Cleaning clothes with petroleum products

[D.M. Procida]

I was struck by a passage in Marilyn Robinson's Home, in which a character (in a small town in 1950s Iowa) dry cleans his suit by brushing it with a rag soaked in petrol. There's a a comment that this was an old trick, or an old way (I don't have the passage to hand).

And more recently in Sebastian Barry's Days Without End, a character describes how the uniforms of dead soldiers being prepared for burial would be freshened up by being brushed with lamp oil in much the same way.

I'm not planning to try this on any of my suits, by the way. Was this a common way for those without other means to clean clothes that couldn't be washed in water? How good were the results? And has anyone here tried it?

Daniele

[The Other John]

Not sure about ordinary petrol but my dad used to use lighter fuel on his bus company uniform, got rid of odd spots and splashes a treat.

[Graham.]

Knowing how effective tetrachloroethylene is, I would imagine petrol would work quite well.

[Andy Burns]

Got an old bottle of DabItOff stashed away?

[Chris Hogg]

Also trichloroethylene, as in Dabitoff, or carbon tetrachloride as in Thawpit, all now sadly things of the past. But they were much purer than is petrol, which while effective as a cleaner for removing greasy stains, contains a range of hydrocarbons that would surely leave a lasting 'petrol' smell.

[spuorgelgoog]

Still used, apparently, in some countries

"The petrol in the last bucket ensures shine and faster drying of clothes."

Even in the 1940s this was both a common method and a recognised danger:

Owain

[Clive Arthur]

Yes, and my Mum would use it to remove beach tar.

Cheers

[Dave Liquorice]

Yep, petrol is full of kak that niffs and isn't overly volatile so hangs about. Lighter fuel is pretty refined, very volatile and leaves no kak, or only very very little.

[D.M. Procida]

Good God, I don't think I will be able to sleep after watching that!

Daniele

[Tim Watts]

Autoglym Tar Remover is more or less naptha and works quite well

[Max Demian]

I understand it was the standard cleaner for silk at one time.

[S Viemeister]

My Dad said he did that with his uniform during WWII. He used aircraft fuel.

[The Natural Philosopher]

All dry cleaning fluid is, is a solvent for grease.

Water being a solvent for almost everything else.

[The Natural Philosopher]

If you really want low residue, cellulose thinners (MEK, Xylene or acetone) are really good degreasers

[harry]

In days of yore, "dry cleaning" was done with petroleum based fluids. Later they used fluid similar to refrigerant gases.

The fluid is saved up and distilled to get the muck out of it.

[harry]

Back then, it was leaded petrol. Really good for you!

[Chris J Dixon]

Way back in the late 60s, I was on a training placement at Eggborough power station. On one occasion I was pointed towards the three enormous power terminals in the bottom of the now empty stator casing, which were still covered in remains of the old jointing compound and needed to be prepared for the new stator connections. I was simply given a bundle of rags and a can of trike and left to it. I wondered why I was getting a little light-headed.

Chris

[Brian Gaff]

Don't 'arf leave a pong on the clothes, I'd imagine. Brian

[Dave Liquorice]

If there are any synthetics/plastics about test first with those and lighter fuel come to that...

[The Natural Philosopher]

Years ago I acquired a plastic Cox model Pitts special with a little glow engine in it. It was oily. Glow fuel is mehanol nitromethane and mineral or vegetable oil. It attacks many plastics. But not this plane.

My first move was to remove the oily gunk from the model with...petrol

BIG mistake, Instantly the plastic surface started to craze and dissolve