"Slow cooking" towels & mitts, am I nuts?

Z

ZoranC

New member
I have few mitts and (microfiber) towels that no matter what I try keep on looking dirty even though they have been used just few times. As I was thinking why my efforts keep on failing two things are crossing my mind as possible causes, one is me suspecting that temperature of the water is not high enough, and other is me suspecting that washing time is not long enough. In other words, I am suspecting laundry machines in apartment building I am in is just plain worthless (which can easily be the case as they are easily 20+ years old).



I don't have way of solving this easily as I don't have modern laundry machine available to me.



However, I keep reading about "boiling" of microfiber towels and then thought struck me: Could I use one of those timer and thermostat controlled food slow cookers to achieve even maybe better results?



What you guys think?



Thank you in advance!
 
jsatek said:
I dont think those slow cookers get hot enough.
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I have never used any of them but I thought they are strong enough to keep on boiling water, and I wouldn't need more than that, right? What are temperatures of water in laundry machine?



jsatek said:
I have not read about boiling microfiber towels, I thought you were supposed to wash them in cold/warm water?
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I have read about boiling them both here and on MO.
 
Heat, and a lot of it... is a primary aspect of the successful manufacturing of quality microfiber towels.



Boiling them is as close to refurbishing your microfiber as you can get.
 
So many have said to wash these only in cold/warm water. I am going to google the microfiber towel manufacturing process. Sounds interesting.



Ill boil them, if they get wrecked, its the perfect opportunity to go buy new towels.



I only have about 100 of them....



Is this boiling done before or after washing with detergent? Or is detergent no longer needed?
 
AmericanBuffing said:
Heat, and a lot of it... is a primary aspect of the successful manufacturing of quality microfiber towels.



Boiling them is as close to refurbishing your microfiber as you can get.
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Heat and quality have nothing to do with each other. Heat and pressure used in manufacturing is used in two ways: for polyesters the heat is needed to melt the polyester so it can be made into fine yarns, it;s not used in the cotton or natural fiber process however. Once woven or knitted into a fabric then heat under pressure is used in the dye process if need be.



Anyway, as far as cleaning is concerned, always wash using hot water and a good liquid detergent and not too much of it, about half the detergent bottle recommends. When detergents build up from improper washing your towels will get stiff and loose efficiency so boiling them for a few minutes will clear out all the waxes, polishes and chemicals. If you properly wash and maintain on a regular basis you'll never need to resort to the corrective step of boiling.



And by the way, boiling will never do any harm at all except maybe fade some dyes.
 
DFTowel said:
Anyway, as far as cleaning is concerned, always wash using hot water and a good liquid detergent and not too much of it, about half the detergent bottle recommends.
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What are the minimum and optimal temperature you recommend and for how long?



What is the temperature that shouldn't be exceeded?



Which detergent you recommend for "regular" washing and which one for extreme cases of dirt and grease?



Thank you again!
 
DFTowel said:
Heat and quality have nothing to do with each other. Heat and pressure used in manufacturing is used in two ways: for polyesters the heat is needed to melt the polyester so it can be made into fine yarns, it;s not used in the cotton or natural fiber process however. Once woven or knitted into a fabric then heat under pressure is used in the dye process if need be.



Anyway, as far as cleaning is concerned, always wash using hot water and a good liquid detergent and not too much of it, about half the detergent bottle recommends. When detergents build up from improper washing your towels will get stiff and loose efficiency so boiling them for a few minutes will clear out all the waxes, polishes and chemicals. If you properly wash and maintain on a regular basis you'll never need to resort to the corrective step of boiling.



And by the way, boiling will never do any harm at all except maybe fade some dyes.
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I'd say this is written by a subject mater expert. The guy is in the towel business.
 
DFTowel said:
Heat and quality have nothing to do with each other.
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This is true.



I didn't mean to infer that heat had anything to do with final product quality. Corner cutting to lower costs usually doesn't involve a thermostat of any kind.
 
There are more than a few threads here about boiling MF's to "shock" them back to shape. So I tried it and there were no adverse effects and the towels did seem to be slightly more plushy after. It also helped to remove the embedded particles that caused slight scratches when in use.



