I use Charlie's and absolutely love it. After years of using other brands (usually whatever was on sale: Purex, All, etc.), I am amazed at how fresh and how clean our clothes are with Charlie's. I highly recommend it.
In answer to your questions:
1. We have hard water, currently we use Purex F&C and Calgon water softener... would I still use the Calgon with the Charlies? How does Charlies work in hard water?
I have hard water and have yet to pick up some Calgon, but after talking with the WAHM who sold me my diapers, I think I need to. I've been able to take care of any build-up caused by minerals in the water (that stick to the diapers and/or make it hard for the detergent to actually lift bacteria) with an occasional boiling or bleaching of the inserts, but I don't really like doing that.
I'm not sure what kind of Calgon you use, but I was told I need to make sure I get liquid, not powder. The base is different, and the liquid is better, I guess.
2. Do you have to do any special prep for your washer?
I found I needed to get most all our clothes through the wash with Charlie's at least once before I really started to see a marked improvement. Until then, Charlie's was working on removing old detergent residue and so it wasn't going after the dirt the way it really can. Once all our stuff had gone through a couple times, I started being amazed!
Also, be sure and do a load or two of something ELSE before you wash your diapers. That will help make sure you don't have much detergent residue in your washer when you go to clean your diapers with Charlie's the first time.
4. We use all pockets with microfiber and/or hemp inserts.. does it work well with these diapers?
I use all fuzzi bunz. I think it works great. Certainly there are challenges with microfiber that I think more natural fabrics don't cause-- and hard water really throws in another factor. But if you're using Calgon AND the full amount of detergent to make sure no bacteria is building up in the microfiber, I think it's great.
One added bonus of Charlie's is that it's great for line-drying clothes. Somehow the dry clothes are much softer with Charlie's than with other detergents. I'm guessing this is because there isn't lots of detergent residue left in the clothes since it's a completely water soluble detergent. Yay!
Hope that helps!
