WHAT A FRAUD!

After my Extra White cycle was finished, my towels smelled like they were soaking in the swimming pool all day long. The stench of chlorine was ridiculously overpowering. I had filled the LCB container to the line as indicated in my washer manual and ran the load through 4 rinses and at a high spin speed. PEE YOO!

Not only did my towels reek of chlorine, but the LCB did absolutely nothing to whiten them! They came out as dingy as they went in, except with that lovely swimming pool smell! So I re-ran the load with Persil and a strong dose of sodium percarbonate (3 TBSP just percarbonate) and everything came out DAZZLING WHITE!

Unbelievable. The sodium percarbonate whitened far better than the LCB, and of course it's natural and leaves no residual chemical smell. I will never use LCB again. I can't believe people use this nasty stuff on their laundry!

On another topic:
Just curious why people think LCB is not "natural". It's Chlorine, one of the elements and about as natural as it gets.

What surprised me was that percarbonate was much better than LCB at whitening after just one treatment. Not having used LCB in the past, is it something that has a cumulative effect over time? I thought it was supposed to whiten after one use - maybe my expectations were unrealistic. But if percarbonate can whiten significantly after just one use, shouldn't LCB?

I use an unscented fabric softener to allow the light detergent scent to come through. In this case, it allowed the nasty chlorine smell to come through and knock me out!

The other problem with LCB over time, it will yellow whites and cause fabrics to deteriorate.

LCB will def damage synthetic fabrics.

From the "Net" re: percarbonate:

"Oxygen bleach is "safe for all fabrics" or "all fabric bleach". However, if garment Care Label says "No Bleach", oxygen bleach should not be used. This type of bleach is most effective when used consistently. It is not strong enough to restore whiteness to garments that have become gray and dingy or to be considered a "stain remover". It may be added in the recommended amount along with the detergent when loading the washer. Follow Product Label instructions."

For a full load of soiled white cottons in my extra large front load machine, 1/4 to 1/3 cup of bleach does the job in addition to Tide HE.

In addition to keeping the whites white; the bleach sanitizes the laundry and the machine. A slight chlorine scent is there when you open the washer at the end of the cycle. Otherwise the clothes don't have a residual odor.

Not that I want to promote the routine use of LCB, but it has its place in my laundry world.

If I have something that I particularly want to whiten with LCB I find it's very useful. Most recent example was a white canvas grocery shopping bag that I had inadvertently left a plum in while unloading. Days later I noticed a swarm of fruit flies and had rotten plum-muck, and mildew stains from the mess. I washed the bag first with hot water, sodium percarbonate and Cheer. The plum stain disappeared but the mildew stain was left. A day or two in the sun didn't improve it enough for me so I gave it a soak in a 20:1 solution of hot water and LCB in a basin. Within 10 minutes I could see the mildew spots fading and after about 20 minutes it was bleached enough that I rinsed it and then rewashed in the machine. It had no smell of LCB after the wash. I rarely use LCB in the machine except for sick-bed disinfection purposes; for shifting stains with LCB I pre-treat in a basin (wearing gloves) and pretty much watching the process so I can interrupt (or prolong) it as necessary.

IMO, routine (not for medical sanitization) use of LCB in general wash is hard on fabrics, the environment (including septic tanks which loom large any rural house like mine), and reportedly hard on the stainless steel in some machines. As noted it can cause yellowing (mostly I think because of the disturbance of OBA's, at least on cottons) and it permanently sets any iron or rust stains. And of course, it's very damaging to some elastics, most colors and wool fabrics.

Properly dosed, and thoroughly rinsed there should be only a trace of odor after washing, rinsing and drying. Commercial laundries use some specific neutralizers ("Anti-chlor"-type products), but I've never troubled to go that far.

