eco balls (merged)

Volcano

There are several types: The 'refillable' ones (assuming the 'filling' is a type of detergent) may work slightly. The ones that contain nothing are no better than throwing a couple of tennis balls in with your laundry.....

Many people don't realise that you never need as much washing powder as the manufacturers say, and for many lightly soiled washing loads you can get away with no detergent at all!

Washing powder is great for fragrancing your clothes and for heavy soiling/lightly bleaching whites.

Tumble dryer balls are similarly useless......

culpepper

i got mine a couple of years ago.I use them when we have to water the garden in the hot weather as then I can save the washing machine water to use. They are great for ordinary everyday washes but I still use powder for the very dirty things.I got mine from Nigels Eco store on the web.

lexa34

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=953791

Hello,

I need the green experienced laundry people's experience you as well as the old style people to help me with my poll over on that board to get a picture of what people's experience is with the eco/ laundry/ washing balls great debate.

Please go tick/click a box if you have useful experience!

Many thanks in advance.

Jellicat

I have heard good and bad things about them, has anyone tried them and how were they?

Joyful

I have used them for the last 12 years. I found that grass stains etc needed the stain stick and sometimes more but for general washing they are great. You will find for a few washes that you still get soap out of the clothes. That shows how much the fabric gets clogged up with washing powder.

Dreaming_debtfree_dreams

I've heard whites can get dingy quite quickly with ecoballs, have you found this to be the case?

belfastgirl23

And I'd like to know how are they for um..whiffy stuff? I work out hard

Sure hope someone comes along with some answers here, you're building up quite a list of questions...

Purple_Sparkles

I've use them now and again, I prefer soapnuts.

But in answer to the questions so far

Whites can get a bit dingy compared to commercial products as these have bleaching agents in them. I dry my whites outside in the sunshine whenever possible and this does help to improve the whiteness, failing that I have occasionally used Ecover washing bleach.

Whiffy Clothes - I've never had a problem even with gym kits

I think it's just a case of getting used to using them. I would in all honesty say they are good for general washing. Very dirty clothing needs something else. I generally use a 40 degree cycle (my washer won't go lower other than cold) when using Ecoballs or soapnuts.

I hope that helps.

Joyful

I agree with above although a great thing about them is colour does not fade in clothes. If I have bad stains I use Oxy which is also great to keep whites white. If you are worried about water usage you do not need to rinse the clothes.

madtrekker

They're fine on clothes that aren't stained etc., and just need washing because they've been worn if you know what I mean!
However, our new washing machines uses very little water and the Ecoballs don't seem as effective - probably because it's swishing around in water that activates the crystals in them.
I've switched to soapnuts now.