My Method for Washing MicroFiber

[THE Mook]

Morn!

 

There has been some discussion lately on care for MF Towels. I have been doing some research on my own end, and also some testing. This latest round of experimentation has yielded me some more than decent results, using a few methods merged together from member input here! There were some things I did beforehand, to help make my MF Towel Cleaning Adventure a success.

 

1.) Removed Fabric Softener Cup. Cleaned all Fabric Softener (FS) scum from cup, left cup out of washer. Went to agitator in washer, and with Adam's APC shot it into the little cup holder, and let it soak for a minute or two. Came back with a really old and trashed MF, and scrubbed like no other until it was free of FS scum. I noticed the entire "chamber" portion of the washer had a weird ring of FS buildup around the top of it too. I don't know how it got there. But, back to the APC, and this time a scrub brush. Got all I could. It wasn't fun, but I wanted to ensure as contaminate free environment for my MF Wash that I could.

 

2.) The next step I chose was to use some Clorox Brand Washing Machine Cleaner. I followed the instructions, filling up the bleach cup, and running it on hot. I guess this disinfected the washing machine, along with cleaning up any remaining detergent and/or FS buildup I couldn't see.

 

 

3.) After the Machine was "cleaned" I proceeded over to the kitchen for some APC/White Vinegar/Hot Water presoak. I used 4oz APC, 2oz White Vinegar, and 2 Gallons Hot Water, then stirred it up. (EDIT Move the Vinegar to the Machine Rinse portion--I have been educated that I unintentionally diluted the APC, thus potentially not yielding the best results I could have)

 

Some weapons of Mass Cleanstruction

 

Bucket With Solution

 

Dirty Towels PreSoak:help:

 

Group Shot of What I Was Pre-Soaking and Washing

 

(Loads into washer also correspond with Bucket Loads)

The First Bucket I Put In:

One Double Plush, Two True Blue, Four Waterless Wash Towels, Three Black Junk Towels, Two Newer, Slightly Used GWDT, One filthy GWDT, and Seven Misc Junk Towels.

 

The Second Bucket I Put In:

One New GWDT, Two Misc Two Sided Polish Towels, Two DoubleSoft, Three Junkers, One True Blue, Two Glass Towels, and Three Single Soft.

 

 

Towels Soaking

 

 

Holy Cow That Got a Lot of Dirt out of the Towels!

Don't Drink This

 

Tek Was Interested

 

This is the Detergent I Used. ALL Small n Mighty, Free n Clear

 

I followed the instructions on the bottle. For an extra large load, 1.75 oz into the machine, and 1.5oz for a large load. I opted for a warm water wash. Two loads overall. I dried on low heat. Afterwards, I checked the dryer lint thing, and nothing was there. I like that.

 

 

Are you all bored to death reading yet? Well deal, I'm not done!

 

HERE ARE THE RESULTS! I was pleased with the outcome. I have used some MF detergent in the past, and what I did here accomplished the SAME results. Had the towels been worse, I may have opted for a quick boil out. I wanted, however to try this "collaborative method" first.

 

I didn't take pics of every towel I washed. I simply, RANDOMLY chose some towels from my bag to take pics of. You can see in the dirty picture, that there were all levels of dirt on the towels. In particular, the Waterless Wash towels were throw up in your mouth bad. All four of them look like the one shown.

 

Group Shot of Some of the Clean!

 

True Blue and Waterless Wash Towels

 

SingleSoft and DoubleSoft

 

A Message from a Crazy Person

 

 

Thank you everyone for reading my novella, I hope I can potentially help you get your MF clean!

 

The Mook

[Z71_Denali]

i now want to throw all of my microfibers in the wash!

 

i've just been spot cleaning with APC prior to washing, and i've never used vinegar...

 

i use Tide Free and Gentle which i would assume is the equivalent to All Free and Clear

 

extra large wash coming up!!!

