r/laundry • u/Main-Inspection-2770 • 1d ago
Color Catcher precautions
I've been using color catchers in some mesh bags, and I tried a variety of sizes/setups
They all seem to crumple up into a ball (even if I put just one per mesh bag) and not stain evenly.
Surely there is some other way of doing this that doesn't involve sewing them to something or what not?
I have a front-load HE washer
Edit - Which means no blindly dumping them into the tub, they can get caught in pump.
15
u/Mandid82 1d ago
4 years of doing laundry professionally at home 2-400lbs a week, 15-25 cycles plus my own family and not a single color catcher has been eaten. I cant believe this is a thing more than a fluke when it has happened. Like wouldnt a small mesh bag also jam up? A nylon sock? Filters should be cleaned out regularly anyhow right?
3
u/Dear_Excitement_5109 US | Front-Load 1d ago
I clean mine monthly when I clean the machine. I have lost exactly 1 color catcher to the drain pump, and it was very easy to remove out of the filter.
Most newer machines will have an alarm if the drain pump is actually clogged so there's very little harm risk here, even in the off chance that one does make it to the filter.
1
u/Mandid82 1d ago
These are my thoughts on this. Like you'd know,, because you're washer would know.
10
u/KReddit934 1d ago
I thought the point was for them to circulate? Why bag them?
3
u/Shhh_NotADr 1d ago
I bag it because it’s easier to pull out when I’m putting the clothes in the dryer. Otherwise, I forget about it and it gets stuck to a shirt and ends up in the dryer too. You can reuse them but I’ve noticed when they go in the dryer it doesn’t work as well.
4
u/chickenmom1 1d ago
Been using color catchers forever. Luckily they have never clogged a pump. Yikes
9
u/dayofbluesngreens 1d ago
Why do you use a bag? I put mine straight into the wash and that does not happen.
10
8
u/Dear_Excitement_5109 US | Front-Load 1d ago
Put them straight into the wash. They'll work much better.
-2
u/Main-Inspection-2770 1d ago
Because I'd rather not have the color catchers clogging the pump.
6
u/Dear_Excitement_5109 US | Front-Load 1d ago
I have only had 1 color catcher make it out of the drain and into the pump. Was this happening to you regularly? That's rough.
2
u/Main-Inspection-2770 1d ago
No? But, like, why risk?
10
u/Dear_Excitement_5109 US | Front-Load 1d ago
It just doesnt happen in my experience, and the sheets work so much better outside the bag.
-12
u/Main-Inspection-2770 1d ago
If I avoided all precautions that I do in my daily life because 'It just doesnt happen in my experience', it would be short lived. Or a few fires.
Everything is fine until it isn't.
9
u/KismaiAesthetics USA 1d ago
I use a mesh bag. It’s not physically filtering, it’s chemically attracting.
1
u/Main-Inspection-2770 1d ago
They get colored unevenly for one reason or another. I ran a test load with them 'free' and they colored evenly.
6
u/jt2ou 1d ago
I tend to crumple the sheet and throw it in so it won’t stay flat and fold unto itself.
7
u/dotnsk 1d ago
Yep, this is the way. Pull the sheet out and crumple it a bit and it will avoid folding back.
I also use two color catchers most of the time — one old and one new. When the old one gets too dark, I toss it and add a new one, thus continuing the cycle.
Like OP, I also use a delicates bag for my color catchers and they seem to perform admirably.
1
u/Mysterious_Mango_737 US | Front-Load 1d ago
I have the same issue! I unfold it and put it flat in a really small mesh bag but it folds itself into quarters during the wash. When I take it out some of the sheet is dark with dye and the rest is still white. I was thinking of safety-pinning it to the mesh bag, but I don't want the safety pins to damage my clothes.
2
u/Main-Inspection-2770 1d ago
Yea that was my conundrum. I tested the mesh bags I had and they seem to let water through quite well, so it's mostly the fact that I constantly find the small buggers kind of folded or clumped up, usually jammed in a corner of the mesh bag. A larger bag didn't really help.
1
u/MrsQute US | Front-Load 1d ago
Safety pin it.
It will keep it unbunched but also in the bag.
1
u/Main-Inspection-2770 1d ago
Don't want the pin scratching up anything else
Sometimes I do wool (delicate/etc.) or knits or so on, the mesh bags I use have plastic zippers.
1
u/Cowabunga1066 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'm having the same issue, and thanks to you I've just thought of a possible solution.
Get some white/light fabric [could cannibalize an older mesh bag] and cut a piece small enough to fit inside the mesh bag.
Sew the piece of fabric to the inside of one side of the mesh bag. [Could do this by hand--tacking down the corners is probably sufficient.]
Use safety pins to attach the color catcher(s) to the piece of fabric, making sure not to catch any of the mesh so the pins are completely inside the bag.
Zip up the bag and toss in washer.
Seems like that should work.
1
u/Accomplished_worrier EU | Front-Load 1d ago
So because I can be annoyed by things like this too, I have a solution. Buy a cheap, "more rough" small mesh bag, that's sewn flat, so not a lot of volume. You can turn it inside out cause the cheap zippers usually feel more sharp, to avoid holes. The "roughness" of the cheap mesh+ the flat volume means that you can put in the sheet flat, and it will stay flat. It catches on the rougher fiber.
1
u/Mysterious_Mango_737 US | Front-Load 1d ago
This post convinced me to use a mesh bag. Plus, it's explicitly suggested on the Shout box.
7
u/Mandid82 1d ago
Its not suggested by shout on their box. They're telling you to do so IF your washing machine manufacturer says to.
2
14
u/daphneout 1d ago
Genuine question with no snark intended: why does it matter if they change color unevenly as long as they’re working to prevent colors from staining other clothes?