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Anyone heard of this? A friend is asking me for my opinion on it and I don't really know anything about it. The website she showed me gives some kind of explanation that detergent cleans clothes by ionising the water and that the water is actually what cleans the clothes. They claim that their 'system' ionizes the water better than detergent so your clothes get clean with no chemicals and it's cheaper in the long run.
Sounds an awful lot like these ceramic beads I got suckered into buying (what can I say, I was like 20 and naive!!) that said the same thing. I can't say they did nothing (who really knows if they helped or not) for my clothes but I still had to use detergent and finally I just stopped using it altogether....
I'm highly suspicious of all this and have to agree with my friend that it sounds like a scam... Can anyone verify one way or another? Aavt, you've mentioned your hubby is a chemist, can you ask him if the whole 'ionized water cleaning your clothes' thing makes any sense? Intuitively it doesn't sound right to me, but then what do I know?
Karen.
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I've seen eco-balls around here that make the same basic claim, that of producing ionized oxygen, etc. They have little pellets of something inside, and you do have to replace them after a while (it would seem from the description). There's also a magno ball that says it helps to crystalize lime scale particles, i.e. softens water. It doesn't claim to eliminate the need for detegent, but reduce it dramatically. Interesting . . .
I'll try to ask the good old DH about it tonight. I did ask him about the baking soda and vinegar washing thing, and he didn't think it would work long-term with poopy diapers. I don't remember why, exactly, although I told him that someone on the board had been doing it for years (if I'm remembering correctly, not you, but whoever it was who gave you the idea to try it out), and he said he'd have to give it a little more thought. Well, it's not like he's a detergent specialist or anything, just commenting on the basic chemical reactions of it all.
And hey, I did notice the other day on my tub of oxygen cleaner that one of the two ingredients is . . . washing soda. Just thought that was interesting.
End of detergent-related ramblings, for now! |
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Thanks! Yup, the ceramic beed thing I had said it would eventually need to be replaced (though I'm pretty sure they implied it would like a matter of years before you'd need to do that, when the beads started to wear out just from being rubbed against each other). They may well have been the same eco-balls yo saw, I know mine were little plastic balls with the beads inside...
Would be nice if it was true but I'm very skeptical, look forward to hearing what your dh thinks...
Yeah, I'm thinking the vinegar/baking soda thing may end up being something you can do for a while and then need something a little stronger.... Yesterday I was getting some ammonia odors in the girls diapers when they had just peed in them and they were just on for a couple of hours so they were just a little wet... We'll see, even if I have to use something stronger every couple of weeks, that's still two weeks of using something very very enviro-friendly so I'll be happy!!
Karen.
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| Yes, the eco-ball things are plastic with little pellets or something or other inside. So I just asked the dh about this and got an explanation that involved some sketches of chemical structures, the basic look of detergent molecules, etc., but what it all boils down to is that, in his opinion, such items are total bunkum. In theory, one could affect the ionization of water (but it would require a _lot_ of stuff to be consumed each time), but even if one were able to do that, it wouldn't really clean clothes by itself (depending on the nature of the detergent, it could help slightly, but then, it could also hurt--depends on how the detergent functions). Water all by itself does do most of the cleaning, and detergents help to get off the greases (the reason dh is skeptical of the baking soda vinegar alone, because it's not truly cleaning off all the stuff that goes with feces, which are not completely water soluble). |
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Thanks a bunch! That's what I thought but wanted more official confirmation! Thank you dh a whole bunch for me!!
Does he think it might actually be unsanitary or dangerous to use just baking soda and vinegar? Or just that we'll get the stinkies eventually and need to give them a deeper clean every once in a while?
Karen. |
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| Oh, no sanitary concerns (but then, I've yet to run across a sanitary concern with him, LOL!), just doesn't think they'll be as clean as you'd want them. Urine ought to be able to be rinsed out in just water, really, and vinegar will soften the water slightly so it might get out a little more "stuff" than without it, but otherwise longer-term you'll have non-water-soluable stuff hanging out (greases that a detergent targets). From a non-chemical point of view, if it kind of works for a while, I'd try as you are, with a deeper clean periodically, and see if that's enough. Why not? |
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Thanks again! At least I know there's no real worry there, the worst that will happen is that I'll have to rewash them should they get stinky... I went back to washing soda and Simple Green for my wash yesterday, just in case, but I haven't had any odor problems today (and the diapers I was using were washed in baking soda/vinegar). I guess we'll just have to see.
Karen.
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