[Osok]

I guess I've been lucky. I use the double soft to wipe post SHR and FMP and MSW and they get dirty. But I pre spray with apc if necessary then toss em in washing machine with dye free tide and filler up and let them soak for about 1/2 hr then run the cycle. They've always come out white as they were when I started.

[Grubrunner]

I don't understand something.....

 

How are your towels so dirty/stained/soiled?

 

I thought MF towels were suppose to be applied to a clean vehicle.... at least relatively clean. You know, more as a finishing "tool" rather than a cleaning agent.... ?

 

Yes, I also clean my towels once every three months or so, and the very dirtiest of my towels doesn't resemble anything like yours.

 

I mean no disrespect.... just asking, brother.

[Kingsford]

How did you manage to get your towels do dirty? I rarely get a dirt spot on my drying towels. I am a little confused....

 

I mean mine sometimes get a little dirty but after I am done and wash them they look clean again.

[THE Mook]

Part of the soil for the experiment, waterless wash towels get dirty, the black mark on the gwdt is a stain, the others collect polish.

[randyfox]

My drying towels have gotten dirty from things like the weather striping around doors and windows. For whatever reason, despite how clean the vehicle is, that is what smudges my towel.

[dday]

Have you tried a dedicated MF detergent? My towels come out much cleaner than that (even my WW towels) using MicroRestore. I add hot water to one of my adams buckets with a grit guard in it plus a 1 oz of MicroRestore and let them soak. Then I just aggitate in the bucket a little bit here and there, rinse them out and hang dry. My towels come out great.

 

The reason I don't use the washing machine is because I live in a condo with shared laundry and it's always gummed up with FS.

 

Given MF detergents aren't expensive I'm just not sure why you wouldn't want to use one.

[THE Mook]

^

just as good, if not better results with what I did here, and heck it probably would have been better had I put the vinegar in at a different time.

 

Adam's doesn't currently offer MF deteregent, therefore tis this until then.

[randyfox]

Ok..cool! I guess they do look cleaner..but still look dirty when I look at them. Well anyways..that don't matter. As long as you're loving them that's all that matters!

 

Hard to dispute the brown gunk in the bucket though so u definitely got a lot of dirt out.

 

My Double Softs look like that too from polishing, even after careful washing. Still phenomenally soft though!

[Z71_Denali]

question:

 

will the vinegar in the rinse cycle eliminate the need for a 2nd rinse? i've always done a 2nd rinse to remove any detergent residue, and we have hard water here.

 

or should i add the vinegar just to the 1st rinse, not the 2nd, vice versa, or add it to both rinses?

 

we live in an apartment with washer/dryer included and they are not fancy. no FS cup like better washers have.

[dday]

^

just as good, if not better results with what I did here, and heck it probably would have been better had I put the vinegar in at a different time.

 

Adam's doesn't currently offer MF deteregent, therefore tis this until then.

 

So you have used MicroRestore specifically?

[THE Mook]

Yes.

[THE Mook]

question:

 

will the vinegar in the rinse cycle eliminate the need for a 2nd rinse? i've always done a 2nd rinse to remove any detergent residue, and we have hard water here.

 

or should i add the vinegar just to the 1st rinse, not the 2nd, vice versa, or add it to both rinses?

 

we live in an apartment with washer/dryer included and they are not fancy. no FS cup like better washers have.

 

I went two rinses.

[Kingsford]

My drying towels have gotten dirty from things like the weather striping around doors and windows.

 

I have some crappy orange MF towels I bought from WalMart... I throw one over my shoulder and dry my truck with the Adam's towels and when I do the weather stripping or any plastic parts (like my bed rails) I'll switch to the crappy towel.

[dday]

Yes.

 

huh, fair enough, guess your towels just get way dirtier than mine!

[BRZN]

question:

 

will the vinegar in the rinse cycle eliminate the need for a 2nd rinse? i've always done a 2nd rinse to remove any detergent residue, and we have hard water here.

