Help Cleaning Dirty Microfiber Wash Media After using ONR

[atgonzales]

If you can with your washing machine do a second rinse

[mobiledynamics]

OT. Do you GUYS uses any sort of fabric softener in your front loader....
Like downey, which literally is fat
take the cap off, dip your finger and rinse it. See how clean or not your finger rinses.
Could be residual *stuff* on you inner tub that is transferring to your MF towels

Does you laundry washer have a onboard heater.
If so, IMO, run a sanitize hot cycle with Sodium Precarb ------often-----
Most people wash in too cold of cycle and if one removed the inner tub to inspect the outer tub, get the vomit bucket handy

[Setec Astronomy]

What about washing them in really hot water (like, if your washer has a "sanitary" cycle), or even boiling them?

Well...I still remember a lotta years ago SuperBee talking about how he got one of those fancy washers and used the sanitize cycle to finally get out all the stains on his MF towels (even though he complained the cycle was 2 hours)...so I`ve been dreaming of that.

In the meantime, TRC and OPT have started this talking point about how washing above 140F or drying on hot will ruin your towels by fusing the micro fibers together. We got into a real knock-down, drag-out about it, I think it was on AGO, where I (thought) I debunked the whole thing by talking about how sometimes people boil their towels, and linking threads to our old pal Leo from DF Towel talking about how preposterous it was to damage MF with hot water or your dryer. (bear in mind the most popular TRC towel is the Eagle Edgeless--remember this for later)

So I finally get a new fancy washer and dryer, but for a bunch of reasons I don`t get to do a regular MF towel load for a long time...and I have a huge amount of towels to wash. For some reason I am skittish even though I`ve been telling everyone this is all BS about the hot water. So because I`m skittish, I research this "sanitize" cycle, can`t find much, but it says it has to achieve 131F for 3 minutes minimum...so I figure that`s not bad.

So I wash this huge load, I do the pre-soak, the pre-wash, the sanitize (or allergen, I don`t remember) which uses an internal heater in the washer. So I throw them all in the dryer, to my disappointment there are still stains (not enough detergent?) and while I`m folding them, I have a towel that somehow seems flatter than it used to, I figure it`s my imagination. Then I have one MFT towel, which is kind of like an Eagle Edgeless, which they don`t sell any more (yes, I know they sell a towel now that is almost identical--this was before that). This towel looks nothing like it did before I washed it (which has been washed a lot of times before--at least I think so), it`s all matted up.

So anyway, I had only washed WW`s before in this new washer/dryer, and this was the first time I used the sanitize/allergen cycle, but I`m going to presume that`s the culprit (rather than the dryer). So this is me saying apparently I was wrong, at least for some towel types, and I`m going to have to approach the sanitize cycle more carefully in the future.

[Setec Astronomy]

If so, IMO, run a sanitize hot cycle with Sodium Precarb ------often-----
Most people wash in too cold of cycle and if one removed the inner tub to inspect the outer tub, get the vomit bucket handy

Watch out for that pre-carb...I`ve heard lots of trouble with that.

[mobiledynamics]

You guys swear by Oxy Clean. The primary ingredient in it that does the cleaning the the precarb - basically oxygen bleach.

All I`m saying is between too much soap, FATTY fabric softners, human oil/grease, and not enough hot water....the inside of the laundry tub which you don`t see often has stuff lurking

[mobiledynamics]

Setec -

Dare I google for the Ago thread or shall u link it.
I`d be curious on the read.

I did debunk the theory on drying MF, and for whatever reason, they do come out softer and fluffier from the dryer vs. line dried.
I`ve tried outdoors line drying and indoors line drying. Dry-er works best

[Setec Astronomy]

You guys swear by Oxy Clean. The primary ingredient in it that does the cleaning the the precarb - basically oxygen bleach.

Oh, you mean sodium PERcarbonate--now I`m with you.

[Setec Astronomy]

Setec -

Dare I google for the Ago thread or shall u link it.
I`d be curious on the read.

I have no idea how to find that thread, or I would have done my mea culpa there.

