[reeseccup]

Quote:

Originally posted by olismama "Calgon is sodium hexametaphosphate, a short chain polyphosphate, and is commonly used in municipal water treatment. I believe it is also the primary ingredient in the Amway product Basic-H. Note: anhydrous ammonia should never be injected into micro irrigation systems." Take care!

Basic H is a Shaklee product http://www.shaklee.net/healthywealth...product/BasicH but I didn't realize it was THIS. I grew up on this specific product on a farm and we used it for EVERYTHING!! I did work great, hmmm maybe it's time to go back to shaklee.

edit to say: I emailed Shaklee asking if it is in Basic-H, will let you know the response.

(where is the crossing fingers icon?)

 

[natashaccat]

Quote:

Originally posted by LilMamiBella If I don't have calgon can I use borax instead? I'm not even sure what kind of water I have! :

You should call your local utility company. Also if you see white residue around your water focets that means that you have hard water.

Borax is a water softener but it works differently than calgon. As I understand all this, laundry boosters like borax, baking soda, washing soda... do soften the water and enhance the detergent cleaning power as a result but they cause the calcium in your water to fall out of solution (precipitate) and build up in your diapers, leading to even more scratchiness.

Calgon is different because it softens the water without causing mineral precipitation.

Anyway, I'm not 100% sure I have my facts exactly right but if you search this forum for calgon there are lots of threads addressing this topic that have more detailed information.

 

[Aurora]

Just wanted to say thanks for this thread! I bought some Clagon last week and HOLY SUDS!!! I can't believe it. We have super hard water and the rinses were clear but I had build up anyways.

:

 

[LilMamiBella]

Anyway, I'm not 100% sure I have my facts exactly right but if you search this forum for calgon there are lots of threads addressing this topic that have more detailed information. [/B][/QUOTE]

Thank you Simone for answering my question!

 

[reeseccup]

OK , Shaklee emailed back, quite interesting, but still didn't aswer the question.

me:There is a discussion about what Basic-H is made and used for. We are under the impression that it has sodium hexametaphosphate in it which is the primary ingrediant in Calgon water softner. Is this true and can it be used as a water softner in laundry to get out the extra detergent build up? Thanks for your help,

them:Thank you for visiting our Shaklee distributor website and for your inquiry. Haven't heard of that one before, though we do know there are no phosphates in Basic-H. Basic-H does break the surface tension of water, making water "wetter" and therefore is used as a soil conditioner and the water can go deeper into the ground with Basic-H. It's primary ingredient is soybeans and totally biodegrades within 7 days! It has a 1,001 uses and we have attached a PDF file that lists some of the many uses of Basic-H.

in the PDF file (email me if you want ALL of the stuff it's good for) it says "Diapers: use 1/2 teaspoon of Basic-H and 1 drop of Basic-G to pail. Removes oders in wash room if diapers must stand. Woolens, ...fine fabrics: use 1 or 2 teaspoons in a basin of water. For spots apply a drop or two directly on the spot and press w/ thumb. Immerse garment in cold water solution of 1 tsp. per gal. of water, let stand a few min. then rinse by squeezing water through. Let dry.

It may not hurt to try, who knows?

 

[natashaccat]

I actually emailed the calgon Calgon people before using it wanting to know if calgon contained phosphates and this is the reply that I got

"We are delighted that you are interested in using Calgon and we can confirm that Calgon is a phosphate free formulation and therefore environmentally friendly."

The reason I emailed them is that their new box say's that it doesn't contain added phosphates. But I found a really old box of calgon (it could easily be 10 years old) in a closet at my work that lists sodium phosphates as an ingredient.

So I'm sort of wondering if this is still true....

Quote:

Calgon is sodium hexametaphosphate

I suspect that they may have had to change their ingredients to comply with modern environmental regulations.

 

[Charmie981]

Okay, so I must confess that this stuff has been sitting in my laundry supply cabinet (arsenal?) for over a year now because I really just don't know how to use it regularly. So when I saw this thread I thought I'd try it, but then never got around to it. Today I noticed that my homemade prefolds are holding stains VERY badly, and that the stains smell (I'm okay with some staining, but smelly stains are still DIRTY, IMO). And I'm planning on trying to sun some of the stains out tomorrow (assuming we have sunshine, that is!), so I thought I'd soak the dipes tonight.

I put in two HE scoops of calgon, hot water, no soap and let the washer fill up and start agitating. OMG!! You would think I had added BUBBLE BATH to the stinkin' washer! So I'm letting them soak overnight in it and then will let it finish agitating and rinsing tomorrow.

Does anyone know how to add this to your normal wash routine to PREVENT the buildup? I was thinking of maybe buying the liquid (I've got powder right now) and putting it into my fabric softener dispenser so that it would be released into the rinse after the detergent wash, thus removing any detergent residue. Or should I add it *with* the detergent to prevent buildup?

Also, it's really strongly scented (which is part of the reason I haven't used it much). Is anyone having problems with the smell remaining in the diapers? I'm not much on scented laundry, but hey...it's gotta be better than stinky diapers, right?

Thanks!!

 

[natashaccat]

Quote:

Does anyone know how to add this to your normal wash routine to PREVENT the buildup?

I'm a new calgon user myself so I can't say for sure, but as a preventative I'm planning on just using 1/4 cup in with the detergent wash with 1/4 cup detergent and then a plain rinse. My theory is that it will let me use less detergent to get the diapers clean and therefore there will be less detergent to rinse out.

So I've only done these proportions once so far but I can say that this small ammount of calgon didn't leave any fragrence that I noticed.

 

[Ms.Doula]

ok, how do I know if I have hard water? There is a bit of mineral build up around the faucets... I just thought it was cause this house is so old! LOL. Is there another way to tell???

 

[natashaccat]

Call your local utility company. Also if you have well water and live in a limestone rich area you probably have hard water.

 

[USAmma]

Sooo glad it's working for everyone!! I've started using it with my clothes and everything's looking brighter!

My calgon wash routine is (diapers) is:

soak/prewash on cold with 1/4 cup detergent (using same water for both cycles)
hot wash with 1/4 cup calgon, then cold rinse with Downy Advanced

Seems to be working great!

Darshani

 

[engineer_mama]

Hey! This stuff is great. It finally broke down the repellancy of my FB's after the MoE treatment and Sportswash had both failed. THe FB's were actually working quite well despite the repellancy, but they would leak occasionally. Now if I pour water on them and touch the tops of the water beads to break the surface tension, it soaks right in. Before, no amount of poking or prodding would get the water through (it's a miracle they still worked as well as they did). We'll see if the hemp is less stinky in the morning too. Thanks for the tip, Darshani