart from maybe increasing the 'agitation' the clothes receive.

Balls that contain detergent (such as aqua balls) just release it at a far lower concentration than you would normally use, but this is adequate for most uses.

We are conditioned into using commercial powders because they use detergents that help remove oily stains, BUT also use optical brighteners and fragrance to give the illusion that your clothes are cleaner.

From a purely environmental point: using less washing powder, however you do it, is a good thing. Just remember that not all balls are the same!

Me, I use conventional powder but use a tiny fraction of what's 'recommended'.

marklefty

We used Eco balls some years ago and they are great for normal washing, the only problem we had was socks that were dirty (from walking out in the garden with no shoes etc) didn't get realy clean. I did here of someone using eco bleach for this and having some success.
I would use them personally but she who must be obeyed over ruled me!

spookycat_2

I use eco balls and they're not just there to pound the washing, but state they produce ionised oxygen designed to lift the dirt from your clothes. I've heard conflicting views of this science though.
The more important point though is that they are chemical free and ideal for families washing for babies and children. I use a couple of drops of essential oil for scent if ever needed and for stain removal the best I've ever found came with the eco-balls from natural collection, and this dealt with a bf babies washable nappies! nuff said I think.

Volcano

but state

The clue is in the 2 words above.

they produce ionised oxygen

No they don't, that is complete tripe.

Manufacturers are quite happy to trot out terms like "ionised oxygen" to a clueless public if it sounds all scientific, but more importantly shifts units.

They are certainly a good thing if it encourages people to use less powder, but you don't really need to spend £30+ to get the modern equivalent of bashing your clothes against a rock down by the river.

SusanCarter

I thought about these a while back. Someone mentioned somewhere in one of the threads that they had bought some magnetic ball which was meant to do a similar thing. When he lent it to his daughter he stuck a tennis ball in and found it worked just as well. I put a few stones in one of those bags for laundry tablets and tried it with a token amount of Ecover. The only thing it hasn't worked on is the mud stains in my husbands work clothes (he's a gardener) but nothing seems to work on them anyway. If I think anything is particularly dirty, I just rub some soap on or presoak but probably no more than I did before. I didn't really expect it to work but amazingly it does.

mrs_baggins

gavsmillie wrote:

This months Grand Designs has featured ecoballs which is claimed can be used up to a 1000 times instead of normal laundry detergents. They cost £34.95 from https://www.ecotopia.co.uk, which if is true would save you a small fortune long term.

Before I dip into this product though has anybody else bought these yet and do they say what the it says on the packet ?



Rgds,

I read a loads of threads on another site and decided to give them a whirl. I read all thre bumf about how they are supposed to work but science and physics was never my strong point so dont know if its correct or not! I used them for the first time yesterday and the clothes appeared clean. They werenot really dirty as it was just general grime but it all appeared to come off. will keep an eye on them and see what happens over the next few washes- especially when there is something really murky

joflo_2

In line with ethical and money saving. I have been looking into these for various reasons. http://www.ecoballsdirect.co.uk/

I use my washing machine every day so I get through a £3.80 bottle of eco friendly liquid about once a month. So I am guessing that I will save over the 1000 washes, plus using less electric etc etc.

Anyway does anyone use these, or know anyone that does, as I am a bit nervous to spend £30 in one go.

Thanks..

mvteng

They didnt work for us.

A very 'green' friend recommended them, but I doubt they did anything much & we stopped using them after a week or so.