Portable washing machines are one of those things that offer you incredible convenience in your life.
If your home or living space doesn’t have enough room or the facilities to install a big washing machine (common in apartment houses), or if your washing machine breaks down and you can’t get someone round to fix it in time for the laundry, the portable washing machine is there to help you get things done.
No more worrying about waiting in line at the laundromat or in your apartment’s laundry room, and certainly no more calling your best friend to ask if you have laundry day at his or her house.
Portable washing machines are simple to use and are best used when washing small loads at a time.
When it comes to cleaning clothes, portable washing machines pretty much have the same requirements as regular machines do – some detergent, tap water, and a safe place to drain the wastewater after rinsing.
Occasionally, you might find that you need to use something stronger than just regular washing detergent – when you need to clean your white clothing or when you just have stubborn stains that you need to remove off your clothes, for example.
This is where bleach comes in handy – but can you really use it in a portable washing machine? Let’s find out.
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Can you use bleach in a portable washing machine?
The answer is, yes, you can. There is nothing in most portable washing machine manuals that states that you cannot use bleach to do a super intense clean of your clothing.
However, it is advisable to use a smaller amount of bleach than you would use in a regular washing machine load, as you don’t want to overfill the tub with bleach and end up with some very strange smelling laundry at the end of the wash cycle.
They’re undoubtedly clean, yes – but you’ll probably also smell like you’ve just come out of an hour fully clothed in the swimming pool.
Factors affecting the whiteness of laundry when using bleach
Before you start using bleach in your portable washing machine, it’s advisable to know about the variables that come into play that affect the whiteness of your laundry. Water temperature is one such important factor – conventional washing machines commonly feature two water lines, one hot and one cold.
This effectively means that regardless of the water temperature that comes from the main water supply line, such machines automatically produce a consistent starting temperature before starting the wash cycle.
On a portable washing machine, you’re more than likely not able to find such a dual water line feature, as the rudimentary setup is meant to be easy to assemble, wash the laundry, and disassemble to be kept away in storage until the next use.
The whitening effects of bleach work best on warm temperature water rather than cold – which means that if you want to use bleach when doing your laundry in a portable washing machine, you’ll have to think about getting some warm water into the tub to activate the bleach for more effective whitening results.
Mixing detergents and bleach
Another consideration is the laundry detergent that you use with the bleach. Generally, cheaper detergents do not dissolve properly, and that leads to poor quality results.
They are cheap for a reason – no matter how much bleach you use with a low-grade detergent, you might find that you won’t get the most effective cleaning power out of your bleach.
It’s worth noting that using bleach with a good-quality detergent will always give you better results than using bleach with cheap, low-quality detergent.
Clean your machine with bleach
In order to have consistent results from your portable washing machine, you will have to regularly make an effort to deep clean its insides.
Washing machines, especially portable ones, can get really dirty on the inside, and you’ll be surprised at how much soap residue, scum, calcium, and miscellaneous dirt can live inside the washtub of your portable washing machine.
If not cleaned regularly, this can even become a habitable environment for mold and mildew to grow in your washtub, which can be an absolute pain to remove.
Other than washing clothes, bleach can also be used to deep clean the inside of your washtub.
Here are the steps for cleaning your portable washing machine with hot water and some bleach.
- Make sure that the washtub is completely empty, and remove any dirt or debris that you can see inside it.
- Take some hot water (around 120ºF to 125ºF) and pour it into your washtub, then run a wash cycle with just the water inside it.
- After about 10 minutes, pause the cycle and add 4 cups of bleach to the water.
- Continue running the cycle for one minute to mix the water and bleach solution thoroughly, then let it sit for one hour. This allows the bleach solution to really do its work and start deep cleaning the surface and every crevice in your washtub.
- Once the hour is up, remove the lid and drain out the bleach solution, then rinse out with some lukewarm water. Your washtub should be sparkling clean now, with all of the grime, scum and residue washed off during the rinse.
Final thoughts
Using a portable washing machine and bleach to clean your white clothing or to get rid of stubborn stains is a great idea.
You have full control of the wash cycle, water temperature, and cleaning power, and you can effectively do smaller loads of bleached laundry cycles in order to clean your clothes more effectively.
And for completely manual portable washing machines, you get to save some time as well, as you don’t have to wait until the cycle finishes on automatic ones – although it might take a bit of practice and trial and error, you’ll definitely get used to it after a few times – leaving you with consistently clean, and fresh smelling clothes every time you use bleach in your portable washing machine.
