Originally Posted by actinic

We use 1/2 a scoop with each whites, towels and odiferous loads and we found out that we can use about half of the detergent in our front loader as we found that there is some soapiness after it cycles through. For our stained clothes, we make a soggy paste with the OxiClean and rub it into the area and let it set soak in a bucket of hot tapwater for ~30mins before tossing it into the washer.

Being a chemistry geek here 's a tidbit for those interested :

OxiClean's active ingredient is sodium percarbonate. When dissolved in water it does two things:

1. in the presence of organics, the percarbonate oxidizes the organics and becomes carbonate.

2. the percarbonate and carbonate reacts with dissolved calcium and magnesium to form calcium and magnesium carbonate, softening the water so that the detergent works better/use less. Remember adding Calgon or baking soda in the wash in areas of hard water? LOL...does basically the same thing less the oxidative aspect.

The amount of OxiClean in the wash really depends on how hard your water is. For front loaders, we use 1/2 a scoop as our water has a Total Hardness (Ca+Mg) of 8-12dGH or 143-215mg/L. You can call your municiple water works to find out what the hardness is or have your water tested. The cheapest route to test how hard your water is, take a sample to your local fish store and have them test for Total or General Hardness.

JME/2C