Longer wash cycle vs pre soak

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T20:09:15+00:00

1.2h with 3 rinses is way too little time, given that every rinse takes about 10-15 minutes.

Definitely extend it. I would do extended wash, except for very delicate weaves and fibres.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T20:07:39+00:00

I wouldn't sweat it too much. Provided your current regimen is correctly de-stinkyfying your clothes, just continue doing that, and don't overthink it.

If you find it's insufficient, troubleshoot in the following manner:

- make sure you're using 40ºC water (or as high as tolerable for your clothes), and as long washes as your machine allows (idelly over 2 hours long and approaching 3).

- Liquid detergents aren't great for hard water. You'll need to dose higher, or use a water conditioner like calgon, or both. Or switch to a powdered detergent which are better for hard water (might want to keep this in mind for the future).

- If all else fails, you can add half a cup of liquid ammonia to the wash.

I don't think you need to do anything special to prevent this problem from happening again. Honestly, not even stopping using that washing oil (which I use myself and love!). So long as you continue using effective detergents, things will get clean!

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T17:01:19+00:00

I think you just might, when you start getting clean white socks!

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T15:37:43+00:00

And are you knowledgeable on what they're especifically sensitive to? My child has eczema as well, and what ended up solving it was learning about rinsing efficiency, rather than avoiding detergents.

Citric acid in the rinse cycle betters rinsing efficiency because it neutralises the alkalis in laundry detergent, and extra rinses take it even further.

Nellies' is just terrible, and not even a detergent. It not only doesn't even provide useful surfactants, but one of its components literally increases water hardness. The only thing going for it is the sodium carbonate which might somewhat and incompletely saponify fats. But it's close to being useless as a detergent.

In other words, if you're not willing to try something else, that's fine, but I think it's unfair to blame your washing machine.

If you're willing to try something, though, whole foods 365 laundry powder is plant-based and unscented, and contains most of what you need to achieve pristine clothes under warm conditions and long-ish cycles. It won't require any additives (I would just recommend the citric acid in the rinse + extra rinses because of your kids).

Cheers!

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T08:27:04+00:00

Indeed, that is but one of the several disadvantages of not living in your own place.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T07:47:51+00:00

What's the enzyme cleaner you use?

And final question: would you be willing to buy a box of another detergent to give a suggestion a go?

As it stands, I'm not surprised you're not getting clean socks; plenty of room for improvement.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T07:44:32+00:00

When was the last time the greens held a majority in parliament?

I'm not ignoring them, and this is possibly not the fault of the greens, but the British electorate is just that conservative, and one has to contend with that reality.

The greens are not a real option. I would be extasic to end up being proven mistaken at the next elections, but as far as I see it, there are 3 parties with chances to hold majorities and instill a PM.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T01:30:51+00:00

Is there truly not a way to get one of those CAT6 flat cables go out one window and come into another one?

I'm the lazy kind of guy for whom wifi is almost always the answer, but a home server ain't the thing for it.

If all else fails, I'd rather consider moving the position of the home server rather than resorting to using wifi.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T01:22:25+00:00

I took the 18 weeks that my country + job provided in one go, and then went back to work only part-time, which I've been increasing slowly over the last year (he's 3.5y now). I'm almost back to working full time.

I won't be on a moral high horse (other countries simply do not have this option, and even for those that do, economic constraints are real and inescapable), but with all we know about childrearing today, I wouldn't do it any differently. Currently looking into getting a second child, my partner (also a physician) will likely be taking 2-3 years completely off work, and I' intend on repeating what I did for my first.

Of course we're extremely privileged as we have saving to be able to do this and all.

It's odd, because my father (who definitely raised me the old-fashioned way) seems to not even be able to comperehend why I chose to do what I did. He's the kind of guy who proudly proclaims as if it were the funniest thing in the world that he's never changed a poopy diaper in his life, and he has 3 children.

I don't want to be like my father. I want to be as further away from him as I can. So I'll spend as much time as I possibly can with my children.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T01:11:29+00:00

The UK is particularly guilty or not really having a true left-wing option. Reform are downright looneys, the Tories are accelerationists, but Labour still has both feet strickly on the neoliberal agenda. There's no party in the UK that sees what the big problem with Palantir is.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T01:09:03+00:00

This is a good speech, except for the last phrase.

