Curious...hot or cold? Line or dryer?
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Topic: Curious...hot or cold? Line or dryer?
Posted By: Emmecat
Subject: Curious...hot or cold? Line or dryer?
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 9:16am
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Just interested after reading a debate on the age old cloth vs sposie debate...and wondering how many of you wash in cold water and line dry? Or do you usually hot wash and dryer your cloth naps? I was suprised to read the person arguing *for* sposies made the comment 'most' people wash their cloth naps in hot water and use the dryer....in my experience that's not the case at all but maybe I've been living in a bubble lol For us, we use cloth exclusively and 97% of the time use cold water washes and line dry. Very, *very* occasionally we'll do a warm (not hot) wash and use the dryer if we're desperate but could count on the fingers of both hands how often that's happened over the last year! You? -------------   http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Replies:
Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 9:20am
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We only ever do a cold wash and don't own a dryer, so definately line dry (although in yucky weather I have to finish them off in front of the heater or the dehumidifier), but they are both already going anyway. -------------  
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Posted By: Emmecat
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 9:26am
Same here MamaT!  (well we own a dryer but it gets v little use!)------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: caliandjack
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 9:58am
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Don't own a dryer either and have always washed in cold water. Either line dry (which I've been told is better for getting stains out anyways) or clothes airer in front of one of the big windows / warmest room in the house. Takes 2 days max to dry clothes this way less if I use the dehumidifier. ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">   [/url] Angel June 2012 |
Posted By: RedHeadDuck
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 10:18am
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I actually don't know hot to do a cold wash in my machine, otherwise I'd do a cold wash all the time, but we wash at 30 degrees.
I line dry, we don't own a dryer! Or if its wet then I park the clothes horse in front of the heat pump (which goes anyways) and I can get a whole clothes horse dry by the morning! My MIL thinks I'm nuts for using cloth (although we're only part time so far) cos it's SOOOO much more work, and SOOO much more expensive, I mean, how much for a nappy?! REALLY?! Do you realise you can buy a weeks worth of sposies for like $20?????? 
 
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 10:21am
| I always use cold water and line dry or use the hot water cupboard. Or we have a covered line outside I use as well. |
Posted By: blondy
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 10:24am
Guilty hand-up here 
Almost always do a hot wash (but only started after DD had a run of 4 UTI's within a few weeks....so we needed to make sure we had all bases covered!) Could probably switch back to cold washes now 
And over winter the dryer has been used more and more - DD is in cloth almost fulltime, including at her carer's, and as I'm studying at uni fulltime, I just don't have the time I used to to hang them and wait for them to dry. The one thing going for me is that because we have such a large MCN stash, I only do washes every 3 days or so. I've made a promise to myself to hang dry them more once the weather improves, and I'm not busy (and exhausted) 24/7..... however, I also use the dryer (if not hot water) for our clothes. TBH, the water/energy argument still doesn't hold for me, because people always forget about the amount of water & energy it takes to manufacture sposies in the first place. Besides, for me, the fact that I don't send (as much) plastic & poo to the tip are enough. -------------  
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Posted By: Nothing
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 10:33am
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I only do a cold wash. We have a rack over the fire for drying, and if its fine they go out in the sunshine on the clothes horse- saves using stupid pegs. I have used the drier a couple of times, but only for the inserts as I hade run out and needed them fast! ------------- 
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Posted By: caraMel
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 10:48am
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Cold and on the line here too.
------------- Mel, Mummy to E: 6, B: 4 and: 
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Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 11:12am
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I have a front loader so use very little water to begin with and ours get a cold rinse, hot or warm wash, cold rinse... the amount of hot or warm
water (40 or 60 deg)would be no more than a ltre of hot water a week... No dryer but do occassionally heater/dehumidifier dry but would have had them on anyway so no extra there... -------------   
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Posted By: jacobsmummy
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 11:57am
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I wash them with cold water and then hang them on the line (we dnt own a drier)
And if its raining, they get put infront of fire to dry. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: Emmecat
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 12:59pm
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Wow so most of us are NOT using hot water and the dryer...hmmm methinks that the author of the pro- sposies arguement had a vested interest in making cloth look bad lol ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: Iceland
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 2:17pm
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hi,
cold wash here too... i think that accually there s not difference between hot machine wash and cold....as hot wash doesnt kill any more bacteria anyway... it would have to be boiling water to do this... i just do baking soda/vinegar sometimes and trust the sun to desinfect my nappies a bit:-) No drier here, dont even own one, just outside line under carpost if wet and then i finish them in the evening in fron of the fire. iceland |
Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 3:41pm
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I can say since switching to hot/warm wash I dont have to strip Jakes nappies anymore.... so it must be killing off a lot of the germs! -------------
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Posted By: noisybaby
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 4:56pm
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I use hot/warm every time i wash the nappies but I have a front loader too and the amount of water you use is next to nothing. ------------- http://lilypie.com">  
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Posted By: luvmylittlies
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 5:35pm
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I almost never use the dryer. I specifically made sure i had enough nappies to ensure I didn't have to. I mostly use a cold wash, although for about 3 days every month I do them all in some hot washes or they get a little stinky. ------------- Adoring Mum to Talisin 8/9/11 and Kiara 18/01/10 |
Posted By: HoneybunsMa
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 6:31pm
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Cold wash, mum and dads washing machine goes spass on hot or warm washes and mostly dry them on a clothes horse but lately I've had to use the drier as I run out of them WHOOPS! and its been pissing down.
