Help me not ruin my new cage liner

Spaniel

Spaniel

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I’ve bought a cage liner for another attempt even though I don’t usually have any luck with them - they go out of shape, get rough and don’t wick well or at all!

It’s quite a thick liner. Really nice quality. Instructions say 30 degree wash.

I noticed the wicking guide says to use a small amount of liquid to wash/wick. Is there a reason it needs to be liquid or is powder ok?

I was going to wash it by itself initially on the cotton cycle at 30 degrees with a small amount of powder (1/2 tablespoon for a 3x2 liner) and a dash of white vinegar in the fabric softener compartment. Repeat twice with powder and twice without (just vinegar)

Will too high a spin ruin it? I usually do 800 spin twice.

Does this sound ok? Thanks!
 
It will depend a bit on what your liners are made of. My liners are anti pil fleece. I wash once or twice before use on 30, as I use pee pads in the heavy peed on areas I don't worry too much about the wicking. I just make sure I use older well washed pads to start with. For general washing I use 30 or 40 degree wash, powder and in wash disinfectant, spin on 1200. I use a pet blanket wash bag to keep hay and hair out of the machine. I used to use Detol or Sainsbury's own brand disinfectant but now use Napisan as the fleece comes out softer and the pepper stains come out! I stopped using vinegar after a machine engineer told me it had probably contributed to the death of my washing machine.
All liners will harden and flatten over time. I didn't realise how flat my 10 year old ones had got until I made some new ones recently!
 
piggieminder said:
It will depend a bit on what your liners are made of. My liners are anti pil fleece. I wash once or twice before use on 30, as I use pee pads in the heavy peed on areas I don't worry too much about the wicking. I just make sure I use older well washed pads to start with. For general washing I use 30 or 40 degree wash, powder and in wash disinfectant, spin on 1200. I use a pet blanket wash bag to keep hay and hair out of the machine. I used to use Detol or Sainsbury's own brand disinfectant but now use Napisan as the fleece comes out softer and the pepper stains come out! I stopped using vinegar after a machine engineer told me it had probably contributed to the death of my washing machine.
All liners will harden and flatten over time. I didn't realise how flat my 10 year old ones had got until I made some new ones recently!
Click to expand...
I’m not sure what’s on the inside of the liner - the listing just said absorbent layer. I’d guess probably thick wadding. Either side of that is anti-pill polar fleece.

Do you find the napisan fades the colours at all because it’s made for white washable nappies isn’t it? I have a version of something similar - bio-d nappy fresh I think it’s called so I could use that.
 
Is the in wash disinfectant the napisan or do you mean something like dettol?
 
The listing says the absorbent layer is polyester wadding. Missed that when I read it last time.
 
I wash at 60 degrees with a little Neutral detergent and a dash of vinegar. The first time I wash 2 or 3 times in a row (each time with detergent) and then the liners are perfectly wicked. I think fleece is pretty indestructible! After use i also use a wash bag.
 
I think that the washing is only part of it, it also depends massively on the quality of the product. In my experience liners that use wadding don’t last anywhere near as well as those that use towling or a single foamy sheet such as zorb (though I am aware that zorb is expensive).
 
I make my liners with a zorb layer. I wash at 30 usually although sometimes 40 if grubby and spin at 1200. In summer I can spin at 800 because I can hang them out to dry! I always use a pet wash bag - otherwise hay gets everywhere. Horse ones are a good size!
 
The only liners I've ever had shrink were the first ones I bought, they were cheap and rubbish though. None of my others have and I'm not particularly careful when washing. I spin at 1400 and in bad weather do a second spin. I agree you should complain.
 
Our liners have shrunk over time. The 3x2’s I made in the beginning are more like 2.5 now! Our oldest fleece liners are now 3.5 yrs old. I suspect it’s due to my haphazard washing, ( we do extra spins too)or not pre washing enough before sewing. The smaller pads seem to have shrunk less.

However I wouldn’t expect a new fleece liner to shrink so quickly
 
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