Has anyone tried Ecoballs?

partner

I got these about 3 months ago. I would agree with other users that darks are fine but stains on tablecloths, tea towels did not come out. I will use them up but won't replace them. I also missed my washing smelling clean.

onlyroz

I used to use them, but I'm not convinced that they're any different to just washing in plain warm water without detergent. What I do now is to do a regular wash but use less detergent - because you don't need to use anything like as much as the detergent manufacturer would have you believe.

Ben84

McKneff wrote: »

I did try them a few years ago, but my whites were getting greyer and greyer. So I stopped but I did go on using them for darker/coloured items with no problems.

Greying is caused when dirt is dissolved in the water and redeposits evenly on the fabrics. Like any soluble material, the water can only hold so much of it. Imagine a steadily dissolving stain, once the water is saturated the stain continues to dissolve, but after this point previously dissolved material is coming out of solution elsewhere and settling back on your clothes again. Washing powders contain various things that enhance the ability of the water to hold dirt, allowing more dirt to be dumped down the drain when the machine empties. Rinses after the main wash do not help redeposited dirt much, because the dirt isn't waiting to be washed away, it's stuck in the fabric again, so rinses are just too quick and too cold to dissolve it again like the main wash did.

saygoodbyetothese

Thank you for all the advice and opinions I think I'll stick with detergent for now, or maybe take a look at getting hold of some sodium carbonate.

Like someone mentioned earlier, I don't really understand how they're supposed to work, and after reading Ben Goldacre's Bad Science I have a healthy skepticism towards these things!

toontron

I got some free, tried them but they were useless for our needs.