Shop Rags - Cleaning

[VairKing]

Interesting this will be my first post, but I buy rags locally from the uniform rental stores. $5/bag, and probably 200 rags per bag. They are usually hand towels cut in half from restaurants that have stains the can't be removed. I use em once and toss them.

 

[chillrich]

how about something like this

http://www.cleanairgardening.com/portable-washing-machine.html

Anybody tried the electric version?
http://www.amazon.com/Unknown-Wonder-Washer/dp/B000BTDNEK

This may be perfect for MX air filters

 

[jeep63]

I'm lucky in that I have a mechanic friend who takes my shop rags (in batches of 100) and trades them in at work for me.

 

[SM Racing]

I don't get washing the rags. I have 2 million t-shirts that I have worn out or just don't want, I cut them in half and use them until they are nasty, then throw them out. Why bother washing, taking all that time, messing up public washing machines, etc. Use them and toss them.

 

[TN_GARAGE]

I'm a little surprise that there are a ton of people that think washing dirty towels at the laundrymat is so wrong yet it's ok for others to use disposables that pollutes the earth. At least washing towels can "potentially" be green.

I think they are saying it's a bad idea because the next guy's clothes might get ruined from the oil and grease residue left in the machines.

 

[SGKent]

with 400 of those I pray to our maker that they are kept in a tightly sealed steel container. Spontaneous combustion is spooky. We have these almost 4 foot long thermal probes for compost heaps and the surface can be with frost and ice on it. and 4' in it can be 200 degrees and almost ready to ignite.

As for cleaning them, throw some TSP in with the simple green. If you want to clean the inside of the washer out when you are done, WD40 on a paper towell works really well. We've found lately it is cheaper to just toss them once they get too dirty but we do it on trash day so they don't sit out in the trash for a week and combust.

Here is how to from online on how to get them to ignite in under 2 hours:


Instructions.Things You'll Need:
Two or three pieces of dry cotton rag, one foot squares
Bottle of linseed oil
Small metal can (an empty small coffee can)
Bathtub, large sink, or any place void of flammable materials with easy access to water
Rubber gloves
1.1
Soak the rags. Make sure when you start with your rags, they are not damp at all. Wearing rubber gloves, douse the rags thoroughly with the linseed oil until they are dripping.

2.2
Place the rags in the can. Make sure to stuff the rags into the can so there is as little room as possible. The more crowded the rags are, the quicker the fire will start.

3.3
Wait for the rags to heat up and combust. Place your can of oil soaked rags in a safe place, like a tub or large sink with no flammable items nearby. Make sure water is readily available. Linseed oil evaporates very, very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that the linseed oil's act of evaporation heats up whatever material it is evaporating from, like a cotton rag. If there isn't enough air around the rag to enable it to cool itself while the linseed oil evaporates, the heat from the evaporation will rise to the point of combustion. Give your can of linseed rags a good forty-five minutes to two hours. After this time, the rags will probably at least have started smoking, if not burning outright.



Read more: How to Start a Fire With Rags and Linseed Oil | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4478470_start-fire-rags-linseed-oil.html#ixzz1GGIa0oof

 

[gbrett]

the 2nd hand store here sells bags or cut up cloths for rags my dad has used them all my life. I like the red or blue shop rags though. When I was single I just threw them in the washing machine at home, but she won't let me now so in the summer when I can turn the water back on I use the machine at the shop

 

[lotsoftools]

I own a laundromat. We do not have a separate machine for the nasty stuff. We use the same machines and clean them thoroughly after use. My mat is fully attended though, and we have someone there to do that.
If you must use a laundromat that doesn't have a machine set aside for this, at the very least run the machine through a cycle empty after you are done.
Personally, I don't even bother with washing rags any more. I just buy a box/bag of old t-shirt rags and use those.

 

[Matt018]

I hate to be a curmudgeon, but if you had to use the laundromat to wash your clothes would you appreciate using a machine that's been used to wash somebody's greasy rags? Just a thought.

Then dont go to a laundromat to wash your clothes

 

[BSK]

My wife does a lot fo quilting and often has materials left over from those jobs. They all end up in a basket in the garage. Typically they get used once and then thrown away.

Before that I used to go my local shop. give them 5 bucks and exchange my dirty rags with some clean ones since they use a laundry service.

 

[Wes Tex]

It looks like this topic has been "worked over" numerous times, but I have another source for rags. The local hospitals use blue rags they purchase new and sanitized. Once used, they send the rags to a local commercial laundry. The laundry washes them and sells them in bundles for way less than you can purchse red rags. I was told the washed rags are suitable for use anywhere but in a hospital. I have used them for years and have not come down with any terrible diseases. They look and feel like new rags.

 

[64dragnwagon]

I wash mine in the wifes washing machine with laundry detergent and Greased lightning. THEN when they are done I VERY QUICKLY and discreetly wash out the inside drum (the grease seems to accumulate in a ring around the top of the drum) with greased lightning. It cleans up totally and doesn't take too long. Also as others have stated here I use the blue paper towels for the really greasy jobs and RTV.

