I am currently renting a home and we have well water. It doesn't bother me except for the fact that our laundry is starting yellow and doesn't always look clean. We already add the salt pellets with rust remover. Does anybody know of a detergent that I can use with well water that may help the gradual staining of my clothes? I currently use All Free or Tide Free becauce my husband is allergic to the perfumes in other detergents. I also use Dreft for my infant's clothing. Any suggestions would be great.
Try Oxi-Clean for laundry. It's an additive detergent. Should be ok with allergies too!
Barb R.
Several years ago, before Lake Michigan water came to DuPage county, I didn't know about the hydrant flushing and the resulting iron stains in the laundry. The village of Lombard's water department had a free laundry additive to put in with the stained clothes, and it worked really well. I don't know if it would work on clothes that had been through the dryer already, but it may be worth a try, and the price is right. Good Luck
Hi J.. I would try adding OxyClean powder detergent with your detergent and see if that makes a difference.
Another idea is increasing the water softener cycle to a more frequent schedule. For instance, if it cycles every other day, increase it to every day. This will increase your salt cost but could be worth it for whiter clothes!
We have a well too. The yellowing is, most likely, caused by iron in the water. There are two types of iron in water, and one is pretty easy to remove with the right filtering equipment. The ideal solution is to ask the homeowner to install an iron filter before the water runs into water softener. But, in this economy, I'm sure that would be difficult to sell.
I grew up with well water as well. My Mom used to use something called Iron Out. Not sure what stores carry it...or if they still do, but she loved it!
