How (and why) to Strip Wash

[Rachel_C]

With the dishwasher thing, be careful what you put in there! Cotton or microfibre should be fine but I wouldn't try it with bamboo (it cooks easily) and PUL would be a big no if it gets that hot.

 

[lisaf]

With the dishwasher thing, be careful what you put in there! Cotton or microfibre should be fine but I wouldn't try it with bamboo (it cooks easily) and PUL would be a big no if it gets that hot.

out of curiosity, what about minky?

 

[Rachel_C]

Hmm I think minky would be fine as it's polyester, which I *think* is quite tough (microfibre and fleece are both poly) but I wouldn't put money on it. TBH I would just stick with the washing machine and use the temperature controls - most machines have a boil wash if you really want it hot, but check labels.

 

[MadamRose]

I've mainly got ebay cheapues will vinigar method be ok aa 2 full detergant washs and still smell unclean

 

[Rachel_C]

Do you want to run us through exactly how you're stripping them? Tell us what detergent, how much, what wash cycle, any extra options, temperature, length of the cycle etc?

I don't think I would risk the covers in a vinegar strip but it's up to you! What bit smells - the inserts and the outers, or are the inserts worse?

 

[Shabutie]

Can I use the full load of detergant on bamboo?

I've been doing my strip wash so wrong, i've been doing it at 40 not 60

 

[Rachel_C]

Yes you can use full detergent dose on bamboo, on anything actually.

 

[MadamRose]

Bio detergant also tried non hip before and still same both bits smell but inserts worse. The smell straight after full dose detergant so aibt bothered rinsin yet til the smell goes. Thats why I was thinkin vininger, if not that what would you suggest

 

[Rachel_C]

I'd try doing the inserts and the outers separately - do the outers again with the detergent strip. If they come clean, great, then you can do the inserts with any of the other methods as MF will be fine with whatever you want. Also, how many are you doing at once? I'd do no more than 10 and use the longest possible wash cycle. Sorry if you've already answered this but have you cleaned the machine too?

 

[Rachel_C]

What wash cycle are you using? And what temperature? How long does it take?

 

[MadamRose]

60 wash for cotton and takes about 2 hours and year cleaned machine and emptied thing where exsess water cones out doing about 8 nappys which is 8 nappies 16inserts and 8 liners

 

[Rachel_C]

Ok well I'd try doing the covers on their own, then do some of the harsher methods on the inserts. The build up is probably a lot worse in the inserts as the covers aren't absorbent anyway. Maybe try the washing up liquid method, that won't damage anything that I know of. Or if you want you can try vinegar but I know that's not good for PUL or elastic. It will most likely be fine on the first go but it's your decision

 

[MadamRose]

I gonna do viniger method on one lot of inserts with 1 cover to see how cover is if ok will do covers like this too. Really need help with detergant amount for after this. For 8 nappies so 8covers 16inserts and 8liners in 6.5kg machine how much powder

 

[Rachel_C]

Good idea about the vinegar.

You'd only need a tiny amount of detergent for 8 nappies. For maybe 16 nappies including 2-3 big night nappies I would use 5ml (a teaspoon!) of liquid Persil non-bio. That's one seventh of the recommended amount, so really tiny! Everything is perfectly clean, I do a rinse before and two rinses after the wash, which is a 30 degree superwash (2.5hour) cycle, with the occasonal 60 degree wash. Even with that tiny amount of detergent and the extra rinses, I still need to strip maybe every 3 months but a quick detergent strip works fine.

So, if you're using powder I don't know how much it would be but I would start by looking at how much the manufacturer says you need for normal soil and divide it by 7. It's easier to tell if they're not clean and rewash them in a bit more if needed, whereas as you've found it can be tricky to get rid of build up, so start with a little and increase it if needed. You need to start with sparkly clean nappies first though. Oh, and I'd say that 8 nappies is half a nappy load, so divide the amount in 2 again. So if it says 120g (sorry if that's way out, I have no idea about powder!), divide by 7, then by 2, giving you a grand total of 8.6g of powder!!!

ETA - I'm quite exact about what I use. For the first time, I'd actually weigh it out! Then I use an old formula scoop to get the same each time, or a spoon or whatever - just make sure you can remember how dull it was

 

[MadamRose]

I think it says 120 mls in a cup thing so looking at like 8mls of powder

 

[Rachel_C]

That's what I'd use anyway. If it helps, when I wash mine with 5ml liquid (I think it's more concentrated than the powder), I still see plenty of bubbles in the wash cycle so there's obviously enough detergent in there to bubble up and get stuff clean, so don't worry about how little it seems!

 

[Huggles]

just book-marking the thread. Thanks for the advice

 

[T8ty]

With the dishwasher tablet method do you put everything in the machine... I.e boosters inserts nappies ???Or just nappies.. we had a poo explosion today and im thinking of stripping my nappies tonight??

Do you think a normal finish dishwasher tablet is ok .. (cant be bothered to go to tesco to get cheaper ones?)

Sorry for all the questions.. (brilliant thread btw)!!

 

[Rachel_C]

You put everything in together but start with clean nappies (they're ok to be wet). Any standard tablet should be fine, just avoid gels and stuff.

 

[T8ty]

Excellent thanks very much!!!