New Microfiber washign routine worked out well.

[Kurt_s]

This seems a perfect place to follow up to my post about linting. Recent washing of a dozen towels by hand cleaned up the linting. I have another couple dozen to clean by hand.

I was told that vinegar could restore MF towels that were washed with fabric softener but we don't use a fabric softener with soft water. I may yet try white vinegar after reading this post. Thanks for the recos!!

Having lived with softened water for nearly 50 years, I love it. My parents installed a water softener when I was a kid to solve a dermatitis issue for my mom. The big benefit when car washing, when I rinse down my car with soft water after washing, I don't worry about hard water spots.rops:

 

[dublifecrisis]

Like blackbart, I dry on low for about 15-20 minutes then take everything out and hang dry. It's all dry the next morning. I never put my guzzler WW's in the dryer though. They hang right up and air dry.

 

[Matt]

I
This gets them clean without over loading the washer with soap.

True that! The Fisher and Paykel man was showing me the effects of using too much soap in our washing machine when he came to remove some plastic twisty tie from the drainage pump. If you remove the washer bowl (you can usually remove it by removing the agitator and then giving the bowl a sharp tug upwards) and if you see grimy looking remnants it means you're either using too much or too little soap.

I usually do a hand soak in a separate bucket if the microfibers are really dirty. This generally removes all the heavy soiling ensuring you don't make cleaner towels used for the same job dirty.

 

[Going Mobile]

My understanding of vinegar is that it is a soap remover (as already stated), a degreaser, and it lowers the pH level of hard water by bonding to the hw minerals, thus lowering the pH of the water. The problem that occurs is when adding vinegar with detergent in the wash, at the same time. In order for many detergents to work, they make or turn the wash water into an alkaline pH level. By adding the two together, the vinegar reduces, sometimes neutralizes the detergent’s ability to clean. BTW, some detergents contain enzymes, which don't work well in cold water, which is why I use warm.

Like most here, rops: I’ve been washing my MF’s in liquid detergent, then adding vinegar to the rinse cycle, warm water all around. Really dirty MF’s get washed separately and all get dried under low heat and removed damp to hang dry. In two years, I’ve never had a problem with a MF towel. I may have bought some junk MF’s, but none were damaged from the wash.

 

[howejt]

As I stated I never installed a water softener but have showered 1000's of times with soft water and when drying it seems like you washed in diesel fuel.
42 years as a long distance trucker I have showered in water from coast to coast
As I stated I HATE SOFT WATER and no way in hell I'm drinking it.

I'm not familiar to the analogy about diesel fuel, but being a petroleum product (like gasoline) I assume you mean your skin feels greasy/oily. The difference between hard and soft water is this: in soft water, the soap rinses clean and your skin feels slick, smooth and supple (soap will also lather much better). With hard water, the soap doesn't rinse as clean or lather well (especially if using bar soap) and your skin feels "grabby" or "squeaky" like running your fingers over wet leather or rubber. So if you mean to say that your skin feels less clean (maybe oily) after bathing in "soft" water, that is really hard water that you don't like! As far as when I travel, I find that most municipal water supplies are generally towards the hard side of the water quality scale and are much worse than what I get from my well at home after passing through a water softener. Given that most of the water comes from ground water sources across the country, I feel that you are most likely to encounter hard water rather than soft water, because it costs money to soften water than not.

My skin and hair don't feel as clean after bathing in hard water, so I do think you might have hard and soft water confused. Especially when the water has an odor or taste (possibly why you object to drinking it), that is most likely organic matter or minerals not being removed and would most likely indicate a hard water.

Sorry for being off-track in this thread with water softener discussion, but if Black Bart has hard/soft water straight, he would be the first person I know who prefers hard water.

As far as lint, I don't know if there really is a solution to quality microfiber towels shedding fibers.

 

[Bunky]

When I was searching for a water softener, you see all sorts of experiences with soft water.

I have traveled and some water is treated but a lot has to do with the local water and what other stuff is in the water like iron, etc. Water near the coastal areas always tastes different than water inland. We are located on a huge rock pile underground so the water tends to be very hard with plenty of iron.

When we lived near the cost, we had soft water (Culligan) and the water is totally different than where we live now with softened water. It is not the softening effect itself that is difference.

The water softener proponents will say that the "slippery" feeling is because you are not stripping every bit of natural body oil on your skin as happens with harder water (higher pH).

The fact that all agree is that hard water clogs up pipes, leaves water spots and stains on surfaces after drying, soaps clean less effectively, and can damage appliances like water heaters, etc. This is why I have a water softener.