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Washing Greasy, oily shop clothes

Ok, working in the shop with machines running soluble oil coolant, at times pressure washing under and around those machines.

The clothes after wearing to work take on an oily smell, and normal laundry soap doesnt really kock it out of them (the washer is pretty new, kenmore, and works great for normal tasks).

Is there a miracle additive you guys have used that helps ??

I did get some soap powder from Andersons store in maumee, Oh that seemed to work better than store bought, I washed one load 3 times in warm water and kept getting crud on the washer drum and agitator(and the clothes seemed to keep getting cleaner)....it it matters most of the clothing is denim, 100% cotten, and 50/50 cotten/poly.

Thanks
Bill
 
Bill, I'm unsure of your location, or the hardness of your water. But the crud on the drum sounds like hard water, which I have also.
I use Arm&Hammer detergent and add in Arm&Hammer Super Washing Soda, HOT water and they heavy duty cycle on a Kenmore washer and it comes out pretty clean in one cycle.
Try the washing soda, it's cheap and so is the A&H detergent.
Dave
 
I would try a presoak treatment in one of the laundry compounds. I had a problem with shop coats coming back from the cleaning service with 'modified BO' still present. They claimed they washed in very hot water, etc. So, I started treating the armpits of the coats with Lysol disinfectant before they went out. Problem solved.
 
I think my wifey just uses Liquid Tide or equiv? Cold water too I think. ???

We have hard water too.

Only real trouble we have had (other than the next load after my clothes has to NOT be whites :eek: ) is sweatshirts made with polys and such. The oil seems to attack it and makes quite a stick that we just can't hardly get out. A dryer sheet between each shirt helps - but... She started buying all or mostly cotton ones lately and seems to work better - but since all those other sweatshirts are pd for - I will stink untill they are worn out. LOL!

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
While on the subject, I have always taken pains to be sure and check all pockets for chips before doing laundry {yes, bachelor}. I can't help but wonder what one good sharp chip would do to any seals in the washer? For oily spots on my clothes I alway hit them with one of the spray pre soakers like Shout when I take them off. Has never failed.
Michael
 
I love Tyvek coveralls! Either that, or run down to the local thrift store and buy a bunch of raggy old clotes. Wear them till they are funky, then cut em up and use them as rags, then toss them in the trash.
 
I don't know about odor removal, but the powdered Boraxo hand soap (in the shaker can) is great for spot removal. I had trouble finding it in my area, so now I buy it by the case from a restaurant supply outfit I found on the web. The stuff works great with an old toothbrush, and doesn't tear up clothes. Also, unlike the "jelly" type hand cleaners, doesn't make the washing machine stink. Whitens teeth and freshens breath, too. :D
 
Go to the local Ace Hardware store and get som TSP (TRISODIUM PHOSPHATE) I use it on my shop rags and it does a great job. Run an emty load after your done so the wifie don't come looking for you.
 
For machine washing greasy stuff, add Lestoil to the first wash, per the directions on the bottle, then wash them a second time to get the Lestoil smell off them.

Second wash could certainly include Washing Soda, either Arm & Hammer, 20 Mule Team, or a house brand - it's all sodium carbonate. [Handy stuff to have around the shop for de-rusting things with electrolysis, BTW]

Stubborn stains will yield to a scrub brush and Goop hand cleaner. This is about the only thing that will get newsprint ink off my ski jacket. It's actually much more effective than dry cleaning at removing newsprint.

John Ruth
 
Hot water helps if your shop duds can handle it without shrinking. Also try TSP - that is tri-sodium phosphate - in some form. It's a little more aggressive than washing soda. If they haven't re-formulated Spick & Span to somehing phosphate-less to comply with waste water regs use it. I used Spic and Span when my chothes were sloshed with hypoid oil. Took that carkicky smell right out and levt a nice piney fragrence.

How does shampoo work at your place? If it doesn't wrinse right out of your hair or you get soap curd in your washer, you definitely got hard water. There's no cure for hard water except a softener unit. If you have one maybe it needs to be serviced.

Oh. and is the laundry on a softened water line?
 
SWMBO uses Tide and Lestoil. Scrubs the lestoil into the worst spots and tosses it in. I can't for the life of me understand how she can keep my pants looking so clean.
I have outgrown the urge to use my pants for a rag but sometimes they get pretty nasty. Between shop work and cutting firewood.

She is some kind of perfection. :D

[ 04-04-2006, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: ARB ]
 
I don't know if you use powdered detergent in the states.
if you do ....make sure you don't use that non-bio stuff .because it's rubbish ....toned down stuff to avoid babies getting skin complaints.....seams to be taking over here..........powder companies are pushing the non-bio like it's better that the old biological stuff... IT'S NOT
You have those funny washing machines that don't heat the water up as well don't you,..well I get that opinion .because USA made washing machines are sold like this in the UK.........Wirlpool and Maytag...yes I know yours are built like brick outhouses and last a lifetime....
and ours are cheap and only last five or six years.

But this is what I do in the uk.
fist of all our washing machines can boil wash..they have heating elements in them.
They have a drawer for the powdered detergent .......the detergent is non foaming automatic powder.
You can fill this drawer plus chuck an extra few cup fulls of powder over the clothes .use four times as much powder than you would normally use ..and on boil wash 95 degrees centigrade.....and the clothes will come out as good as new.

all the best.....mark
 
Try presoaking them in simple green and water. The green stuff eats the oils and kills the odors. I use a purple restaurant degreaser liquid that is similar to the green stuff. After a soak and wash the rags or clothes are good as new.

Rick
 
While working at freightlines, the grease used on 5th wheels was every where, the only thing we ever found that would remove it from clothes was to spray with starting fluid & scrub w/brush, before washing. (DO THIS OUTSIDE,VERY FLAMMABLE!!!) Does not matter if it dries before washing. The fluid seems to change the grease in some way, usualy don't leave stain.
chiphead42
 
Ok I have a water softener, and shampoo rinses out very nicely :).

The laundry soap I got from Andersons DOES say it has tri-sodium phosphate in it...maybe thats why it works so well, people drive 50 miles to get the stuff.

I think part of the problem is the water soluble oil coolant, it after all is MADE to go into solution with water, and I think it keeps getting diluted each wash, but not totally removed, some of what we are power washing is coolant that has dried back into concentrate, mixed with hydraulic oil and such.

We did hit the laundromat for a few tries, but that is a PITA, and most of them round here the equip isnt the best.

I will try a simple green pre-soak next time

Bill
 
A word of cauttion here for the home laundry set.

Laundry detergents don't get all the oil out. If you dry your oily duds and rags in a dryer after they are washed spread them out to let them cool.

The kids in the pizza shop around here washed their oily dish rags and then piled them still hot from the dryer in a plastic laundry basket. In about half an hour things got real exciting. The basket smoldered and filled about 1,500 sq. ft. of shop space with thick, nasty smoke. The firemen had to go in to get it out.
 
"I don't know if you use powdered detergent in the states.
if you do ....make sure you don't use that non-bio stuff .because it's rubbish ....toned down stuff to avoid babies getting skin complaints.....seams to be taking over here..........powder companies are pushing the non-bio like it's better that the old biological stuff... IT'S NOT" - Mark

We do use non-bio powder, had to seek it out for a while after the soap companies tried to convert us all to the 'bio' stuff, BUT for overalls etc we use Biotex which is a 'bio' pre-wash.
Best way to get rid of any remaining smells after thorough washing is to hang the stuff outside for a couple of days.

Tim
 








 
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