Hard water wash routine help

[ktladie]

Hi,

I know that I have hard water, and I cannot seem to get my wash routine right and was hoping for a little help as my poor DS has been getting what I think is ammonia rash (little red raised bumps and it goes away when he's in disposables).

Currently I do the following in a front loader HE machine:
cold pre rinse - no spin
Heavy Duty cycle - hot with extra rinse (i've tried rockin green & tide liquid - my next thought is tide powder)
I have been doing another quick wash with no detergent to make sure it all comes out, but i've heard this is not always a good idea with hard water? Is that true?

Any help would be appreciated as this is making my DH really not want to CD and it was hard to convince him in the first place.

Thanks a ton!

[aylasmommy]

I have zero experience with he washers, but I do have hard water. I use vinegar in every load during the hot cycle.

[ktladie]

Thanks. I will try that next if just switching to Tide doesn't work.

Does anyone know if I'm right on the rash I described and if it's due to ammonia or my diapers not being totally clean?

Thanks!

[nh0709]

Crunchy Clean from Jack Be Natural is supposed to be excellent for hard water. We live in southern AZ and have extremely hard water; so this is what I went with. I am a newbie though, and baby isn't due until June, so I can't give you any personal experience. It does have great reviews though!
Good luck.

[nonipie]

Do they smell like ammonia? If you had it you would know. If they don't smell then it's something else.

[craigwick]

Originally Posted by nonipie Do they smell like ammonia? If you had it you would know. If they don't smell then it's something else.

Yes, ammonia smell is hard to mistake for anything else!

We have hard water, but a top loader. I do a hot wash (when we used to have poopy diapers I did a warm rinse first) and then 2 rinses. I use as much (if not more) laundry soap as I do for regular loads.