Residual washing powder after washing
If you have white streaks of washing detergent or powder on clothes at the end of a wash cycle they could be undissolved detergent. Re-wash without adding any more detergent. If it was a big load, re-wash in two smaller loads or just put in the affected items if not all laundry is affected.
Here are possible causes -
Overloading: If you have too much laundry in the washing machine then the detergent can get trapped in folds of laundry preventing it from dissolving properly [ Am I overloading my washing machine? ]
If you use a container for the detergent: it could get trapped in folded laundry preventing all the detergent from dispersing properly. Make sure it’s placed right at the top of the laundry and to the back of the drum.
Not using enough detergent: This is counter-intuitive but if you don’t use the correct amount of detergent you can get a film of whitish residue that can be mistaken for undissolved detergent. This is because some detergents react with minerals in hard water.
Low water pressure: This is only relevant if you put the detergent in the soap dispenser drawer. If you have low water pressure then not all the detergent may get flushed into the drum on the initial wash fill. This can allow some of the detergent left in the drawer to get flushed onto the laundry during rinsing. If this is happening and you can’t improve the water pressure I would switch to placing detergent in a dosing container (provided by detergent manufacturers) on top of the laundry.
Another alternative to prevent this problem would be to switch to liquid detergent but liquid detergent does not contain any bleaching agents and can result in mould and gunge in the washing machine
[ Related advice (including advice about liquid detergent) You don’t just use one detergent do you? ]
Written By Washerhelp on September 1st, 2008 with
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