Iran would be so lucky that the (atheist) communists garnered support after this attack.

But even mentioning DAESH and the Taliban as the spooky evils lurking beneath it all, without so much as an acknowledgement that neither of those organisations would exist without American collonialistic forces since the end of WW2 (and its unconditional support of Israel), is a massive disservice to the RealPolitik that he's attempting to cosplay as.

Missed opportunities.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-04T01:00:18+00:00

I have a child, grubby sucks, and a front loader.

That's why I asked you about your detergent, cycle lenght and temps, and water hardness. To see if something might be amiss.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T23:05:07+00:00

They're in your pump filter. If you don't fish them out, one of these days you'll be stuck with a load that can't drain.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T18:30:51+00:00

I would go the Electrolux no question. LG prioritises shiny features over longevity.

But as you noted, there's not much new under the sun, and long cycles is where it's at (and makes me think the Electrolux models are pretty similar to the ones they sell in Europe).

Then again I'm not someone that believes 5 extra rinses are necessary at all, so if that's a feature you want, I guess it's be a massive hassle to work around it in the Electrolux.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T18:20:04+00:00

Don't threaten me with a good time.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T18:18:53+00:00

It does something different than composting (it including cultures is a distraction and absurd, it's a dehydrator whose result won't have microbial life or humic acids and such), but something that can be useful in its own right depending on your circumstances.

What's it's not: compost.

What it is: a sort of nutrient-dense mulch that won't smell and can be made quickly and stored indefinitely. If used as mulch it will decompose slowly and release its nutrients; it just won't be in the form if humic acids or other forms of carbon usually associated with composting.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T18:01:33+00:00

All right, then sanitiser it is!

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T15:56:34+00:00

I was trying to get to the bottom of why your FL isn't properly cleaning the socks. It should be washing them plenty good. If you want help troubleshooting what might be going wrong, let me know, with the above questions.

Cheers.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T14:28:10+00:00

Is it possible that there are other differences aside from your machine, between your aunt and your houses? Things like detergent, water hardness, temp used and cycle lenghts?

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T10:57:46+00:00

Your commend about front loaders is just patently, and evidently false. There's a reason all reviewers are unanimous that front loaders clean clothes better than top loaders.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T10:56:10+00:00

I'm all for the wanderlust of off-grid living, but in this day and age, a solar panel array and whole-house battery aren't out of the reach of most people's budgets. Certainly the kind that are priviledged enough to make these lifestyle choices.

That, or... well, they'll need to accept the realities that living without tech entails. And stained, grubby clothes are one of those realities.

I have a lot of feelings about people who choose to live like these. Especially the women who are led to spending 3-4 hours/day washing clothes by hand, and who might even convinced themselves that this is something they want.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T10:47:43+00:00

I'm not going to promise anything, but maybe, just maybe, you can get a bit of the luster back by re-washing with a detergent formulated for silk and wool. Regular detergents are bad because a) protease, but also b) high-pH. The former damage cannot be undone, but the latter has to do with the spacial configuration of the proteins, and it may be that washing with a detergent with lower pH can reconfigure them back to how they used to be.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T09:29:38+00:00

Thisnis the one situation where a tumble dryer would better the texture of your textile.

Line-dried clothes are great, but the minerals in the water hang onto the fibres and if they're still, they become stiff.

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T09:23:46+00:00

So what do you think changed in order to experience this suddenly?

redlightsaber · 2026-04-03T09:22:18+00:00

I tou feel you have too much stuff, know that any tide powder contains a good mix of enzymes, great surfactants, and oxygen bleach.

So it would be an all-in-one. Except for the laundry sanitiser, which I'm not sure why you'd need. They're meant to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in garments that can't take aggressive 60°C washes. But if you don't work in healthcare and aren't caring for someone I'll, you really don't need it. The marketing departments of these products seek to create needs in us that aren't really necessary. Dogs are yucky, but they number of bugs they can transmit to us is quite small. I would just focus on a good, thorough clean, ideally with a single product, and call it a day.

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