What is happening to my whites?

[justbreathe]

I've noticed since moving here that all of my white laundry gets an ugly dingy color. At first I just assumed they weren't getting clean enough and I've tried lots of different detergents, oxyclean, sun drying, actual bleach :(, everything that I know to try. None of my clothes ever get really clean but I'm not over or under loading my washer or going that long before washing.

Is there just something wrong with my washing machine? My water?

I'm tired of all my whites turning an ugly orangey brown. :pout

[3boysforme]

Do you have well water?

[justbreathe]

no, we have "county" water. :(

[3boysforme]

I don't know what county water means :shifty

My guess is that there is a lot of iron in your water? I have well water that is high in iron and all my white eventually turn a lovely shade of rust :-/

So far my only solution has been to not buy white things or get my mom to wash them at her house.

[Auroras mom]

It's hard water scale deposits - they won't come off easily, unfortunately. Vinegar rinse in the fabric softener compartment can help. Do you use natural soaps, like Charlie's? (if you do, stop) Using less detergent also can help.

[justbreathe]

"county water" - where we lived before it was just called city water, meaning it came from the city water sanitation (or whatever) dept and we had to pay the city for it. Here the town is too small to be called a city so everyone just calls it "county water". :giggle

So, it's a hard water problem? :think and there isn't much I can do about it? :( About a month or so ago, I just bought a beautiful black, white, and grey duvet and now it's starting to get ugly. :help I can't deal with all these dingy whites - I'm a type 4! And, I wear white tank tops to layer all.the.time. :doh

I've tried so many different types of detergents. right now, I'm using arm and hammer free and clear.

Any recommendations for detergents?

[Apple-Saucy]

You need a water softener...run some rust out in your washer, then run a load of whites with like a tb or so of rust out in it....do NOT put your duvet in there...use rust out on WHITES ONLY!

[crunchymum]

What kind of washer do you have? We had a front loader, and ALL my whites got dingy.

[Domina]

Also, are you using hot water? My whites get sort of grey when I wash them in cold water.

[justbreathe]

Nope, top loader and always use hot for whites. They tend to get weird brown spots (like large faded brown areas that look like old stains but there hasn't been anything on them to stain them :scratch). When I've tried bleaching them, it didn't help.

---------- Post added at 09:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:47 AM ----------

I'll definitely have to get some rust out! :yes

[HadassahSukkot]

Sounds like it's definitely the water. Do you think maybe your local water works/office could tell you how hard it is and such?