ZoranC:



I just boiled a few big pasta pots of water an poured them into a 5 gallon bucket with a smidgen of detergent (I use All Free and Clear for washing MF's) and let them soak a good while agitating them every now and then with a kitchen utensil (stuck my hand in there the first time,, not a smart move).



Then dumped the whole thing into the wash and let it do it's thing. If you don't have a washer then just wash em out by hand.



There are a lot of Mini/Portable Washer's around in varying price ranges.



Personal Mini Washer



Amazon.com: Wonder Washer [Portable Washing Machine, Mini Washer]: Tools & Hardware



Mini Washers at DISCOUNT prices - compact clothes laundry washers



Google on portable or mini washer for more results.



MorBiD
 
ZoranC said:
What are the minimum and optimal temperature you recommend and for how long?



What is the temperature that shouldn't be exceeded?



Which detergent you recommend for "regular" washing and which one for extreme cases of dirt and grease?



Thank you again!
Click to expand...



Just use hot water, period.



You'll never attain that "do not exceed" temp, it would be around 500 degrees where household water temp averages 140
 
Thank you guys! I will try agitating in the very hot water with detergent for long period approach somehow. Apartments with shared laundry suck.
 
ZoranC said:
I have few mitts and (microfiber) towels that no matter what I try keep on looking dirty even though they have been used just few times. As I was thinking why my efforts keep on failing two things are crossing my mind as possible causes, one is me suspecting that temperature of the water is not high enough, and other is me suspecting that washing time is not long enough. In other words, I am suspecting laundry machines in apartment building I am in is just plain worthless (which can easily be the case as they are easily 20+ years old).



I don't have way of solving this easily as I don't have modern laundry machine available to me.



However, I keep reading about "boiling" of microfiber towels and then thought struck me: Could I use one of those timer and thermostat controlled food slow cookers to achieve even maybe better results?



What you guys think?



Thank you in advance!
Click to expand...



Oh my, I literally laughed for a minute straight when I read this. Especially since I saw a "slow-cooking" barbecue show on TV last night! :har:



Slow-cooking MF's might be the new addiction! Thanks!
 
BMW335i said:
Oh my, I literally laughed for a minute straight when I read this. Especially since I saw a "slow-cooking" barbecue show on TV last night! :har:



Slow-cooking MF's might be the new addiction! Thanks!
Click to expand...

I figured it will be generating many quizical "whatta" looks but I was guiding myself with reasoning that heat is one of main "ingredients" in efficient washing, that people used to wash laundry literally the way you would cook, throwing it into huge pots with very hot, if not boiling, water and stirring them for long tome with kitchen like wooden utensils, that laundry machines in Europe had much larger control over heat settings many years before they started introducing more than just "hot-warm-cold" in the States, and that my dad's laundry machine was turning my clothes this summer when I was visiting him (he is in Europe) better than one in my apartment building does.



So, that made me thinking what is out there that is similar and that I can use in very crowded apartment and that is hopefully inexpensive. Slow cooker came to mind as it fits all those requirements.



I am glad that authorities like DFTowel and AmericanBuffing pitched in their thoughts. It seems I am not as nuts as it could sound, or at least not as much :chuckle:



7 quart cooker with thermostat and timer can be found for as low as $40. I don't know what kind of temperatures it can reach but as long as it can keep water boiling and do it longer than laundry machine I might be set as close to two gallons might be enough to deal with most stubborn stains/dirt while everything else goes into regular washer.
 
You won't hurt them with the hot water. I never dry mine with the dryer on anything but "low" regardless of the wash temp.



I pull them out a they are a wee bit damp but air dry the rest of the way in no time at all.
 
busyguy said:
So its ok to wash mf stuff w/ super hot water, but NOT dry with high heat??? is that correct or not?

thanks
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Yes hot water is best... and quess what? Hot dryers won't harm them either! As you know cotton and other natural fibers won't be harmed by the heat, when it comes to artificials such as polyester or nylon their melting temps are 500 degrees or more. NO dryer will ever come close to those temperatures. The theory (and I used toi believe it myself) that there could be hot spots in the dryer that will melt some yarns turns out to be a myth, I have yet to find, hear about, or personally speak to anyone that has melted towels in the dryer. If such hot spots existed you should be more worried about burning down the house than melting a towel.
 
If one is concerned about direct contact between towel and metal of dryer one can always put them in one of those drying/washing bags used for sensitive materials.
 
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