Like most families, we do a lot of laundry. I don’t hate the act of doing laundry but I’m always concerned about the impact laundry has on the environment whether it’s the use of water, energy required to run the washer and dryer, heat the water for a load, or the effect of high efficiency (HE) detergents on the environment. Years ago when visiting Bosch and getting the inside scoop on household appliances, I learned that I could clean our clothes just as effectively with cold water as with hot and haven’t looked back but when pureWash reached out and offered me the chance to review one of their pureWash Pro units, I was curious.
About pureWash Pro
pureWash Pro ($297) is a unit that attaches to your washing machine that infuses activated oxygen into the water as it fills the drum of your washer. Since oxygen naturally purifies and cleans your clothes, killing 99.9% of bacteria and mold while keeping clothes soft, there’s no need for detergent.
No detergent? Really?!?
As a family of allergy sufferers that has been using fragrance and dye free detergent for nearly ten years, I was curious about how pureWash Pro worked and whether it would clean our clothes and linens just as well as with detergent. I was initially skeptical (it’s ok to admit that you are too!) but after a month of using pureWash Pro, I haven’t added laundry detergent to our washer once and indeed, pureWash Pro with tap cold water cleans our laundry just as well as our washing machine used to when we added detergent.
How pureWash Pro Works
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, instead of trying to explain how pureWash Pro works, this minute-long video describes how the unit works far more efficiently than I ever could through a written description.
pureWash Pro works in 5 easy steps to get your laundry clean:
- Add clothes to the washing machine
- Skip the detergent and the fabric softener. Or you can add ¼ the normal detergent if your clothes are heavily soiled or you prefer a bit of fragrance.
- Select “tap cold” cycle (more on this below)
- Start the washer
- Dry your clothes normally
Really. That’s it!
Installing pureWash Pro
Installing the pureWash Pro system was extremely easy. The unit is installed on the cold water supply to your washer between your cold water faucet and the washing machine. The pureWash Pro comes with an everything you need to install the system. There’s no need to turn off water to the whole house or even to pull the washing machine out from the wall. You can turn off the cold water supply valve to your washing machine and then connect the hoses so that the pure wash sits in the middle.
I chose to unscrew the existing hose from my cold water supply valve and then to connect that hose to the output of the pureWash Pro. This prevented me from having to disconnect or reconnect any hoses on the back of the washing machine itself. The unit plugs into a standard wall outlet.
The pureWash Pro comes with a full-size mounting template that is extremely helpful in installing and mounting the unit. I had very little space to work with and the template guided me to install the pureWash Pro perfectly on the first try so that it just fit under my cabinets, above the washing machine.
Once the unit was installed and plugged in, I wanted to run a load of laundry to test it out. I went to start a load and realized that maybe it was time to do some research.
While we’re pretty savvy when it comes to home DIY, pureWash Pro should be fairly easy even for the less confident homeowner. pureWash features a helpful installation video on their YouTube channel.
Washing with Tap Cold vs Cold Water
Installing the pureWash Pro got me thinking about something I never really understood on our washing machine: What exactly is the difference between “tap cold” and “cold “water?
It turns out that when laundry manufacturers create soap to be used with “cold water” cycles, they are talking about the kind of tap water that comes out of the tap in warm climates or during the summer. If you live somewhere cold, modern washing machines will heat up your 50° winter tap water to 65-75 degrees automatically. While “cold water wash” may not be using “hot” water, your washing machine is using electricity to boost the cold water temperature to temperature ranges that the soap manufacturers expect for their products to work correctly. Interesting, right?
With the pureWash Pro, you no longer need the soap, so you should feel free to use the “tap cold” cycle exclusively, preventing your washing machine from heating up the water at all.
First Impressions of My First pureWash Pro Load of Laundry
For a first load, I threw in a bunch of older white bathroom towels that have gotten kind of grungy. I ran them through and they came out “not smelling like old towels,” which I see as a good thing.
When your washing machine starts filling, the pureWash Pro system senses the water movement and turns on, oxygenating the water entering the washing machine. The unit has a blue light which comes on and you can see bubbles going through a tube on a clear window of the pureWash Pro unit. When the water stops flowing, the unit turns off. The pureWash Pro unit is mother-in-law and house guest-proof. You don’t do anything, it turns itself on and off automatically so sorry kids, you’re still able to help with the laundry!
