Guys there is a simple easy way to clean your rags... MOst Uniform cleaner bussiness... WILL TAKE YOUR SHOP RAGS BY THE POUND AND GIVE U CLEAN ONES !.. U just have to check around to see who does .. YOu have to CALL to find out .. But they are out there ..
i noticed you live in pittsburgh. i do also and was wondering if you knew which uniform service does that. maybe aramark? it would be nice if i could just take them into work thurs mornings when our uniform guy comes. i've tried to use my own washer before and it works pretty well, but leaves a total mess, and i don't like to have to sit there and babysit while they are in the drier so my house doesn't burn down!
here is the life cycle of most of my "shop rags": clean T shirt, T shirt with a stain, work on my car T shirt, clean rag, dirty rag, filthy rag , garbage can. worn out bath and kitchen towels all go through a similar life span. I don't wash them once they go from the original purpose to the rag part of the plan.
Thats how I did it when my shop was still at my house. Then I started adding Sams Club red rags, sometimes washing them, but mainly just throwing them away. Now I have a friend that works for a uniform/scrubs place and he brings me all the blue surgery rags I want. With blood all over them and sometimes body parts. Just kidding about that, they sterilize them 1st. And they mostly don't have stains. Its just that after they wash them a few hunert times they fade and have to be replaced. I throw most of them away after I grease em up, but I have a biohazard bag he gave me to fill w/ the not-so-bad ones so's he can wash em for me. I plan to take full advantage of this as long as possible.
I don't think so around here. They wouldn't touch them for me if I wasn't subscribed to their service.
IN Pittsburgh area ... Unifirst will do it with out a contract ..BUT u have to bring them in yourself ... I switched to Cintas . and have a exchange weekly program .. so its been a while since I used Unifirst .. but give them a call.. they might make u buy there rags first then exchange them on a need basis with out a contract..
Not bad. Same bucket but use dishwasher soap Electra Sol...whatever you have and hotter than hell water for pre-soak. Stick and stir, stick and stir. You can do this for a day or so until real owner of rag machine washer is out of the house. Drain off excess and give a hot rinse. This method breaks down all of the grease and solvents. Don't worry if you don't get all of the preious rinse water out just get most of it. Then off to the $1,000 rag washing machine. Use medium load setting and don't over stuff the damn machine or you will smoke a trud in purgatory. Use Hot water with hot rinse if you have it. (In fact run hot water in nearest sink before starting to fill machine.) Otherwise warm rinse. One big handful of Goop or Gojo cream hand cleaner. Set to beat to death and run full cycle. Then to make sure wife/girlfriend/boyfriend doesn't find out re-run water only same settings but at the highest setting to clean out the washer. Never run a great big full load of rags like stated earlier. Run two smaller loads and you will never get caught! Next up "How to clean your oil pan and valve covers in the dishwasher". And still have clean dishes later without oil spotting.
I guess I never did directly ask for an exchange, just to have them washed. I haven't dealt with those services for a few years so will have to investigate who is still here. Actually, with the economy in the dumper, they just might be more negotiable. We'll see...
The thing that started this whole deal was that the old washer lost a seal (and eventually the bearing underneath it will go, too) and leaked grease into the tumbler and all over the wife's work clothes. The stains didn't come out with the new washer, either, even after stain remover stuff. So I'm thinking the time isn't good for me to be putting anything dirtier than my shop pants and shirts through the house washer for a l-o-n-g time. Besides, the last time I did that with shop towels, it left little balls of grease all over the tub and I had to run at least two cycles of soapy hot water through it to get the remnants out. Lots of extra water and time better spent elsewhere. Seems like a dedicated washer is the ticket. I like the pre-soaking ideas and will try that. I'm picking up the repair parts for the old unit tomorrow and will give it a whirl sometime this week. Thanks all for your input.
I washed my own shop rags in an old used washer with cold water. I used Tide detergent. Then hung them to dry. I used those paper rags in a box for slimey stuff that does not wash well, (wheel bearing grease, silicone sealer etc.) then trashed them. Stained the shit out of the washing machine, the rags came out ok. I don't think the plants will like the wash water. Craig
When I was doing the stock car thing, I used to take them to the laundry and use a big commercial washer. I'd toss in some Tide, a cup of Lestoil and let the washer do the rest. I'd hang my laundry bag over the window so no one would see the black suds. I figure if I can find used hypodermic needles in their dryers from nurses who did their wash there, anything goes. At home I use the red and orange shop rags, the funky loaded with grease ones get chucked. The others go into a spackle bucket of hot water and Lestoil, then to the washer. I only do this if the wife is not around and I do another empty load right after to clean out anything left behind. Bob
My wife almost shit when i tried to put my shop rags in the washing machine at home. I guess i can't blame her. She quickly reminded me that the laundry room is NOT an extension of the garage LOL.
Oh yes, what she doesn't know can't hurt ya. I knew mine would have had a canary if she caught me at it, lol. Bob
No! They pitch the UNUSED towels. The hospital here collects the extras and one of the doctors sends them back to India. Not sure why. Theres 6 rags per pack, they use 1 for whatever, and the other 5 just sit there on the shelf. They restock it completely for the next person. Anything opened = trash.
