I have a rust problem. There just might be more RUST molecules in my water than hydrogen. Unless hydrogen is orange. Is hydrogen orange? Maybe it’s the hydrogen that’s ruining my laundry.
But somehow I doubt it.
I think it’s the rust.
When we first moved in, the water was orange for a month. We knew at that point we would never be able to stomach actually drinking the stuff. So, if you’re ever in Kroger’s or Wal-Mart and you see a young Mommy carrying an infant and consoling a toddler with graham crackers while using her whole body to steer a cart with approximately 236 gallons of water in it, wave. I might wave back. If I have a free hand.
But the reason I have called you here today is not concerning rust ingestion. No, it’s about the color of our t-shirts. And pretty white blouses. And towels. They all have one thing in common. They used to be white. And now they’re a dingy, pale, salmon color.
Yes, I know I could bleach them. But to do that I’d need an all white load. And, frankly, I don’t want to bother with a load of laundry that only consists of six articles. And what would I do with the rusty clothes that aren’t lucky enough to be entirely white?
So my question is this: What works for you? How do you keep your whites looking new when you have no choice but to suffer under the cruel, tyrannic reign of hard, rusty water? Is it a brand of detergent you’ve found that can defeat the evils of our oxidizing water pipes? Or an additive? Do color-safe bleaches really work? And keep in mind I’m married to a student. I’m not sure we can afford switching to Tide.
Oh, and as always, any natural solution would just light up my day! We have tried the vinegar in the rinse cycle, however. And the rust overpowered it.
Thank you so much; can’t wait to see your tips!
DO NOT BLEACH!!! Unless you want your some what colored clothing to turn a vibrant Rust color do not bleach. Bleach makes the iron in your water rust in your clothes. Rit dye makes a rust remover and the only non bleach alteranitive I found is worth the money is Snowy Bleach and I don’t know if you can get it in the south. I also can’t guarantee it will help with the rust.
We had that problem from our well water when I was growing up and getting a new well casing fixed it :). Helpful, I know. Umm, so good luck with that…How is your hair? Our long teenage hair all had an orange cast to it as well.
I grew up with orange hair, just like WW. (If you get a perm, or use Nair, it will turn PURPLE because of the reaction with the iron. Very, very funky.)
My solution: Do not own anything white. Seriously. Wasn’t worth it. That is the cheapest method.
When there are tons of minerals in the water, a water softener is the only thing I know of. You need SCIENCE (or a lot of salt) to get all that stuff out of the water *before* you do laundry with it.
The water I grew up with was so hard that we killed a water softener every 2-3 years. My parents’ eventual solution was to hook up the softener only to the HOT water. The clothes were already orange anyway.
I have the solution for you because I’ve been there. I first tried bleach…bleach plus iron = rust. All over my whites.
I now use this with my whites – IRON OUT. It’s a miracle product. Here is the website with a link to find a store near you that sells it. http://www.summitbrands.com/brands/IronOut.aspx
It isn’t cheap and the bottle is small but it will last quite a few loads and I don’t use it with every white wash.
get a water softener and then use the rust reduction salt. if we run out of salt our water is dayglo orange…then so is our tub, toilet, clothes and hair. iron out works great but it is very caustic so don’t use too much it will eat your clothes. oh and btw do not soak your bathtub init…it eats the finish. whoops.
Zoe – I would LOVE to get a water softener. But we’re renting. And I doubt 1) that the manager would let me and 2) and we’d have the room for it!
Connie – I’ll price the Iron Out and see how much it’ll cost me. It might be worth it if I only use it once a month. Thanks!
MrsB – I was hoping no one would say that! I love the color white! Sigh. 🙂
Beckie – Thanks for the advice about bleach. I did not know that!
WW – You know, now that you mention it… my hair is more red that it’s ever been. And maybe that red tint in my children’s hair isn’t as natural as I thought it was. Scary to think there’s more than genetics at work here!
My mom had this problem at a beach house she rented for a summer – the only thing that worked in that temporary type of situation? Oxyclean. A big ol scoop in every load seemed to help (read the label).