After the load of towels, we just went back to doing our regular laundry, but we’ve stopped using soap completely. If something has chocolate, grass, dirt, food, or pen stains on it, we spray it with stain remover before washing it. The laundry smells great, and I have no complaints.
How do I know pureWash Pro is working?
Well, at first glance, the blue light is on, and there are bubbles in the window of the pureWash Pro system.
Honestly though, how do I really know it is working?
We’ve been using the system continuously for about a month, using absolutely no laundry soap. Between clothes, rags, bath mats, a weekend with house guests, and 1 large muddy dog, we’ve probably run 15-20 loads of laundry with the pureWash Pro. Undershirts are clean and smell good, the towels aren’t musty, and everything seems to be as clean as I would have expected in the past.
If you want to do some research on the use of ozone to clean laundry, Wikipedia and OTEK Sustainable Laundry Solutions serve as third party links that are not affiliated with the manufacturer that I might be useful in learning more.
Summary
Originally skeptical about oxygenated water’s ability to handle our family’s soiled clothes, Oliver the Dog’s muddy towels, and the myriad of other things that make their way through the washing machine, I have to say that pureWash Pro has exceeded my expectations. Even though pureWash Pro is an investment, it’s a long term one that you can feel good about that will eventually pay for itself since you no longer have to add detergent to every load of laundry.
pureWash Pro sells for $297 and is available through their website or via Amazon.
Win a pureWash Pro for Your Home!
Since pureWash is a family business that wants to help people do their laundry better, they are providing a pureWash Pro unit as a giveaway. To enter, use the Rafflecopter form below!
pureWash sent me a pureWash Pro for review purposes. All opinions are my own and those of my family. No compensation was received for this post or hosting a giveaway. Amazon Affiliate links included in this post.
I like that it’s easy to set up and that it will save me a ton of money on laundry soap!
My fave feature is easy installation.
pureWash Pro’s technology has been used by leading hospitals and hotels for more than 20 years to clean laundry
I like the easy installation. I am not very good at that part! 🙂
i love that it is odor free and that i can be apart of the hotel and hostiptal world with a product that i can use at home that does same as they would in hotels and hostiptals. i am really excited about this.
i learned Pays for itself in 1st year
Reduces energy costs dramatically. Eliminates detergent and chemical spending. now thats what i need in my life.
i hit the wrong button for shared link for google plus . here ismy real link sorry: https://plus.google.com/110205743471138690357/posts/cftyJLE2HTt
My fave feature is easy installation.
i learned that it reduces energy costs dramatically
I like the fact that there is no need for detergent.
I like the fact that you don’t have to use laundry detergent
I learned that the pureWash Pro eliminates 99.9% of bacteria and mold.
I love the whole idea of washing clothes without using harsh detergents or other potentially harmful chemicals! We have some sensitive skin issues, and I am always concerned about soaps and other chemicals going out into the ground and groundwater. This would be perfect for those concerns!
I learned that the company recommends always pre-treating tough stains. I like that they don’t make promises they can’t keep.
I like that there’s no detergent involved
My favorite feature is no need to add detergent or fabric softener.
Looks fairly easy to install. I like that it allows you to wash with cold water. I live in a cold climate so I can’t use the “cold wash” detergent (it isn’t effective). This would be neat to try.
i learned that it reduces energy costs
I like that it doesn’t need detergent.
I learned that the New pureWash Pro model increases cleaning strength by 10x!
This is so awesome- and nothing like I have ever heard of before. I absolutely love that no detergent is needed and I learned that it significantly reduces energy costs!
no need to add detergent or softener
No laundry soap needed? This would be great for folks with sensitive skin!
What I like best is that no detergent is needed which is really very important to me because I am allergic to most detergents.
I like that it saves me money in the long run and I don’t need detergent.
My fave feature is easy installation.
I love that it turns itself on and off and you don’t have to do anything extra to get the benefits.
It is amazing to me that you don’t need to use detergent. How nice!
that it requires little or no detergent and uses cold water
it reduces energy costs
No detergent! Amazing
I love that allergen free quality!
I love that it doesn’t use detergent, which doesn’t leave residue on clothes, or enter our waste water system.
I love that its detergent free
My favorite is it kills 99.9% of bacteria and mold
My favorite feature is easy installation.
I learned that you get softer clothes
I learned that it’s effective at killing 99% of bacteria.
I learned that the Purewash pays for itself in 1st year and
reduces energy costs dramatically. Eliminates detergent and chemical spending.
I like the fact that there is no need for detergent.