By Sheila from Ontario, Canada
Try using 1 or 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and if needed also add 1/2 cup baking soda this should help.
When employed at a laundromat one customer would come every few weeks to undo what her well water had done to her clothes. She'd dump in Liquid Plummer which got rid of the orange color. She'd apparently done this for years and swore by it.
My parents were on well water with the same problem. My mom found not using liquid bleach kept the whites whiter and there is a person in the Ottawa area that sells attachments to reduce iron in the water. Not sure of his name maybe google it. Also washing in cold water helps as it does not set stains.
You definitely have a lot of iron in your water! If you use a cup of distilled vinegar in the final rinse cycle it will break down the iron (and other minerals at that) and soften your clothes too. :-)
Don't leave them sit in the washer too long. When I have this smell, I either hang them outside in the sun and fresh air to dry, or rewash them adding vinegar to the load.
We have well water. We do run a water softener. I wash everything in cold water to reduce the stain on the clothes. I never buy expensive clothes, because they never last or look new for long. At least we save on the water bill, right?
You must have a lot of iron in your water. How about using Iron Out? This is only for whites though.
I have well water and I cannot keep my bright colored clothes bright and my whites white. I started to take them to my parents because they have city water, but it would be much easier if I could do it at home. Any ideas or some tricks to help me keep the brights bright and the whites white?
By Stacy
Another voice for OxyClean, marvellous stuff! I used to buy the generic brand from the Dollar General and that works almost as well. But really nothing works as well as OxyClean-very much worth the extra money!
I have well water and every time I wash clothes, especially towels, they smell musty after a couple of days. What can I do?
Rosy B from Sutherland, Virginia
By Lynn (11/19/2004)
By ThriftyFun
By LizCar
By Wendola
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