Hope you find the solution long term!
I had the same problem growing up. Our water was always orange, my hair had orange tint, our clothes were orange tint, and the shower was always orange tinted. I HATED IT!!!
Now I’m on “city water” so I don’t have that problem.
My mom also used iron out. I would complain to the super. All other people in your apt complex prob have the same problem. The super is prob too cheap to fix it or care.
Beth, bleach is a no no with rust, it will make things worse. My mother had this problem at her house and bought an Amway product that you add to the wash for the white clothes. I know Amway is expensive, but it lasts if you just use it on the whites. (NO I am not an amway salesperson!).
When I had a little bit of trouble one place I lived I used baking soda in the water. It is gentle but has a tendency to not let the rust stick as bad. Then there is rust out or the dye remover that comes in a box and I am having a brain stall as to the name. The company that starts with an R and makes all the dyes for fabrics, you know the one. (OK, so I am a grandmother and my brain stalls sometimes!)
My mom always used Iron Out before we got a water softener. It seems like it only works as a preventive measure though, not sure it will help your already damaged items.
Corinne – it did work on the clothes I had already turned orange because of bleach.
I haven’t noticed any clothes being ruined because of it, but I wouldn’t use it everytime I washed whites.
Rit – you know, the little boxes of dye at the grocery store, makes a product to remove rust. http://www.ritdye.com/Fabric+Treatments.28.51.7.53.lasso.
We have had good luck with this.
How about putting stuff out in the sun? I haven’t personally experienceed your particular problem, but I do know that the sun sure does make formerly stained diapers sparkle like new! Might be worth a shot.
I LOVE WHITE — so we have a Culligan water filter (CP5-BBS is the filter – filters to .5 microns, I believe) installed just past the water tank which gave me white whites again. We change out the filter about every 3 weeks, so about $10-$11/mo. — works great; well water now tastes great, so no need to buy water anymore (have you tried a water filtering pitcher for drinking water — much cheaper than bottled?). The Culligan also allows me the luxury of using bleach in the laundry. Toilets have a little iron sediment accumulation at the top of the water level, for which I use a 1″ x 4″ lava stone (w/ handle) purchased at a local store, just for this problem. This is a rather inexpensive solution to high iron content, even if you’re renting.
Iron Out for laundry works great and you don’t have to use much.
Careful though it stinks and the powder seems to take on a life of it’s own in the air!
OxyClean will always be in my house I always use it in every white load I wash it’s awesome.
Also – it takes out pet stains in carpet (I have a light berber) like magic…it also takes out
the stain from the yellow middle of flowers, especially Star Gazer Lillies.
I wonder if OxyClean will work on my orange hair? hmmmm…
Ahhh what would life be without learning 🙂
Has ANYONE come up with something to put on hair to remove this build up of orange tint to the hair?????
I have a client that starts off with beautiful blonde hair when she comes back to me for highlights her hair is ORANGE! We know its the water and not sure what type of filter to invest in (she doesn’t want to spend money of course on a filter if her hair is still going to turn orange).
So has anyone found a product that will remove this ORANGE from her hair?!
HEEELP!!
It was a pleasure reading your blog entry. I bookmarked the site for future reference
For my hair I use a shampoo called Malibu, it’s sulfate free and specifically designed for well water. I recommend letting it sit for a few minutes while you shower or whatever. There are others you can get as well if you look around. If you have a Sally Beauty supply store try there.
all you need to do is mix 2 packages of kool-aide lemonaide with a couple ounces of hot water and spray on.Let this soak for about an hour and she will have beautiful blonde hair once again……We have rusty well water and I do this about once a wekk…..way better than a malibu treatment and less expensive….GOOD LUCK
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The water softener idea is the best; it gets to the root cause of your problem to eliminate it for good. If you’re renting tell the landlord that you need a water softener because your clothes are getting ruined and the water is not fit to drink, wash your hair in or anything else. Get your neighbors to make the same request; there’s power in numbers. If they don’t do anything about it get an attorney. Clean water is a basic human need and you should not have to live like this just because you’re renting.
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