Ammonia and staining

[timestep]

Hi, ladies! I've followed you over here from TB. Delurking to ask a couple questions that have come up recently:

1) I'm starting to get a little bit of ammonia smell in both my Freetimes and my overnight diapers (Motherease, GMD workhorses, or Sbish—all natural fibers). I want to try to nip this in the bud before it gets out of control. Am I right that the first step is a hot-water strip? My usual wash routine is cold rinse w/ second rinse; hot wash w/ Tide up to line 1 or 1.5; cold second rinse. This is in a basic top loader. I can't change the temperature on the after-wash rinses, but is it worth changing that initial rinse to warm as well? Anything else I should be doing?

2) I am having trouble getting some stains out of my Simplexes. Unfortunately, some of it is probably because I got my sprayer set up a couple weeks too late and had some staining from the transition into solids. But even now that I'm diligent about spraying, I'm still having issues. Sunning doesn't seem to help, and neither does repeated washing. Are there any CD-safe products that can get these back to looking nice again so they'll hold their resale value?

TIA for your help! 

[mimsy]

How often are you washing, how full are your loads, how hard is your water?

Oh and hi.

[timestep]

I wash Tuesdays, Thursdays, and midday Sundays, so roughly EOD.

The loads are maybe half full? It's about 14 AIOs (a mix of Freetimes, Simplexes, and Thirsties), plus two or three overnight diapers + covers, and three wetbags.

Water is hard, per one of those test strip thingies. Not super hard, just hard.

[brandiewine11]

Do you rinse/soak your overnight diapers before you wash? Is the ammonia in all your diapers or just a certain set?

[mimsy]

I'd say, yes strip first. And it's possible you are using too much soap. The others are better at this than I am.

[SAK]

What brandie said about rinsing the ON diaper. Id recommend switching your initial rinse to warm as well.

[SAK]

Also, is the smell just when you take them off in the morning or is it in all the diapers as soon as LO pees?

[timestep]

No, I haven't been rinsing/soaking. I work outside the home during the day and I'm still scrambling in the mornings, but it's something I can try to do if you think it will help. Just put them to soak in a bucket with some water?

I've only noticed the smell in the overnight diapers and some of the Freetimes (the ones I've been using longest—about seven months). ETA: In the Freetimes, I'm starting to smell them on her; in the overnight diapers, I can smell it when I get her up in the morning (she's sleeping all night now). ETA2: Forgot to mention that everything smells fine out of the wash.

[timestep]

I'm reluctant to cut down on the soap because of staining issues. I actually have this issue with our regular clothes, too (and I use a different detergent for those)—our washing machine (or something about the way I wash clothes) is just not good at getting out stains.

[brandiewine11]

I'd give them a good hot water strip, then start rinsing your ON diapers in the morning. Put them to soak in hot water for a bit. Also switching your pre-rinse to a warm one if you can, or even a warm quick wash (with some agitation) can help too. If you have the option of a warm quick wash you should not have to do 2 pre-rinses.

However, the others are right about detergent buildup also causing ammonia. Do you have suds in your final rinse? If so, you may need to cut back.

[timestep]

I'll give all that a try.

Any suggestions for the other issue? Stained Simplexes make me sad.

[pipsqueak]

Jan 19, 2015 21:01:01 GMT -5 timestep said:

I'll give all that a try.

Any suggestions for the other issue? Stained Simplexes make me sad.

What kind of stains?  Are the stains in your regular laundry food stains or some other kind of stains?  Are the stains from something in the water - like rust?  

[chickypoo2468]

Jan 19, 2015 21:36:24 GMT -5 pipsqueak said:

Jan 19, 2015 21:01:01 GMT -5 timestep said:

I'll give all that a try.

Any suggestions for the other issue? Stained Simplexes make me sad.

What kind of stains?  Are the stains in your regular laundry food stains or some other kind of stains?  Are the stains from something in the water - like rust?  

Yeah this, if it's poop stains then try sunning, but stains do not equal dirty.