Hard water ruining laundry?

emily_jackson

When I wash my clothes, the dark/coloured ones are left with light red marks on them, which I suspect are due to hard water? I've tried tablets, but they don't make any difference

SpikyHedgehog

That sounds weird, I live in hard water land and have had some dodgy old washing machines in the past but not had red stains appearing on the washing.

Does your machine need a good clean? Every so often, I put a little bit of bleach in each of the powder/softener compartments of the drawer and put through a boil pre-wash and main wash (on mini load though ) or get the drawer out and soak in a bucket of bleachy hot water and scrub out the drawer.

(Really, if you do the bleach in the compartments, only use a little bit. Unless you want to mop the floor, which can get the floor nice and clean but is annoying when you have to mop quickly to stop the spread of bleach water...)

emily_jackson

I think it is to do with the water hardness, but I might try putting some bleach in the machine, as it's not digesting the laundry powder, even though the drawer's clean. I have to put it straight in the drum

janb5

How old is your machine? I have always had hard water but never experienced the marks that you mention. Have you cleaned the filter? Has the rubber seal in the door perished?

heuchera

I live in a hard water area and have never had light red marks on coloured washing!

I wonder if it could be like the pinky-red stuff that appears on bathroom tiles and grouting sometimes, when the bathroom's not had enough ventilation? That wouldn't explain why it only occurs on dark-coloured washing though :think:

Linda32

I have had this, (hard water area too) I do not have an answer, I assumed OH hadbrushed up against something rusty.

Living_proof

I have had this once with one batch of washing powder, but the streaks and spots were yellow. I complained to the manufacturer which I think was Proctor and Gamble and they advised me to run a boil wash but sent me a voucher for a replacement product. I did run the boil wash once but have never done so since, and that was years ago and I have never encountered the same problem. I was then living in a very soft water area and now live in a very hard one, so I think it is probably the powder.

emily_jackson

janb5 wrote: »

How old is your machine? I have always had hard water but never experienced the marks that you mention. Have you cleaned the filter? Has the rubber seal in the door perished?

The machine's only about 6 years old, and the rubber seal's okay. I might try cleaning the filter

jk0

I suppose a water softener's out of the question? I love mine, and have installed them in all my rentals also.

nursemaggie

Vinegar in your rinsing water is the answer. Just put the same amount as you would softener in the last rinse. It gets rid of all lime scale.

There are several problems you can get in your washing machine. They are mostly the result of washing with low temperatures. You can get mold on your pipes. The best thing for that is a washing powder that contains bleach, so not the ones for colours. Every few months run the was empty of clothes but with a biological washing powder on you hottest wash.

Use the vinegar in your final rinse. That also kills germs and prevents limescale. You need white vinegar the cheapest you can get. Vinegar is also good for cleaning the limescale from your kettle.

You need to clean your filter out at least once a month. You also need to check the rubber seal regularly and wash that out with vinegar and bicarb. I use and old cloth and throw it away after use.

Once I got on this regime I had no more bother and as a bonus it cured my son's eczema as it cleans out all residues of soap powder.

emily_jackson

jk0 wrote: »

I suppose a water softener's out of the question? I love mine, and have installed them in all my rentals also.

Can you actually install a water softener in the machine? Also, how do I know which cycle a boil wash is? Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll buy some white vinegar today