Row bubbles over no-soap washer

Soap makers say underwear worn one day stay brighter white when washed with detergent

By staff and wires

TOKYO, Japan -- Coming clean isn't so easy if the contentious product involved is a soap-free washing machine.

Detergent makers have launched an offensive against the company that claims to have invented the world's first no-soap machine, saying the manufacturer hasn't admitted the new appliance's shortcomings.

"We have a duty to provide consumers with objective information," said Takeshi Watanabe, of the Japan Soap and Detergent Association.

The association blasts Sanyo Electric Co.'s new washing machine for damaging fabric, fading colors and falling flat on promised savings.

This week soap makers released findings of a study that compared laundry loads washed with and without soap, The Associated Press news agency reported.

Among the results: Underwear worn one day stayed a brighter white when washed with detergent.

Sanyo quickly defended itself -- hosting its own news conference.

It countered that the company always made clear the machine's detergent-free cycle wash was meant to handle "light dirt," not heavy staining, mud or grime.

"Some of their tests were on people who seemed pretty dirty," Sanyo spokesman Derek Wentz said.

"There is a basic, fundamental difference in our definitions of light dirt."

Fading and abrasion

Sanyo's washer uses electrolyzed water to blast dirt off fabric

Wentz also said that levels of color fading and fabric abrasion were in line with soap-washed loads.

The hybrid washing machine, which came on the market August 1, has a soap cycle as well as a soap-free one, and Wentz said the soap-free wash sufficiently cleaned such light soiling as is found on bath towels or undershirts.

The new machine uses electrolyzed water that blasts the dirt off fabric with millions of tiny bubbles, Sanyo says. The dirty water is then sucked through a filter that kills bacteria with hypochlorous acid.

Novelty has helped make them hot sellers in Japan, with Sanyo moving 30,000 units so far -- more than double the sales rate of its conventional models.

Detergent savings

Depending on its size, a machine can cost between 118,000 yen and 128,000 yen ($980 and $1,060), but Sanyo promises its customers an annual savings of up to 6,600 yen ($55) in detergent costs.

That's another claim disputed by the soap industry, which said its tests revealed it costs 9.6 yen (7 cents) to wash a 2.2-pound detergent-free load and only 6.3 yen (5 cents) to wash the same load with soap, including the price of the detergent.

The reason is each load of soap-free laundry uses more water and electricity to get the same job done, the group claimed.

Sanyo says it has no immediate plans to build the soap-free washing machines for export.

But if it does eventually target overseas markets, the company would have to change the wiring of the machine's electrolysis system to account for different levels of water quality in different countries.