Q. I recently moved from Ireland to America. I used Clorox tablets while abroad, and was wondering where I could purchase them in the US?

A. I am not familiar with the Clorox Tabs. I have seen several dry bleach tablets from Europe, but didn't know that we sold them.

In the USA, there is not a market for almost any tablets in the laundry. Several companies have tried over the years, but the consumers have failed to respond positively. They seem to like the liquid version of detergent and bleach for its convenience and not having to worry about the dissolving issues.

The only dry bleach/tablet version that was most recently marketed was from Carbona. I'm not sure that they still market it. You might want to try our liquid bleach, Clorox® Regular-Bleach. Follow the link to see of video of me demonstrating how to use liquid bleach in the laundry – http://www.drlaundryblog.com/?page_id=240

Q. A couple of times I have left my laundry in the basket, without having dried the items completely. I now have been having trouble with mold and mildew on my clothes. How can I combat this? Also, what are your products that work best for colors? Can you give me other tips?

A. When your problem goes from an off-odor to visible black spots, then you have a much more serious problem that needs to be dealt with immediately to protect your health.

The best, most effective treatment is using a liquid bleach containing sodium hypochlorite like our Clorox® Regular-Bleach for whites and bleachable colors. Our color safe bleach, called Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster, is for use on colored fabrics.

So here are some tips for dealing with your problem:
• Carefully brush away any black spots. Try and control the spores from being launched into the air and spread to other items.
• You must get rid of the mildew/mold on the clothes/in the washer and change your wash habits to prevent the problem from recurring in the future.
• For white clothes, wash in hot water using detergent and Clorox® Regular-Bleach. You could also consider a short presoak (add 1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach to a gallon of water. Immerse the garments for 5-10 minutes, then launder in hot water as mentioned above). Immediately dry or hang the items in the sun. You should do one of these liquid bleach washes as your first wash to remove any residual mildew/mold in the washer, and then again at the end after you have treated the colored clothes to prevent spreading the mold to future loads.
• A little known fact is that a lot of colored items can also safely be bleached. You can do the quick Bleachability Test (add 2 tspn. Clorox® Regular-Bleach to 1/4 cup water; apply a drop on the colors in a hidden area, like inside seam; then wait 1 minute before blotting with a towel). If, after drying, there is no color change, this means it is safe to use liquid bleach on the item as described above.
• For the colored clothes that are not bleachable, you have fewer and less effective options. Test the items (like above) to see if lemon juice can be applied. If so, apply it to the spots and spread some salt over the area. Place the items in the sun to dry, then rinse and launder. You can also try a direct application of either the Clorox2 (wait 3-5 minutes, then wash in the warmest water recommended on the care labels). You might also try a diluted hydrogen peroxide solution on the spots, followed by laundering. You are attempting to kill the spores and remove the discoloration with these approaches.
• After the cleaning process, it is most important to dry the clothes quickly and completely either in the dryer or hung out in the sun. Do not allow the clothes to sit in the washer or basket for an extended period of time as these are perfect condition for breeding mildew and mold. This along with the liquid bleach washes mentioned above should bring the problem under control. You will need to pay closer attention to when the clothes are coming out of the washer and get them into the drying phase ASAP.

Q. I notice that when adding Clorox to wash water, which already has Tide in it, the water turns a rusty/orange color. (This color does not spread to my clothes). But when Clorox is added to the water without Tide, there is no change. What's the cause?

A. Directly mixing Clorox® Regular-Bleach and Liquid Tide basically is a complex chemical reaction. The sodium hypochlorite active in Clorox® Regular-Bleach is a powerful oxidant and is looking for anything in the wash water, to react with. One ingredient in Liquid Tide that is available is the fluorescent whitening agents, also known as brighteners. The reaction between the Clorox and the Tide changes the chemical structure of this complex dye and creates what I call the "red flash.” The color observed is dependent on the type and amount of brightener present in the detergent. (So most likely the lower quality products will have a less intense/noticeable color.) As you observed, the color created by the reaction does NOT deposit on the clothes and after the bleach has done its usual great job, the clothes are still "nice and white".

Ways to avoid this happening:
• Use your bleach dispenser – it delays the addition of the bleach so the detergent brighteners have a chance to deposit on the fabrics.
• Do the 5-minute delayed addition (mix 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach in a quart of water, then pour into the washer 5 minutes after agitation begins). Again, this allows the detergent ingredients to begin working and the brighteners to deposit themselves on the fabric. Once it is on the fabric, the bleach does not react with it.

Q. What's the right way to use Clorox bleach in my Frigidaire front-loading washing machine? The dispenser drawer has separate compartments for detergent, bleach and fabric softener. How much bleach should I be using? Are there any other points to remember when adding bleach to my machine?

A. The simple answer for bleach usage in any HE washer is whatever the bleach dispenser capacity happens to be. The only way you can add products to a HE machine is via the built-in dispenser unit and it's almost impossible to add more without negatively impacting the products in adjacent compartments from the overflow. On the Frigidaire we have in the lab, there is a Min- and Max- level indicator. So, fill the dispenser to the top and that should satisfy your needs.

While you are not adding as much as in a top-loader washer, less water and the fact that the bleach is dispensed a little later in the cycle means this will work for you.

Q. We have a red tablecloth with a wax stain. We think it is cotton. How can we remove the stain?

A. These removal tips are a little tricky and do not always completely remove the problem.
• Remove as much of the hardened wax as possible by scraping with dull knife or peeling from the surface.
• Lay 2-3 white paper towels on the surface. Place the wax stain face DOWN on the towels, then place another paper towel on the backside.
• Press a WARM iron (no steam) onto the back side to start the "melting" process. As the wax transfers to the towels, keep changing them to a "clean" portion to prevent re-depositing the wax back onto the tablecloth. Keep doing this until no more wax is transferred.
• Now the choices are: pretreat with a dry cleaner solvent or take it to a dry cleaner for treatment. If you pretreat, dab the warmed spots until all the remaining wax is transferred to the cloth (keep rotating to clean parts of the cloth like the original warm iron approach).
• Next, pretreat the spot with a good liquid laundry or dishwasher detergent and wash in the warmest water recommended on the care label. To remove any residual color, add (along with your ordinary detergent) 3/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach, if white, or the recommended amount of Clorox2® Stain Fighter and Color Booster if colored.
• AIR dry the tablecloth. Putting it in the dryer could re-warm any residual wax and drive it into the fibers making subsequent removal difficult/impossible.
• Repeat the procedure if any stain remains.