I have a set of seven Days-of-the-Week dish towels, white with brightly colored embroidery.
My husband made the mistake of drying a stainless steel pan with one of them. The bottoms of these pans are always black - I think it's tarnish or soot of some sort. I use a paper towel when I wipe them.
Anyway, so now Tuesday's towel is horribly stained with black streaks. I used Spray'n'Wash and it got it to an acceptable gray level. Bleaching and sunshine didn't do anything, although the white part of the towel is now super-white.
Does anyone know of a better product or technique for the next time he does this? =)
I would pre-soak the towel in a detergent with a booster such as Clorox II. Since trhe stain came from metal, diluted CLR or powered Zud cleanser may work. I have over 100 light-colored kitchen towels
-- most of them are stained, scorched, and frayed, but all are very clean. The towels were a gift from my sister who made them from a roll of commercial toweling. They outlast anything store bought. (I don't recall stainless steel staining fabric.)
If it's tarnish, it's a metal compound. Soaking in vinegar and water might help, but I don't know.
If it's some sort of soot, the color comes from carbon. For centuries, people cooked and heated with wood and coal. If only we knew now what they knew then about washing soot out of laundry! I'll bet Dawn and DrClean know. I'll bet they're laughing at us!
In general, they washed with strong alkalines and boiling water in the days when they were dealing with lots of soot.
Alkaline bar soaps like Fels Naptha and Octagon might be good for scrubbing the stains with a brush.
For boiling or machine washing, I think powdered detergents tend to be more alkaline than liquids. (I like Tide but don't know if it's the best.) Dorothy say OxiClean worked. I think that's because OxiClean contains washing sodaa, and washing soda is cheaper. Trisodium phosphate (TSP) is stronger. It's sold in paint and hardware stores.
If you boil your towel, don't use an aluminum pan. Alkalines corrode aluminum.
I never laugh at anyone here (unless they're trying to be too serious).
I was thinking alkaline too as it's likely to be something burnt or something metal, so I think both your suggestions are great. IN the UK I would use household ammonia, which is readily available in any supermarket or hardware store.
If I see good suggestions I rarely come in and add something - the person has the help they need.
Other than what's been suggested I'd try with something like methylated spirits and white spirit just to see if it's a solvent style stain such as dirty grease. However, I would just try a spot of solvent to see if the stain starts to shift - otherwise the cloth will retain the odour for a while. Also, how much time does one want to spend on a dish cloth??
I wonder where in the UK you are? I tried to buy ammonia a while back and had a hell of a job, none of the big stores stocked it or any of my small locals but I eventually got some in a small chemist down town. It was very strong and I found the fumes unbearable.
Jeyes household ammonia is available from all the hardware stores I visit and most of the supermarkets. It will be in the general cleaning section not the detergent section. I'm north London - just north of Harrow but before Watford.
I have a white dishwashing cloth that gets gray and smelly. I put it in a jar of water to which I have added a tsp of 6% hypochlorite (American bleach) and a tsp of baking soda (bicarbonate). Bright again in minutes.
That's what we call "Javex" or "Javel" a weak solution of sodium hypochlorite! Javex is a household word here, like the UK 'Hoover' for vacuum cleaner.
I've been to Harefield a few times and that's not too far away by the looks of it on the map I know the Jeyes name from the disinfectant, perhaps I'm missing it, I will look again next time I'm shopping.
Among common household chemicals, it's ammonia and acids that can cause trouble. (They may be ingredients in cleaning products.)
Concentrated chlorine bleach has a pH around 13. It doesn't bleach very well but is caustic to fabrics and skin. It bleaches better if you reduce the pH to 11-12 by diluting it to 1,000 ppm, which would be 4 tablespoons of household bleach per gallon.
To make hypochlorite work a lot faster, pools used acidic compounds to reduce the pH to about 7.5. At a lower pH, the bleach would be harsh for swimmers.
Food processors use bleach at 6.5 to 7.5 for disinfecting. At pH 6.0, hypochlorite kills germs 9 times faster than at 11.5. It's effective, but combining acid with bleach is hazardous in home cleaning.
If you dilute bleach to 25 ppm (1/2 teaspoon per U.S. gallon), that drops the pH to 8-9, where it disinfects 3 times faster than at 4 tablespoons per gallon.
Another benefit of diluting it to 25 ppm is that even if the chlorine were liberated, it would remain dissolved in the water instead of getting into your eyes and lungs. A disadvantage of such a weak solution is that it wouldn't take much organic matter in the water to tie up the chlorine so it would no longer disinfect.
Baking soda allows you to to use stronger hypochlorite concentrations without causing an undesirable pH. If you add equal volumes of household bleach and baking soda, such as a teaspoon of each per quart of water, the pH should stay around 8, where the bleach works fast, it's not harshly alkaline, and it doesn't produce chlorine gas.
You're the one who complained of being out of ideas when Tide HE, Borax, and bleach wouldn't get your washcloths white. Why did I feel at the time that you were just looking for a date with Lloyd?
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. You really should have read our Charter before posting. As Marcey said, AHC is NOT a dating bar!
If you're seeking a cyber paramour, try news.admin.net-abuse.email or alt.tv.martha-stewart.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.