apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Proven to be ineffective at least as early as 1997:

http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/fsad/outreach/downloadable-resources/newsletter-archive/upload/TXA-News-03-99.pdf

Yeah... I don't trust dryer balls and now another product to avoid, along with slimfast, orangeglo and all that interminable hyper-hyped list of "amazing" products.

Shipping is under $7 - the set itself is $54.95 :(
If they worked it would still be worth it but alas, they're definitely not super cheap.

Yeah, for $7 I might be willing to give these a shot, but for $55?? That just sounds like a big scam to me.

Here's an article from the FTC:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt018.shtm

Do you know if these would work with HE high-efficiency detergent?

Rule: Infinitely reusable products that claim to release "charged ions" into the water are a sham. You've got to have salts to do this. You know - like a water softening system. Ceramics? Inert. Nope.

These have never worked. You're wasting your money. Just plain water in the washing machine actually cleans nearly as well as water detergent, so if you want to go green, just stop using detergent, spot treat stains only, and skip the gimmicks that don't work.

And seriously - you should at least do a little bit of research before posting stuff like this.

Yeah, doing a little research seems reasonable. And these totally look like a scam.

That said, Djluckyonline - don't hate on the dryer balls! According to the empirical evidence in my dryer, they really do cut drying time significantly, especially with sheets and towels.

Hmmm. Maybe the dryer balls cut drying time but they don't soften. At all. I have 4 of em. They just bang around.

A non biodegradable solution to cut back on polution? This is just one more thing to clog our landfills and is probably worse for the enviornment than the extra detergent!

Every time when I see the topic, I am confused...
Since both of us have sensitive skin issue,
we choose non fragrance laundry detergent and sheet.
I often do not to use laundry sheet, but don't see
any difference very much...
Do we really need laundry sheet/ball/disc thing?

redbonnie, no, you don't need dryer sheets. We used to go through boxes of them until the doctor told us that skipping them is better for my husband's eczema-prone skin, so we went cold turkey. No dryer sheets at all, and we never even noticed a difference. I don't put anything AT ALL (except wet clothes) in my dryer. Dries just fine.

Oh, no. They don't soften. I didn't realize that was part of the point. They do save energy by cutting drying time.

Any product that involves "ions" is probably a scam.

i live in Paris and am able to buy Rhita seeds (sapindus mukorossi) which are seeds from the soap tree. I use 5 whole seeds tied up in a cloth bad instead of detergent, and not only is my laundry clean, but it's scentless unless i add an essential oil to flavour it. For those of you interested in ecological laundry choices, i urge you to check this out... I assume they're available somewhere at a health store in the states. or, if you read french, look them up here. www.ecoidees.com

For JefferyK's comment above. Ions are not scam in this case. (Maybe scam in hair products) The chemistry of washing is all about ionic charges.
Detergent dissolves in water forming molecules with charges on their ends - hydrophlic and hydrophbic ends. These charges are attached to dirt on one side and to water molecules on the other, hence cleaning the garments.
Hard water contains a lot of mineral. They don't do well with washing because the mineral are attached to the charges. Water softeners are just salt, which increase the ions (e.g. Na ) in water so that the water can attach to dirt.
I have used these ion laundry technology before. They are not new at all, they have been around for over 10 years. I got them in my first year college (1996), bought them from Hong Kong. They never became popular because people prefer the visual of washing bubbles and the "fresh" smell of fragrance.
I remember my roommate thought it was totally weird, and used my laundry balls with detergent. Totally defeated the point.
I suspect this is not going to be popular. It is hard to break human habits.

The dispensery in my Energy Star washing machine I bought from Sears Scratch and Dent does this for me.

Evil Tofu -

You're right that polarized molecules do trap dirt. And yes, that is how detergents work.

However, ceramic discs (as those in the advertised product) do NOT produce any ions or other polarized molecules. They are inert - they are not salts, they are not detergents. The claim that they break water molecules into OH- and H is totally bogus - ceramic does no such thing, and even if it did, it's a endothermic reaction - highly disfavored. They'd just instantly slap back together into an H2O, since this is their lower-energy state.

Any and all chemists out there totally laugh at the idea that ceramic balls in washers create ions. Doesn't happen.

So JeffreyK is right here - this is a scam.

Your clothes got clean because just plain wash water does a pretty good job cleaning clothes. See the article linked above for a good study showing that the ceramic balls work no better than nothing at all.