Think I'll be looking at a front loader when we next need a washing machine I think! ------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"> 
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Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 7:48pm
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Mel, I think the warm/hot wash just dissolves the powder a bit better ,and so you get less powder residue and don't need to strip?
I do a cold wash, and use the line if it's not raining, but this winter that's been about 1 day a month So mostly through the dryer here. We only do 2-3 loads of nappies a week though.------------- http://lilypie.com">  http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Emmecat
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 8:11pm
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i dissolve the washing powder in about a cup of hot water first then add it to the load And yep we'll be investigating a front loader when this machine craps out...gotta be impressed though, it's about 12 years old...or more! ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 8:19pm
That's a great idea. Might try that for the next load, thanks. -------------
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Emmecat wrote:Posted By: Emmecat
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 8:27pm
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No problem ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: NewPhoenix
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 9:07pm
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. ------------- |
Posted By: whitewave
Date Posted: 15 September 2010 at 10:20pm
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Yep, cold washes here too, only do a warm wash occasionally (mainly when there's a few nappies in the bag that have had poo-explosions, and need a really good wash!).
We don't own a drier either - either line dry in the sun, or inside on an A-frame. |
Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 16 September 2010 at 8:10am
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T-Rex I dont think powder residue was our problem, his nappies were ALWAYS stinky no matter what I did until I started using hot/warm water.... The smell isnt from powder build up, thats germies -------------
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Posted By: stefany3
Date Posted: 16 September 2010 at 1:25pm
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wow, im surprised how many cold wash!
I do a warm wash or a hot wash occassionally. maybe i'll do a few more cold washes now. I thought I was meant to be doing it hot wash. I try to line dry or clothes horse in winter but over summer I will be 100% outside line drying. cant wait to get some UV on those nappies. ------------- 
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Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 16 September 2010 at 1:52pm
I thought the germs liked to hang out in the powder residue, so if you got rid of the residue that fixed the smell? But I'm no expert! Whatever it is, if it works, all good ------------- http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Kalimirella
Date Posted: 16 September 2010 at 6:30pm
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We cold rinse, and warm wash. Dryer if its wet or I've been lazy but usually its line dried.
It has been very wet this winter so a bit too much of the dryer. ------------- Kiara is 3 and Teagan is 2, now we're expecting our long awaited 3rd! http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: rachelsea
Date Posted: 17 September 2010 at 8:50am
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I only do cold washes, and line/clotheshorse dry. I do use the dryer to finish off the inserts if they haven't got dried by the time I need to hang the next load out (which is often the case over winter!) I never put the pockets in the dryer though.
Now I'm thinking I should probably do a hot wash every now and then... I have no sense of smell, and a few times lately I've had people telling me DD has done a poo because they can smell it, but I check and she hasn't! SO maybe our nappies are a bit stinky
I put them all in the machine, do a rinse cycle, press the spin button just to empty the water out (turn it off before it starts spinning) then put the detergent in and do the full wash cycle. Is that not enough to stop them from being smelly? Or maybe the nappies are fine and DD just farts a lot and that's why people think she's pooed when she hasn't  ------------- DD 4yrs DS 2yrs http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Emmecat
Date Posted: 17 September 2010 at 12:20pm
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Chelsea just farts a lot probably Rach lol Um you could try adding white vinegar to the rinse cycle...that helps strip the amonia off the naps. We're gonna do a big nappy wash and strip the next few fine days we have cos poor Miss Boo has got her fungal rash back again...and even if the Dr thinks its def not nappy related, I want to remove all possibility from my mind IYKWIM?! ------------- http://lilypie.com" rel="nofollow">
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Posted By: mummyofprinces
Date Posted: 17 September 2010 at 4:57pm
Well we are both right LOL -------------
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Posted By: whitewave
Date Posted: 18 September 2010 at 2:09pm
Rachel, Campbell farts a lot too - often I think he's done a poo because he's got a stinky bum, but when I go to change it, there's nothing there!! 
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