Cold Wash Week One

So it has been 1 week, 4 diaper loads since I decided to try cold water wash routines. I originally decided to only change the water temperature in my routine so I still stored my diapers in a dry pail, washed every other day, but after a bit of research I decided to use a detergent that was made for cold water use. I had a partial box of Tide Coldwater powder from before I quit using Tide that I figured I might as well use up. I know my son is not sensitive to Tide, and Tide has a great track record for cleaning in cold water. I know it is not the best option from an environmental point but I can't stand letting that box go to waste either.

I have a mix of pocket and fitted diapers.I rinse out my overnight diapers in warm water before storing everything in my pail liner until wash day. For the test period I will rinse out all my diapers. The cold setting on my machine is just below 10 degrees Celcius.

I started with a cold rinse, followed by a long cold wash and an additional cold rinse. I used Tide Coldwater to line 1 on the scoop and I dissolved it in a bit of warm water before adding it to the machine. Filling the scoop to line 1 worked really well in hot water when I was using Tide before. I also did a hot water strip on all my diapers before starting this to make sure there was no residue of any kind left over that could cause stink issues.

After the first wash my pockets and inserts came out clean, most of my fitteds came out clean but my overnight diapers smelled. Not like pee, but musty. I rewashed the load in warm and it was fine.

The second wash I added a soak. I still did a cold rinse but then I added my detergent and started the long cold wash cycle and raised the lid to stop the machine after a few moments of agitation. I let things sit like that for about an hour before finishing the cycle and then running another rinse. This load was almost all pockets and 2 overnight fitteds. This load came out fine. No smells at all.

I repeated the second wash process for the third wash. This load had more fitteds in it and B had a very busy day with lots of poopy diapers. The pockets came out fine but again a few of the fitteds were a bit musty smelling. No stains though.

For the final wash this week I had mostly fitteds in the load. I added 1tbsp of Funk Rock by Rockin Green to my first rinse. I was not able to let the diapers soak today so I did increase the detergent to Line 2 on the scoop. According to the box you are supposed to use to line 2 for a medium load so I was under dosing in the previous washes. This load came out clean except for the overnight diapers. The 2 Sandy's fitteds again smelled musty.

So what I learnt so far....
1. Cold water washes work fine for pockets and inserts but a bit of TLC is needed on fitteds because of all the layers.
2. If you can, letting the diapers soak an hour or so before washing helps get them cleaner.
3. Rinsing out your inserts before storing them in your pail also helps them get cleaner.

For next week I am going to stick to the same routine of rinse, long wash, rinse all on cold but I am going to see is using a wet pail on my fitteds and inserts can cut out the soak. When I go back to work I won't have the time to mess around with soaking before washing. I would love to make cold water washing work but if hot washes are more convenient then I will go back to that. So this week I am going to separate my inserts from my covers and pocket shells. The covers will go into a dry wet bag and the inserts and fitteds will soak in a wet pail with water and 1tbsp detergent. Stay tuned for the results.