Eco-conquering the washing machine: part two

I've been using Ecoballs with mixed results in the washing machine. (See part one for background to this post.)

In their favour, they massively cut down water and energy use. I've been running the first part - the washing part - of the cycle as usual off the generator. (We tried the heating-the-water part directly from our off-grid system, but got scared when it started sucking more than 100 amps of power out, so switched it back over to the genny.)

Then, as the Ecoballs say they don't need a rinse cycle, when this first part is finished (after about half an hour) I stop the machine, turn off the generator, plug the machine into the wall (so it's running off the solar and wind) and flick the dial around to the final rinse and spin, thereby missing out two rinses and another half hour or so of washing machine churning.

So, by doing this, I've halved the water used and cut the use of the generator by about 60 per cent, which is very good.

However, I'm still not convinced by the cleaning power of the Ecoballs. Some smells and stains linger more than they would with the traditional method. And I can't get the tea towels clean in spite of soaking overnight in Ecover laundry bleach and then washing at 60 degrees.

I think the way forward might be a compromise between washing the less dirty stuff with Ecoballs, and the tougher stuff with soap.