Washing Shop Towels, favorite method?

[damon18]

I like to use the traditional red shop towels whenever possible, but since I'm just a home garage and not a pro shop with laundry service I have to wash them myself.

I've done it in the front loader washing machine before with lots of OxiClean but it left the washer in kind of a smelly state, had to run a couple of loads of old (non-oily) towels through afterwards. (yes, I'm single )

How do you do it?

Two Five gallon bucket and bathroom plunger contraption?
https://www.survivopedia.com/diy-bucket-washer/

Fancy prepper washer gismo?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YQCOCAM/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Is OxiClean and detergent the best you can do for oily/grimy shop towels?

I have a shop sink so I've just been basically hand washing them like delicate undies.

 

[bgarrett]

I've learned that wringing them out in gas gets'em pretty clean

 

[lilredex]

I don't wash shop rags but I do wash those white cotton gloves. A couple of times in a bucket, hot water, Tide, and a plunger/agitator. Then, in the regular wash with darks. Works just fine.

 

[damon18]

Do you have room for a dedicated "dirty" washer? They can be picked up dirt cheap at Habitat for Humanity Restores.

No, barely have room for my cars and tool boxes. ;-)

That would be sweet though!

 

[CJM8515]

wait till you have enough go to laundromat

 

[Squankum]

Presoak for an hour or 12 in a bucket of Simple Green, or, no presoak at all, just into the washer with Simple Green.

(I amuse myself by calling it Simple Goon.)



_

 

[j-guenth]

I've gone to cheap white hand towels and wash clothes. They are like $10 for 6 -8 towels and 12 wash clothed. After I use them I soak them in Lysol Bathroom Cleaner and Oxiclean Whitener!! I ring them out and put them in the washing machine with the same cleaner and Oxiclean and soak them over night and run them in the morning. I then run a high water hot load with vinegar to clean the washing machine. The clothes I get are cheap ones from Bed, Bath, Beyond.

 

[FJ 432]

wait till you have enough go to laundromat

This is what I do.

 

[hotrod1968]

I've got better things to do then waste my time washing shop rags.... time is money plus added cost of materials to clean... I guess if you think you are worth 5 bucks a hour... wash away. Cheers

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[LS6 Tommy]

Paper only in my garage. I have microfiber towels I used for polishing, etc, but they're cheap enough in bulk that I don't bother washing them.

Tommy

 

[JamesW84]

I haven't seen it mentioned, but do not put them in your drier...air dry only (if they had anything flammable on them). I work for one of the largest industrial cleaning companies in the country. We have special formulas, etc obviously, but if something isn't sorted properly, it doesn't get the proper wash and fires in the drier aren't unheard of.

If they had anything flammable on them, you're probably better off just throwing them in the brush pile or storing them in a metal can with a tightly closed lid until you burn your brush.

 

[sberry]

Third me for buying paper towels by the case. I ain't keeping dirty rags around, some of the year they go thru the stove.

 

[Motorman55]

I use the cheapest paper towels from Shoprite or Stop & Shop also. Great for cleaning up most messy jobs.

I have the red rags too, but mostly use them for midly dirty clean up of my hands, wiping down the tools or parts. Once they're dirty into the garbage can they go.

Harbor Freight has the white 14 x 13 workshop rags now. I just bought a pack of 50 for $9.99 on sale. (Reg 12.99, less with a 20% coupon.) These white rags are more absorbent then the red ones. I'm just using them for wiping down my tools and hands if not greasy. These I'll probably wash with my work pants/shirts.

Wife just uses Tide, Arm & Hammer or Purex (what-ever's on sale) for them.

 

[SALIV8]

The one time i washed my load of red shop rags my wife had a fit. It left oily residue in the washer and she was not happy.

I didnt realize they were as oily as they were. So now I take them to a laundromat or toss em.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

I've done it in the front loader washing machine before with lots of OxiClean but it left the washer in kind of a smelly state, had to run a couple of loads of old (non-oily) towels through afterwards. (yes, I'm single )

I have a shop sink so I've just been basically hand washing them like delicate undies.

If you weren't single and wanted to be, let your wife catch you putting them in the family washer!

I just toss 'em but I'm not particular about what I'm using as long as it doesn't shed fibers or lint into something I need to keep pretty clean. Any old clothes will work and the kids instantly get new shirts or pants if they get the tiniest hole so those are fair game to me. Then she gets pissed when they tear their clothes up again, little boys can have a few play clothes for running around in the yard and mud that happen to have a little hole hear or there. I've had to condition everyone to not automatically throw old clothes out and let me do it only after I've determined they wouldn't make good rag.

