Thursday, December 8, 2011

Cloth Diapering 101: What's in Your Water?



So the other day, my husband and I were discussing our water (great topic of conversation, I know)! But since I have started cloth diapering, I was curious about what type of water we have. This can play a big role in the detergent you pick as well as the way you may wash your cloth diapers!


Take a look at this map and see what your water is like...


(Photo Courtesy of Meguiars Online)


Hard Water - is high in dissolved minerals, especially calcium and magnesium. These high mineral amounts will tend to bind to your detergent and build up on whatever you are washing (clothes, diapers, etc.).


Soft Water - is treated water with sodium being the only positive ion. Allows clothes and diapers to clean much better. 




Hard Water Diaper Washing Tips:
1) You can purchase a Water Softener just for your laundry
2) You can purchase a Water Softening Tank...which filters all of the water in your house, this is however a little more pricey and more of an investment.
3) You can use a detergent specifically for Hard Water such as Rockin' Green - Hard Rock
4) Adding a little more detergent than you normally would
5) You may need to strip your diapers more often to prevent leaks, rashes, and smells


*Having soft water tends to cause very few problems in regards to laundering Cloth Diapers.


What are your experiences with Cloth Diapering and Laundering? 
Do you have Hard or Soft Water?
What works best for you?
Any other tricks or tips?
What is your favorite Detergent?

19 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing info about the water, I live in one of the highest hard water areas, bad for skin and clothes.
    Good morning, I am stopping by from request in FB group, just entered your giveaway and followed. Hope that you can come visit Oh! My Heartsie would love a visit, Check out Kids Spring Fling :) Thanks so much, Karren

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  2. Thank you so much for sharing these tips for keeping your cloth diapers soft. I don't have little babies anymore, but will keep this in mind when I eventually start to have grandchildren.

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  3. Thank you much for sharing!! My water is good here!

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  4. Thanks for this. My sons cloth diapers are starting to get hard and I was wondering what to do!

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  5. Very lucky to have awesome normal water!

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  6. The hard water here drives me crazy!! Miss my soft water tank.

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  7. I have soft water here in Ontario!! I used to have hard water in another location and I hated it for doing laundry.

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  8. We have slightly hard water according to that map. I do a whole extra rinse every time I wash my diapers so luckily I don't have to strip too much. But I do still have to strip every few months. This information was great! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. I think we are in the middle - hard/soft water... I am hoping to win some Rockin Green Detergent.. and try them out.. They have natural detergents for all types of water. :)

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  10. Thanks so much for this. We have really hard water where we live and it gave us so many problems when we started cloth diapering. This would have been so nice had I seen it back then. It's still a great reminder and help.

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  11. I will def get my water checked now!

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  12. Thank you for listing some tips for how to fix hard water problems. We have hard water and it is so hard trying to figure out how to fix the problem. I am going to talk to my husband about installing a water softener for our laundry!

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  13. We're in the very hard water zone. It's been so hard to find a wash routine that works well! I've finally settled on a laundry ball and cold water.

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  14. Have wondered if this could affect our diapers.. we have hard water at this house and ever since we moved here, i've noticed my son's diapers and inserts have a lingering stick. been wanting to try the Hard Rock detergent - now i definitely will!

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  15. Wow! Thank you for sharing. I have a soft water softener system.

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  16. Thank you for sharing the map! I learned my water is Moderate Hard, perhaps that's the reason we are having some issues with our diapers!

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  17. Thanks for the map, it looks like I have hard water, I never realized...

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  18. It looks like I'm on the line between hard soft - is there a way to find out for sure?

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  19. thanks for the info-we do need use a water softener at my house because of our hard water.

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