 

or should i add the vinegar just to the 1st rinse, not the 2nd, vice versa, or add it to both rinses?

 

we live in an apartment with washer/dryer included and they are not fancy. no FS cup like better washers have.

 

I select an extra rinse cycle and place 1/8 cup of vinegar into the first rinse, this helps remove any extra soap and minerals (from hard water, etc...), the second rinse is just water and removes the vinegar.

[Z71_Denali]

I select an extra rinse cycle and place 1/8 cup of vinegar into the first rinse, this helps remove any extra soap and minerals (from hard water, etc...), the second rinse is just water and removes the vinegar.

 

thats what i figured... thanks!

[THE Mook]

Part about Vinegar being added at Rinse instead of at the bucket soak edited in first post.

 

I love learning new stuff! THANK YOU!

[BRZN]

Your write up is great, just remove the part about mixing the vinegar and APC and it's perfect.

Use the vinegar in the RINSE portion of your machine cleaning and you've got it!

[THE Mook]

Mook,

 

Did you add the 4oz of APC and the 2oz of Distilled White Vinegar together in the 2 Gallons of Hot water to soak the towels?

 

If so, a little education

(Wait, let me preface it first by letting you know I work in the Dairy Industry in quality control and deal with cleaners and other chemicals for removing all kinds of dirt every day. I've been doing this job for almost 21 years now.) now on to the science:

Your tap water should be ph neutral at about 7

The APC as a Detergent should be Alkaline with a ph of 12 (I just checked it).

The Distilled White Vinegar being an Acid is Acidic with a ph of 3.

 

So what you actually did by putting twice as much APC as Vinegar into the water was to dilute the strength of the APC by adding the vinegar ending up with a product of a ph right around 10.

 

Use the Alkaline detergent to clean and the Acidic Vinegar to help remove the detergent in the rinse don't mix them.

 

HOLY CREPES I didn't even realize that! Thank you for that for sure! I will going forward, move the Vinegar to the machine wash portion of the competition. I now want to go back and re-do all this! Frick!

[BRZN]

Mook,

 

Did you add the 4oz of APC and the 2oz of Distilled White Vinegar together in the 2 Gallons of Hot water to soak the towels?

 

If so, a little education

(Wait, let me preface it first by letting you know I work in the Dairy Industry in quality control and deal with cleaners and other chemicals for removing all kinds of dirt every day. I've been doing this job for almost 21 years now.) now on to the science:

Your tap water should be ph neutral at about 7

The APC as a Detergent is an Alkaline with a ph of 12 (I just checked it and it is).

The Distilled White Vinegar being an Acid is Acidic with a ph of 3.

 

So what you actually did by putting twice as much APC as Vinegar into the water was to dilute the strength of the APC by adding the vinegar ending up with a product of a ph right around 10.

 

Use the Alkaline detergent to clean and the Acidic Vinegar to help remove the detergent in the rinse don't mix them.

[Osok]

Clean indeed! The Waterless Wash towels look 1000x better. Now I can use WW again the right way as opposed to just as a drying agent!

 

Ok..cool! I guess they do look cleaner..but still look dirty when I look at them. Well anyways..that don't matter. As long as you're loving them that's all that matters!

 

Hard to dispute the brown gunk in the bucket though so u definitely got a lot of dirt out.

[THE Mook]

Mook I'm confused..are the towels in the pics at the end of the thread clean? All the pics I see it looks like all the towels are still dirty. Am I missing something?

 

Clean indeed! The Waterless Wash towels look 1000x better. Now I can use WW again the right way as opposed to just as a drying agent!

 

[BrianT]

Thanks for the tips!! I'm always looking to stream line my cleanings!!

[Osok]

Mook I'm confused..are the towels in the pics at the end of the thread clean? All the pics I see it looks like all the towels are still dirty. Am I missing something?