 

[Shane6377]

Shop sink or toss them. The oil and chemicals shouldn't go in the machine you wash your clothes in.


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[SGKent]

If lightly soiled, in washer on small load. If heavily soiled they go in trash. If they had flammables on them like acetone they sit for a day outside and then wash them. If they were soaked in gasoline then they sit for a day or two outside away from house and then go in trash. I have been known to wash them after prewashing them in a bucket with simple green or TSP. If they still smell of gasoline etc they go in the trash wet with water in a plastic bag. When done the lightly soiled ones go in dryer but they have to have absolutely no odor. Then wipe down the inside of the washer with some brake cleaner and wash a load of old towels on medium load. All that said, I do throw away a lot of old red rags, and anything really oily. They go in a plastic bag full of water. No linseed oil on the property either. All rags once used and washed are stored in an empty metal paint can. Never had a problem with transfer to clothes. I use a lot of throw away rags, white shop towels (Bounty etc) and blue shop towel rolls. You don't want to use old rags or red ones on engines, they shed too much.

 

[mcbane]

wait till you have enough go to laundromat

That is why I never take clothes to the laundromat


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[ZRX61]

I ran a large load of microfibers through the roomies new washer today.... twice. & managed to get then through the drier before she came home... at which time I had a load of bath towels etc going through the washer...
I also buy those 50ct packs of white terry towels at Costco. I try not to use those for dirty jobs, but once in a while one gets scarificed.
Ditto 50ct(?) red shop rags also from Costco.


I find Sams Club has a wider/better selection of microfibers in different colors & thickness. I keep one of the really thick blue ones by the computer for cleaning my glasses.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

I use the cheapest paper towels from Shoprite or Stop & Shop also. Great for cleaning up most messy jobs.

I have the red rags too, but mostly use them for midly dirty clean up of my hands, wiping down the tools or parts. Once they're dirty into the garbage can they go.

Harbor Freight has the white 14 x 13 workshop rags now. I just bought a pack of 50 for $9.99 on sale. (Reg 12.99, less with a 20% coupon.) These white rags are more absorbent then the red ones. I'm just using them for wiping down my tools and hands if not greasy. These I'll probably wash with my work pants/shirts.

Wife just uses Tide, Arm & Hammer or Purex (what-ever's on sale) for them.

Using inexpensive rolls of paper towels, and old clothes cut up into shop rags; I chose the trash can over a scummed up washing machine and hot water and soap expenses decades ago. At 20 cents each; the white 14 x 13 HF shop rags sound like a good additional option. Thanks for Your informative contribution; and a thumbs up for HF.

 

[AngryBeaver]

I like to clean those red rags by soaking in brake parts cleaner and lighting on fire.

I can't believe people still buy them, let alone want to put those things in the washing machine they wash their clothes with. LOL

 

[DTE]

When my shop was open I had a couple guys who would bring me whatever they had dirty and pick up 20 or 30 clean ones and give me a few bucks. Do you know anybody with a shop ?

 

[gearhead1]

I don’t wash ones with a lot of oil or grease. I just designate those rags for big spills.

I wash them in the house washing machine with tide or a good detergent. Washer set to heavy soil. Then I put them in the dryer.

The only issue it the dark ring left on the washer tub at the top of the water. That comes off with 409 and paper towels. Then I wash my car working clothes, then a different load of dark clothes. Then you could run whites through it. I’ve never had a problem doing it this way and wife has never got mad over it.

Under stand the wash water is pumped out then rinse water goes in. So the final water in the tub is rinse water, not the nasty wash water. So by the time I wash a couple loads of dark clothes, the nasty wash water is long gone, no way for contamination at that point.

 

[Bretny]

I never wash or even buy rags. Even with only 2 people living in my house we always have a abundance of old T shirts, socks any many other cotton clothes.

 

[rust in the eye]

wait till you have enough go to laundromat

Woe to the next customer.
I usually don't wash them, they get passed down to different tasks as they get dirtier, the final one being mopping up spills on the floor before final disposal.

 

[matt_i]

Being on a septic system I am highly against putting any more oil + grease into the tank.

Yes the detergent allows the water molecule to attach and remove but its going somewhere else and the bond isn't forever.