EDIT: I think this is it, there may have been multiple threads: https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...highlight=boil

I do have to qualify my results a little--I can`t be 100% sure the towel I saw the big difference with had actually been washed before--so it`s possible it`s a bad towel, although there was that other one that didn`t feel quite right either (different towel type). It`s possible the sanitize cycle got way hotter than 131F for a lot longer than 3 minutes (that`s the NSF requirement)--this washer does have a "steam" capability.

[Accumulator]

OT. Do you GUYS uses any sort of fabric softener in your front loader....
Like downey, which literally is fat..

We use Ultra Downy in all our washers (but of course not when laundering MFs or textiles where it could cause issues).

Ultra Downy is the only such product that hasn`t compromised the absorbency of our cotton towels, or at least not enough to be an issue.

I know that the conventional wisdom is that Fabric Softeners are the devil, but if we don`t use that stuff our cotton textiles turn out so still and rough that we can`t touch our skin with them. Yeah..really, even though we have double-filtered/softened water and we rinse until there`s zero detergent residue. I can`t explain it, but it`s obvious.

And no, zero problems with residual softener contaminating our MFs, maybe I keep the insides of the washers cleaner than I thought! The last time we had one apart it was surprisingly clean, or at least the service guy was pretty surprised.

[Accumulator]

If you can with your washing machine do a second rinse

Or six or eight or however many are necessary Most people use excess detergent and it can be tough to get it all rinsed out.

[Accumulator]

Heat from anything washer/dryer related shouldn`t damage MFs unless the appliance has serious issues. Boiling MFs doesn`t hurt them (and is sometimes recommended by the manufacturers) and nothing, including the Sanitize Cycle, should get hotter than that unless there`s a problem.

[Accumulator]

Maybe the Oxiclean we use pretty often is what`s keeping ours clean.

[Setec Astronomy]

Heat from anything washer/dryer related shouldn`t damage MFs unless the appliance has serious issues. Boiling MFs doesn`t hurt them (and is sometimes recommended by the manufacturers) and nothing, including the Sanitize Cycle, should get hotter than that unless there`s a problem.

I agree, I just can`t explain what happened to me, unless it`s my imagination and coincidence. I suppose it`s also possible that some of these towel permutations are using different materials that are more heat-sensitive than traditional MF`s...which would explain this TRC noise about 140°F.

[Accumulator]

Setec Astronomy- I posted my latest "..shouldn`t hurt.." without having noticed/read about your experience with your washer`s Sanitary Cycle.

I`ll give you enough credit to assume your observations/conclusions are valid All we can report is what we experience, and I guess we need to keep adding those !YMMV! disclaimers. The TRC MFs I`ve laundered that way came out fine, so did the Dry Me Crazy MF Drying Towels, which I`d assume are likely to be a bit sensitive to damage. Eh, I couldn`t count the number of times I`ve laundered my MFs on Sanitary without issues, but that sure doesn`t negate your experience!

I will say that when some manufacturer says to pamper their product beyond what I consider reasonable, I figure it`s just a CYA tactic (my wife has Dickies work clothes..really sturdy cotton fabrics, old-time tough stuff...that now say to wash on Cold Delicate!) rather than a "well, they oughta know" type of certainty.

And of course, heh heh...I recognized the now-MIA Autopians you referenced

Now when I tell people what, IMO oughta be OK, I`d better qualify it with some more emphatic caveats.

[Lonnie]

This is what I learned about cleaning microfiber vehicle wash media used with ONR is:
1) Pre-soak with Optimum Power Clean
2) Wash them in the washer
3) Use hot water, but not the sanitize cycle
4) Use Oxy-Clean with your detergent (I am currently using Persil per Accumulator`s suggestion/admonition) WITHOUT fabric softeners or bleach (common sense)
4a) Add the vinegar (one cup or 8 fluid ounces for a medium load) in the washer rinse cycle to act as a softener, which is why someone above suggested doing the optional second rinse cycle.
5) Dry them in the dryer on lower heat WITHOUT dryer sheets (more Common sense)
6) Discard when they look dingy or do not feel soft anymore