Local columnist Lisa Turner is a manufacturing engineer, contractor and former home inspector. Read her past articles in: www.HouseKeysByLisaTurner.com. Email: Lisa@Lisaturner.com.
When was the last time you actually looked at directions for an appliance? First of all, the instructions are often the first things to get thrown out with the box, and if we keep the instructions, then we have to get out a magnifying glass to read what’s there. Second, we usually forget what they told us shortly after putting whatever it is we bought into service. Most of our appliances are intuitively easy to use, as they should be, so it’s usually not a problem.
Take washing machines. Of course, we already know how to use a washing machine. We’ve been using them for so long, why would we need to read any instructions? Because we’re anathema to instructions, many of us are actually making our clothes dirtier every time we run them through the washer. If you get that magnifying glass out and read the part about how much detergent to put in the washer, you will be shocked. It will tell you, for a high efficiency washer, to put one tablespoon of liquid detergent in the dispenser for an six-to-eight-pound load. That’s a medium load of clothes. If it’s a big load — twelve pounds or more — use two tablespoons.
One tablespoon? Seriously? Seriously.
According to Elissa Sanci, writing in the New York Times, most of us are using enough detergent in one load to last over six loads and we’re making the clothes dirtier and scratchier than when they went in.
We have a washer and dryer at our place of business. Since we work on airplanes, we have everything from towels to work uniforms to wash. I noticed the other day that my husband’s shirt smelled heavily of Tide.
“Why does your shirt smell like Tide?” I asked.
“I just did a wash,” he replied.
“How much detergent did you use?”
“A laundry cup full.”
I shook my head. “Oh my, that’s over a half cup of detergent.”
“That’s not right?”
“No, that’s way too much and the reason your shirt is smelly and stained.”
“It said to use that on the container,” he replied.
“Of course. They want to sell more detergent.”
This is a situation where the directions on the detergent bottle are wrong. The directions tell you to use about twice what you need. If that ends up being two times one tablespoon, or two tablespoons, that’s not a problem. Where it’s a problem is when you’re pouring the cap half full which is five or more tablespoons.
Don’t have a high efficiency washer? That’s OK, use four tablespoons, which is a quarter of a cup. If you’re wondering what the difference is between HE washers and regular washers, it is the amount of water they use. HE uses much less water, so you can understand why the clothes would get “icky” with too much detergent.
If a load of your clothes turns out like the load my husband did and the shirts stand up without hangers, you can Google “best way to remove detergent build-up.”
Why not prevent it in the first place. Start with one tablespoon for HE medium loads and two tablespoons for non-HE loads. I recommend liquid detergent because it’s pre-dissolved. The pods don’t dissolve well, and can actually get stuck in parts of the dryer. With pods it is also difficult to control how much detergent gets released in small and medium loads.