I purchased an expensive, high tech, high efficiency (HE) laundry washer
and dryer set. I wanted to do what I could to help the environment. Water is going to get scarce. After a few months
I discovered the odor problem. The treatments that are usually recommended by the manufacturers (vinegar, baking soda or chlorine
bleach) did not work well in my situation.
I started to investigate why a new, expensive washer had this kind of problem. I found
that there seems to be an increase in odor when a lot of detergent and/or fabric softener is used. That makes sense. These
are organic based materials and the film coating they provide is a good growth medium for the mold and mildew. That's
it! The the film on the wetted surfaces of the machine provide a giant "Petri Dish" to grow things!
There will always be organic food for the mold and mildew. There will always be mold and mildew spores in the air.
The growth can not be kept out of the machine ...
So, it must be controlled in some way. This is the same problem I had when I was the engineer responsible for keeping a
bunch of water cooling systems from fouling. Washers are a much smaller size with a different use pattern, but the general principles are
still the same.
There are two means of controlling the growth.
1. Periodically destroy the cells of the organisms by using harsh chemicals and flush them out of
the machine. Since the growth will always come back you need to time the period between shocks correctly.
2. Kill existing growth and then continuously control
smells by contaminating the detergent film to so it will be difficult for the stuff to grow on it.
As a retired chemical engineer, I felt that I could
come up with a laundry additive that would work with method #2 without damaging clothes, washers, plumbing or the environment.
It needed to be safe enough to be used regularly, but, effective enough to control the odor. I tried a number of materials
and found a combination that worked well on my system.
Nu Fresh is the result!
