Why should you put three balls of aluminum foil next to the clothes when you start the washing machine?
Many tricks circulate on social networks to save and be ecological at home. Some of them refer to how to put the washing machine in such a way that each program is fully profitable without neglecting the care of the clothes, also because we want them to last longer. At Uppers we have found that the traditional silver paper, transformed into small balls, has become the protagonist of hundreds of posts for its benefits for laundry when using the washing machine. On the one hand, we wanted to know why balls of aluminum foil get into the washing machine, and on the other, to speak directly with the manufacturers about the functionality of this trick.
According to users, if you add about three aluminum foil balls, the size of golf balls, inside the drum of the washing machine with each load, the results of the programs are better. The clothes come out of the appliance cleaner and mainly do not spoil and wear out as much.
This type of material is used in the kitchen to preserve food, because it is resistant, malleable and protects from odors and flavors. As the brands that manufacture it highlight, it is also used to clean surfaces such as the interior of the oven or the grills; in hairdressers it is used to isolate the dye applied to the hair from the rest of the hair; and in addition to various utilities in different fields. On the other hand, aluminum foil has the ability to attract heat and reaches high temperatures. The brands point out not to put it in a dryer and, above all, never in the microwave because it could cause a fire.
Is static energy harmful to clothes?
As for forming balls of silver foil and inserting them into the washing machine drum along with the clothes, according to many sources, it serves to attract the static energy that is sometimes produced by the movement of the clothes inside it. They even point out that it can withstand daily washing until it wears out over time.
Specifically, these sources point out that the static electricity generated damages clothes and even breaks them so that if it is attracted to aluminum foil, the negative effects on sheets, T-shirts or towels are eliminated.
However, no one has yet proven, nor is there scientific evidence, that this static electricity, on the one hand, causes damage to fabrics, nor that putting the silver foil balls in the washing machine is beneficial, on the other .
Appliance manufacturers are adamant about all of this. They doubt the benefits of this technique and strongly discourage its use. Each washing machine has been designed and has passed its usability and quality controls in order to "obtain optimal washing results under normal conditions". The actual consequences of the aluminum balls on the machine and clothing are also unknown.
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