I got in a little trouble for a little black ring around the top of the drum once a long time ago. I got a stackable washer and dryer for the shop. I plumbed in a small (20 gal?) 110 hot water heater for the shop. I put a drain pipe into a 55 gal drum with a leach field I buried outside the shop. I now have hot water to wash shop rags, hot water to the utility sink, and no issue with HER washing machine. I got the stackable off craigslist for cheap, the hot wat heater was pretty cheap at Home Depot or Lowe's. I don't have to waste time at the laudramat, I can drink beer at home in my shop while watching cable, as my shop rags get washed and dried. Maybe I could use one of those little tossable smelly sheets in the dryer and make the shop smell better?????????
This is great.. some of you are real pussys.. I give the wife my shop or garage rags all the time and she washes them in our sears washing machine and no problem.. She only gets pissed when i have a ton of em.. The ones that really get grease in em i just toss. but the ones with oil from oil changes and stuff like that we wash all the time... Its just never been a problem.. Some of you crack me up and it reminds me of the guy at our shop that was asked to take a bearing and a shaft home and toss the bearing in his oven for 30 minutes at 400 degrees and slide it on this shaft and bring it back in the AM.. He acted like the bearing heating in his home oven was gonna leafe something that would kill him Ha Ha.. My boss took it and did it himself.. Pussys .... Dave ps: I do but the cheap (well maybe not) shop towels on a roll for the really grimey shit as they are throw away and if you get enuff oil on em the help burn the leaves and shit in the back yard
If anyone gets uniform sevice from Ameripride ask the driver if you can get a gallon of "Simply Better" presoak the shop towels overnight in 5 gallons of water to 2 cups of product then wash,also good as a pre-wash for greasy clothes at home .It's bio-degradable and also works as a great de-greaser, also is real good for cleaning stainless and shower scum.Some of the uniform companies will sell you bulk rags cheap when they find them with holes,stains,etc after they wash them they take them out of service,for what they cost use them and toss them.
The professional cleaning services use a dry cleaning type of degreaser fluid in an extractor ( a fancy name for a heavy duty washing machine). These machines have special seals to work with the chemicals. I know for a fact they throw the really greasy rags in a hazmat barrel and have them hauled off with the sludge that comes out of the machines after a few loads. Some put them through a soap wash after that and some don't, it just depends on the company policy. Most home use washing machines can barely handle the dirty laundry (like my pants after a hard day at the shop). If you can't afford a service I would highly recomend 100% replacement. If you have a septic system you have to be careful what goes in there.
I can't believe anybody washes shop towels. HF sells them incredibly cheap. I use and reuse them for increasingly dirty jobs until they have been used for sopping up oil or trans fluid spills, then I chuck them. I mean I'm cheap, but I'm not going to spend a couple of hours and dirty up someone's washer to save $5 of shop towels. Minimum wage pays more than that.
Quick update, since I started this mess. I got the old washer rehabbed today and fired her up. Seems to work fine, although it is still putting out a bit of grease from the hub. I'm hoping it's residual. Put a bunch of dirty rags in a bucket of Simple Green to soak but ran out of time today to throw them in the washer. I'll haul a few buckets of hot water tomorrow and give her a whirl. Pussys, huh? Maybe some have different standards when it comes to non-shop work duds and other good clothing. When I used to do them in the house washer, it always left little balls of grease all over the tub. Than means they're down inside, as well. When I was working (just retired early) I didn't wear my shop stuff to the office. Just a thought. I've got the beer and cable in the garage but don't think I'll burn the space for a washer and dryer inside. Hell, I don't want to live out there...
yall w/ money make it too hard. Use a hand cleaner for your hands & use newspaper to wipe it off. Throw away the newspaper.Then wash your hands. Go to any garage sale at the end of the last day & offer 5 bucks for everything left on the rack. Ya got enouph throw away rags to last a yr. & the garage sellers are happy too.
cheap red rags will leave a ton of lint in your freshly rebuilt engine. enough to clog your oil pump go to Costco and buy a 10-pack of the blue paper shop towels.
I do! I've got an old electric oven for powdercoating out there, too. With heat pump, cable, washer/dryer, oven, hot water, 2 refrigs, and all the tools........I could about live out there...........my wife suggested bunk beds....then friends could stay over.
<P> </P> <P> </P> <P> </P> <P>I can't believe how wealthy some of you guys seem to be!</P> <P> </P> <P>(see how polite I was not to say 'wasteful'?) <IMG class=inlineimg alt=0 src="http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" border=0 smilieid="3"></P> <P> </P> <P>For the last 40 years I have been throwing my red rags into the washing machine with Tide.</P> <P>No problem, no grease balls left over. (notice the key word, "Tide"</P> <P> </P> <P>I DID learn not to mix a red rag in with my clothes......that gal told me she could smell the axle grease....she called it a 'manly' smell. maybe I shudda married her. <IMG class=inlineimg alt=0 src="http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" border=0 smilieid="1"> </P>
If the wife ever pisses me off enough, I can always move out to the garage but until that day arrives, I just want a comfortable place to work on stuff. I bought the house to live in. If Arizona Geezer wants to life in his garage, more power to him. Just not how I do it up the road from him. I don't begrudge what other folks have. It's just that I try to stretch my resources as far as they can go. My life theory is that you can do pretty much what you want in life if you are willing to make the sacrifices required to support the effort. I want to be a bit eco-friendly, as well, which is why I don't just pitch the shop towels when they get dirty.
The Jalopy Journal