I use 95% paper towels and use cotton towels like Rust in the Eye. They are on a descending scale ending at the trash.

 

[JRC3]

Yeah, soiling a laundromat washer is a bit of a **** move. Most people who go there are struggling as it is and truly can't afford their clothes getting f*cked up. Not to mention it's just some dude like any of us who owns the laundromat who has to deal with the mess and maintenance.

 

[theoldwizard1]

If they are really REALLY greases (like you have been using them to clean the hundreds of zerk fittings on heavy equipment), rinse them in some solvent, even if it is gasoline/kerosene.

Second wash should be a soak and agitate (plunger is a good idea !) in a 5 gallon bucket with some kind of de-greaser like Simple Green.

Clean water rinse in another 5 gallon bucket. Probably should do 2 rinses. If you want them really clean NOW you can put them in the family washer !

 

[theoldwizard1]

Yeah, soiling a laundromat washer is a bit of a **** move. Most people who go there are struggling as it is and truly can't afford their clothes getting f*cked up.

A lady, mother of 3, husband worked construction, said it cost her between $40-$50/week to do laundry at a laundromat ! Plus the drive time to and from the laundromat.

Now I understand why there were gasoline engine powered washing machines in rural America before electricity was common !

 

[dagofast]

Around 25 years ago, PBS had a show about emerging China. One of the companies they profiled in one episode was an appliance maker named Haier. They had built the cutest little portable washing machine and then sold them across the country. It turned out many of them had problems and were returned. The company couldn't figure out why they were failing so they sent their engineers out to their rural customers. It turned out farmers were also washing root vegetables in them. The engineers came back to the factory and reported that the customers were stupid and using the machines wrong and needed to be educated. The owner told them "These are our customers. If they want to use the machines to wash vegetables, then you need to redesign them so they also wash vegetables!"

That little company named Haier now owns GE Appliances here in the USA. And I bought one of their cute little portable washers to wash my shop towels in. Yes, even the ones I use on the lathe & mill that get metal chips caught in them. I've seen the water come out black on the first 2 rinse cycles. That little washer has never even hiccuped.

 

[pelletman]

This is what I do.

So you guys are leaving a washer to destroy someone's clothes who shows up after you and probably can't afford a washing machine or much else. Nice.

 

[KEH]

Ok, I'm not commercial but I'm in the paper towel camp. Sometimes I acquire some of our worn out towels and if they get too oily I hang them outside for a few days and let the rain do its thing. (this doesn't work in a dry state)

KEH

 

[Backyard Imports]

I picked up an apartment sized washer/dryer combo for cheap. Set it up in the shop and use “the purple stuff” as a detergent. It doesn’t use a ton of water and I run, what waste water there is, through a makeshift oil/water separator.

I do use paper towels when building engines but to the lint factor but I use washable red rags as much as possible. i don’t want to just toss rags in the garbage or burn them because I figure I do enough damage to the environment as it is with my race cars.

 

[Meursault74]

I never wash or even buy rags. Even with only 2 people living in my house we always have a abundance of old T shirts, socks any many other cotton clothes.

Same here. When my socks, underwear and t-shirts are fit for church (Holy), I take them to the garage and use them as rags. Once they are filthy enough they go in the trash.

 

[Junkdrawer Dog]

Worked for a while building and repairing geared motors and speed reducers. We had to fire our shop rag service. Too many supposedly clean rags contaminated with cutting chips. Not good for the bearings! We found a place that sold paper towels made from recycled paper. Dirt cheap and did the job.

 

[DFB]

wait till you have enough go to laundromat

That is why I never take clothes to the laundromat


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Ya hey would really **** to be person using the machines for own clothes after all that ****...


I've cleaned some shop rags before mostly not worth the messy effort though soak them in 5 gal bucket simple green or DAWN for while maybe do it twice if they're super greasy rinse em couple times with the hose lay em out dry somewhere call it a day.

 

[BolognaBlake]

Aren't they like $0.19 a rag at Harbor Freight? I toss them when they stop cleaning and start dirty-ing.

 

[Johnny Generic]

You are single and " washing them like DELICATE UNDIES". ?????????????????

 

[GMCGarage]

wait till you have enough go to laundromat

No, no dont do this. That way the next poor sod gets oily clothes.

 

[97tj-neil]

I throw them away after I use them. When I need more, I go to my closet and grab the 50 or so oldest T-shirts and cut them up for new rags.