Very hard water folks - what do you use for powder detergent?

[defoehorses]

I tested our filtered drinking water today and it was 350+ ppm. I’ll be testing our washing water tomorrow but for this convo let’s just say our water is hard as rocks.

I’m beginning the cloth diaper journey with our 6 month old boy, and I am realizing that I am probably not using a strong enough detergent, let along it being good enough to combat the effects of hard water.

I know Tide F&C powder is discontinued, but considering powders seem to work better in hard water that is the path I would like to follow (but maybe I’ll keep a small jug of Tide F&C liquid in the laundry cabinet as a back up).

1) Does Tide F&C liquid have water softener properties like the Tide original?

2) What powders have been successful for folks with very hard water (bonus points if you also live in the southwest USA). And do those powders act as water softeners? (Trying to avoid using Calgon in any amount, but it might be awhile before we can set up a water softener for the whole house).

I prefer no fragrance (which is why I don’t want to use Tide original) for our baby but also for the whole family. We’ve been using Seventh Generation F&C liquid.

Thank youuuu, and reading through other posts on this sub have already been so helpful.

Peace, love & cute diapers

 

[anglican_john]

@defoehorses We have hard water (but never tested it to know how bad) and have successfully used the detergent that the Essembly diaper company sells. It is an unscented powder. We used to use Biz, which was lightly scented, until they stopped making it. Nothing else besides those two products have kept stinks away for us.

 

[defoehorses]

@anglican_john I did not know they had a wash powder, so thanks for sharing that!

 

[anglican_john]

*Esembly

 

[lillian2014]

@defoehorses If budget allows have you considered getting a water softener system for your house, will solve that problem but also other benefits also (great for skin, water and energy efficiency etc etc)

 

[defoehorses]

@lillian2014 Yes! It’s on our list of things to do; there is a softnener set up, but was not in use when we bought our house, and if it’s like the other appliances, it has been there a very long time and probably past its prime.

 

[lillian2014]

@defoehorses If it’s an ion exchange one they last forever with little maintenance but they do need topping up with salt to actually work. Could be an easier than expected fix?

 

[defoehorses]

@lillian2014 Thank you for that tidbit!! I will keep that in mind as we attend YouTube University tonight

 

[pope66]

@defoehorses All has a free and clear powder sold at Walmart. I have not tried it yet but I plan to as my baby is having issues with tide

 

[defoehorses]

@pope66 I was going to get that today to try! But it went out of stock at Walmart between yesterday and today. :/

 

[christian_countrygal]

@defoehorses We tried so many detergent with our extremely hard water and have just accepted the Tide powder is the only thing that works for us.

 

[defoehorses]

@christian_countrygal Do you use any additional softeners with it too? Or just the OG Tide powder?

 

[christian_countrygal]

@defoehorses Tide powder and small amount of Calgon

 

[lovefor3va]

@defoehorses I live in AZ with very very hard water. For my first child, I added 1/4 cup of borax and 1/4 cup of washing soda to each load, neither of which has added fragrance. I did use detergents with added fragrance, though (Tide or Gain), so take that into consideration.

I did the math, and for this round, I'm probably going to stick with liquid Kirkland detergent and adding slightly more borax/soda. Even with adding extra, the cost savings over Tide makes it worth it, and I never had any problems with liquid detergent when I used it in the past. Just offset with a little more of the water softener powders.

 

[defoehorses]

@lovefor3va Hello fellow Arizonian! And thanks for sharing your methods!

 

[graceadele]

@defoehorses I use Biokleen powder, but I have to add borax to every load or I’ll end up with mineral build up, I learned the hard way. Our water is just as hard as yours. I use Charlie’s brand of borax, it does not have a scent.

 

[drr1531]

@graceadele How do you know how much borax to use? I also have hard water and prefer biokleen - I think I have a minor amount of mineral build up.

 

[defoehorses]

@graceadele Ok! I guess that makes sense Charlie’s booster is a different kind of borax (I didn’t know that.. also didn’t compare ingredients yet haha). Thank you for that info!

 

[graceadele]

@defoehorses Well okay you’re right borax is just sodium tetraborate, and even the most popular or well known brand 20 Mule Team Borax does not have any scent or fragrance listed on the box. I used that until I found the Charlie’s hard water treatment but the ingredients are indeed different - Charlie’s is potassium diphosphate - I haven’t found a difference between the two yet as far as results go. But I suppose I won’t know until or if I get mineral build up again (I already had to strip once) but I didn’t know I was washing in hard water for 6+ months and got myself into a real pickle with build up. Now I use Charlie’s in every load of laundry but so far its been okay. But there are unscented regular ol borax options on Amazon! Calgon does have a scent I bought some during my stripping debacles.

 

[defoehorses]

@graceadele Ok! I think I will look into Charlie’s, especially if it’s unscented. I’ve seen a lot of anecdotes of plain ole borax leaving residue, wearing out diapers quicker, or not working w/ wash routines that had very hard water.

And if you’ve had good results since the build-up pickle, that seems like a good choice for us to try out!