 

[santagary]

I get laundered bags of nolonger useable dish towels from the resort where I work and toss them into my airtight wood burning stove...if greasy they make great fire starters when placed underneath the pine, juniper and oak

 

[5lima30]

Those w/ septic tanks may want to rethink washing their greasy/ oily rags. I would imagine that would not be good for a septic tank and drain field. (Disclaimer I am not a septic tank expert.)

 

[onemore]

I used simple green in a 5 gallon bucket hot water mixed them up with a stick, them quick rinse and into the machine double rinse while the wife is shopping.

 

[Matt018]

I have a couple of the 50 pack of harbor freight shop rags. I Have two bins One for all the clean rags, and a small rubbermaid for the dirty ones. If one rag isnt quite dirty and still usable ill leave it on the workbench. When they start to get grimy ill throw em in the dirty bin. Whenever i get an oil spill or am wiping up grease, or cleaning out an oil pan ill reach into the dirty bin and grab a handfull. When im doing a really messy job like a transpan or waterpump or radiator, when i know im gonna make a mess I will just take the whole bin over to the car and dump all the rags down to soak up the mess. After all the rags are saturated with oil I just haul em to the laundramat in a black trashbag and bring a clean one to take em home. I dont bother drying them at the laundramat though, i just throw em on the driveway and let the son do that.

 

[EOC_Jason]

I usually cut up old t-shirts or under shirts, or use paper towels for really greasy stuff.... My friend's machine shop buys rags from their tooling supplier that are cut up shirts, they sell in like 25lb boxes...

Soaking in simple green helps a lot too...

 

[Jagmandave]

I've had good luck washing mine in the regular machine at home, I usually wash a load of my jeans after I finish the red shop towels. They never come out smelling like the rags and that way it doesn't leave anything in the machine for the bride to find.

 

[1948]

i usually use em till they are completely just black and full of tar and heavy grease, and i keep them in a metal bucket and if i have a big spill i can grab em and throw them down.... pretty sure that if a rag cleaning/uniform place tried to clean my rags they would fail.. haha anyway, not only will it stain your washing machine, they sometimes get metal chips in them! DONT DO IT!

 

[Maexle]

i only use the blue paper shop towels, but i have a "re-use" technique, i use the slightly dirty ones again, i mounted an old ammo box to the side of my tool box and throw the re-usable ones in there, than i use those for grease / oil etc .. and new ones for the cleaning jobs that requires clean towels. I've cut my costs of towels at least in half.

 

[RECox286]

Soak the rags with a water and liquid detergent mixture. It doesn't

take much if you have soft water, use more for hard water. And

agitate with a plumbers' helper, until the water is black. If you

feel the need, give them another bath or two until the water is

fairly clean, or slightly discolored. Good rags are expensive, and

are worth the little effort it takes to keep them on the job for

more than one use. If, after the first go round, you think they

won't dirty the washing machine, then let the machine do the work.

Uncle Bob

 

[1948]

again, ill say it. grease is not the only issue. a lot of the time, esp in machine shops or metal fab places, they have metal chips or shavings in them. they can ruin a machine, get into other clothing(like your kid or your wifes stuff) and seriously cut someone or give someone a sliver from hell. ive taken a used shop rag out of the bin to wipe my hands and ended up mixing the oil with my blood when i sliced my hand open..... those chips get really embedded in there. even the ones you get from the cleaner/uniform places will have pieces in them still sometimes. thats why you should never wip your face(i got a real bad sinus infection from blowing my runny nose in one one time cuz it nicked my nose a little)

 

[shopnut]

I normally use paper towels for the oily/greasy jobs. But I really don't like putting the moderately dirty rags in the good washer (Actually, it's Mrs. Shopnut that really does like it ).

So how do you keep your buddies from knowing you're Mr. Clean in the shop? You hide a secondhand washer somewhere out there! This one gets used about every three or four months and I can toss WHATEVER I want into it.

It avoids a lot of fights with Mrs. Shopnut!

.

 

[E.T.Privott]

use the blue throw-away rags from the ware house store, would you like it if you, your wife, your kids were to go to the wash and find out that some sorry **** for brains had washed his nasty *** grease rags in the michine ? i would hope you (or anyone else)have a little more going on for yourself than to pull a stunt like that. the rags are cheap enough to use and lose after they get the job done, the cost of cleaning and services for the old red rags is not going to help your bottom line @ the yr.s end so at least try them before you make up your mind. it not for everybody, can't hurt to try'm - there's always "ol' red rags".

 

[reddog289]

Good read on something I have been putting off for a few years.

 

[wjamyers]

agreed.

still surprized only one vote for GoJo. that stuff is just amazing on your hands, I figured it would be as good on rags, but now I'm thinking to just go with the blue ones all the time.

 

[MrWrencher823]

question for all you guys who say they soak them in a 5 gallon bucket. about how many of them do you toss in the bucket when soaking them? I have a tightly packed 5 gallon bucket of them right now and don't want to over/under do it. thanks everyone

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I stopped using cotton cloth shop towels when I learned what even a little lint from them does to a brand new $30k race engine... Nothing but paper towels for me ever since. Side benefit is no worries about cleaning them.

Tommy