Hard/spring water laundry help needed.

[Janet&Jim]

We get our water from a spring, not a well, and our water is hard and very calcified to say the least. Does anyone else have the same situation and what do you use for a laundry detergent ?
The soaps i've allways used all my life jist aint gittin it done now. Clothes jist don't come clean no more. Sure gittin tired o' buyin new Wranglers jist cause the plain old dirt won't come out o' mine.

 

[MorelCabin]

We used to have that problem...the only answer i have for hard water is salt. There is a home made laundry detergent recipe listed here somewhere...it does quite well with hard water, but if it doesn't do the trick on it's own then maybe you would be best to add a cup or so of salt to the recipe. Maybe even try uding the salt they use for water softening systems. Just a thought. We ended up buying a water softner just for that...my clothes used to come out orange and even trying to clean the hard surfaces in the house became a challenge. I also used to use alot of salt and lemon to clean countertops and stuff back then...

PS-Love your signature line:>)

 

[patandchickens]

The most effective solution is unfortunately a water softener, ideally hooked up only to your hot water (unless you are also trying to cure problems with hard water buildup in your toilets etc, or if you only wash your laundry in cold).

Various people have sworn to me that the problem is lessened if you use a half cup or more of white vinegar in the 'bleach' cup of the washing machine, but I haven't tried this myself.


Pat, in a similar boat (tho not perhaps quite as bad as yours) but with too many other things to deal with first so I just try to ignore it, I'm not actually advocating this, just making excuses for myself

 

[inchworm]

Isn't borax a water softener?

Inchy