HTH,
L

at the OPs suggestion i use the purer form of oxiclean available at whole foods (and other places). better whites, safer for clothes, machine and you

I use 100% pure sodium percarbonate. You can purchase this online in bulk from The Chemistry Store, or you can find it available as Ecover Non-Chlorine Bleach Powder. This is the same active ingredient that is in OxyClean and most other powdered "oxy" type products. However, brands such as OxyClean are only about 30%-50% sodium percarbonate (active ingredient) and the remaining stuff is either washing soda or filler. As a laundry additive, you don't need it to contain washing soda - you are already using detergent. Filler is just bad. Why not use 100% pure active ingredient for the best results?

Due to the natural properties of sodium percarbonate, I don't recommend using it at cold temps. Percarb works best at higher temperatures, so for whitening you will need to go to 120F-140F for best results. If you want to use oxygen bleach at colder temperatures, you will need to buy a "cold water" type of product that has ingredients which will activate at lower temps.

I use percarbonate for other things around the house and it's truly amazing (clean the coffee pot, white cast iron sink, toilets, etc ...). I could not be without the stuff.

FWIW, Excerpted from Seventh Generation's Information Bulletin, "Facts about Chlorine."

Should I worry about chlorine in household cleaners? In a word: Yes.

Whether found alone or in a mixture of other chemicals, household products that contain chlorine pose a number of serious health risks. Products of special concern include: automatic dishwashing detergents, chlorine bleach, chlorinated disinfectant cleaners, mildew removers, and toilet bowl cleaners.
Many household cleaners contain chlorine, though it often masquerades behind aliases such as "sodium hypochlorite" or "hypochlorite."
Breathing in the fumes of cleaners containing a high concentration of chlorine can irritate the lungs. This is particularly dangerous for people suffering from heart conditions or chronic respiratory problems such as asthma or emphysema. And the risks are compounded when the cleaners are used in small, poorly ventilated rooms, such as the bathroom. Chlorine is also a highly corrosive substance, capable of damaging skin, eyes, and other membranes. Chlorine was listed as a hazardous air pollutant in the 1990 Clean Air Act, and exposure to chlorine in the workplace is regulated by federal standards.

Using detergents that contain chlorine in the dishwasher or clothes washer can pollute the air in your home. The water in the machines, which contains chlorine from the detergents, transfers the chlorine to the air through a process called "volatilization." We then breathe the contaminated air. Choose instead cleaning products made without chlorine.

That is just so disgusting...

So funny... I was carrying my bleached load the other day while simultaneously gagging and thinking the nuclear reactor down the road had leaked. I remember thinking to myself, this is how all of my towels will smell once the pool in the backyard is finished! LOL

When it comes to my house smelling clean, I'm much more of a pine oil guy.

Personally, I think that chlorine bleach is evil and I avoid using it unless I really, really have to. I never use it for laundry, although I have to say that I recently used it for Clean Tub cycle in my machine and it worked very well. I keep a bottle of it on the highest shelf in my laundry room and every time I take it down (which is not often) I feel like I should be wearing a haz mat suit ;-) I am terrified of spilling or splashing it and ruining my clothes, towels or rugs.

Regular hot washes with good detergent and oxy bleach keep my whites nice and bright. No need for LCB.

We converted our swimming pool to a salt water pool. It generates pool salt to a gentler form of chlorine. NO more burning eyes, dried out skin, green hair (I am a platinum/white blonde...gotta love us Germans & Swedes LOL), smelly skin, faded swim clothes and smelly towels.

It is much better for the enviornment, less money each month with chemicals, and the water and your skin feel silky after swimming. I cannot recommend it enough!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_water_chlorination

It's about as natural as chlorine bleash. Sodium percarbonate is produced industrially by combining sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide, followed by crystallization. Alternatively, dry sodium carbonate may be reacted directly with concentrated hydrogen peroxide solution.

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The whitening is from the hydrogen peroxide it releases in water.

Sodium percarbonate is certainly far less dangerous. It is also the predominant bleaching agent for natural brands. I don't know any green or natural laundry brand that has chlorine bleach in its lineup.