- Joined
- Jun 4, 2012
- Reaction score
- 633
Not sure that this is the right place to post this, but I wanted to have a thread dealing with laundry issues.
One question that I have deals with washing laundry in "cold" water*, and the use of coldwater detergents.
The thing is that there is only one detergent that promotes itself as being formulated for cold water--Coldwater Tide.
I asked my friend Karen, a retired chemist, if there is anything "special" about Coldwater Tide making it better for use in cold water than any other liquid laundry detergent. She replied:
I do find it odd that while there is Coldwater Tide, there is no Coldwater [Any-Other-Brand], at least not that I know of.
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*I believe that cold water is defined for this purpose as water in the 70-85 degree F range [21-30 degrees C] (which is more like lukewarm water).
One question that I have deals with washing laundry in "cold" water*, and the use of coldwater detergents.
The thing is that there is only one detergent that promotes itself as being formulated for cold water--Coldwater Tide.
I asked my friend Karen, a retired chemist, if there is anything "special" about Coldwater Tide making it better for use in cold water than any other liquid laundry detergent. She replied:
No, Tide is trying to backpedal on its historical image of hot water + detergent = cleaner laundry. IF they have changed anything, they may have added more "brighteners" (adds a modicum of uv-reflection, makes whites look whiter)...or perhaps increase the amount of water softener to counteract hard water in areas afflicted with a lot of limestone. I suspect all they have done is reduce the particle size, so more gets dissolved. Heat is not a factor for sodium and calcium carbonate dissolution, and phosphates would "like" smaller particle size as well.
I do find it odd that while there is Coldwater Tide, there is no Coldwater [Any-Other-Brand], at least not that I know of.
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*I believe that cold water is defined for this purpose as water in the 70-85 degree F range [21-30 degrees C] (which is more like lukewarm water).