Rug washing with Nikwax Rug Wash

[9tails]

I took my horse's no fill turnout home to wash with the bought specially Nikwax Rug Wash. My horse unfortunately doesn't smell of horse when hot or wet but rather wet dog so this rug had a strong odour of stale wet dog and was discoloured rather than muddy. So in the wash it went, in went the right amount of Nikwax Rug Wash, on the delicate 30 degree cycle as per care instructions on the rug. I waited patiently and when the cycle finished, I pulled out the rug to find my whole house permeated with the smell of wet dog. I hate wet dog smell, I don't own dogs because of my aversion to the wet dog smell. How could this have been such a disaster? Not only did the rug still smell but the discoloured parts of the rug were still discoloured! My machine is a 9kg Hotpoint and the rug is 6'6 no fill, I could have got in the drum too with room to spare. So it went back in with proper laundry detergent, came out clean and smelling fresh and will be re-waterproofed with Fabsil. I am disappointed with this rug wash, I was expecting great things and could have licked the rug cleaner.

 

[SuperH]

I wash mine first, just with water no detergent, to get them clean and fresh. Occasionally they need doing more than once if they are super dirty and I've not hosed them off to start with. Then I wash them again with the reproofer (I have used the one you mention and it seemed to work fine as I've had no issues with the rugs I did). Otherwise I can't see how they can work, surely it just reproofs over the dirt.

 

[asmp]

As in the process of buying some Nikwax rug wash and reproofer, am watching this thread with interest. I assume 9tails you have used the rug cleaner, not the reproofer? Think I read on another post about this product that it doesn't do the rugs any good to be washed in normal detergent before reproofing.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I find Nikwax rug wash to be great, but Hotpoint washing machines, alas, not. We recently ditched our 2.5yr old machine as useless. It used a thimble full of water to wash and rinse clothes to boost energy consumption figures, with predictably poor washing results.

If you've used conventional detergent, you will need to rinse the rug many times to remove all traces, or the reproofer won't take.

 

[lamlyn2012]

I usually wash mine first in baby washing powder as he has sensitive skin then rinse using dettol antibacterial rinse which helps to get rid of any residual smell. Then use the rug proof. Always been ok and waterproof. You do need to remove any traces of detergent from the dispenser before using the rug proof.

 

[acorn92x]

I would suggest that you run the washing machine on a very hot wash before you put any sort of rug in there as any detergents left in the pipes will strip the rug of it's waterproof coating. My machine goes on a 90 degree spin before any rugs go in there. If the rug is truly filthy, I would suggest hosing it off before it goes in the machine as this will help lift some of the surface dirt and the machine should duly do the rest. I have a Hotpoint Aqualtis washing machine and have never had any issues with its cleaning capabilities when I put rugs or soiled horsey items in there although mine has a huge 11KG drum so it could be that your drum is actually too small for the size of the rug that you want to wash. My horse wears 6'0 rugs and I've washed up to a medium weight in mine, and I have never had any issues with them still coming out dirty and/or smelly. I would suggest that the issue may lie with the machine and the state of the rug in terms of how dirty it was when it was put in there as opposed to the Nikwax rug wash as myself and many other people on this forum have used it with brilliant results. If you have a small drum, I would suggest sneaking the rugs into a laundrette and washing them in there instead.

 

[eggs]

Used Nikwax rug wash for years with no problem although I do use a full 30o wash cycle as I find the short washes just do not do the job. I do have an extra large American washing machine for yard items and successfully wash up to 7'0" medium turnout rugs in it - they do have to have plenty of room in the drum. I have never had to reproof rugs.

Never wash waterproof stuff with non-bio detergent.

 

[9tails]

My machine is Hotpoint and doesn't use a huge amount of water, tis true. Clothes come out very well but this is the first time I've washed a turnout in it. I never use the powder drawer so no worries about there being detergent in there, I chuck powder in with the clothes. Anyway, now that it is clean and fresh again, I'm sure the Fabsil will work fine. It's a Joules candystripe rug, so I wanted it back to its original brightness. I also bought the Nikwax rug proofer, but not convinced it'll be swished around enough in the machine to reproof it.

I wonder if the machine prewashed and removed all the rug wash solution before the actual washing took place? I'll have to run the same cycle and see what it does.

 

[9tails]

Acorn92, it's a 9kg machine, the rug wasn't filthy or even very dirty. It was more smelly and a bit greasy inside.

 

[9tails]

Used Nikwax rug wash for years with no problem although I do use a full 30o wash cycle as I find the short washes just do not do the job. I do have an extra large American washing machine for yard items and successfully wash up to 7'0" medium turnout rugs in it - they do have to have plenty of room in the drum. I have never had to reproof rugs.

Based on this post I have just washed another rug, this time with a little fill. I used the 90 degree cotton wash but turned the temperature down to 30 degrees. I've had a MUCH better result with this rug, even though it was more discoloured and grubby than the original rug. I'd kept this one in storage for over a year because it's rubbish, to be fair it's never been waterproof (cheap junk rug) so it didn't matter if the rug wash worked, but I can update that this one has come out almost like new. I shall use the Fabsil on this one too and maybe I'll have another waterproof 100g rug I can use. So, the moral to this story is to use a long cycle to ensure plenty of swishing.

 

[Izzwizz]

Nikwax rugwash is perfect for the job. Never as said above, use household detergents on rugs as it will strip the waterproof layer of your rugs. I always run the Nikwax re-proofer through on a separate cycle. Nuumed also do a product called Nuuwash and is also great for washing rugs..all the horse products are soap based and very gentle cleaning, also designed with your horses skin in mind!