Ahhh! Something New Has Been Added!

[mrboilwash]

I`ve tried the iodine (Povidone) as suggested in another thread for a smelly shower curtain and it worked very well indeed.

Still would not use it on a regular basis, because I don`t know much about it`s safety.
I wonder if there might be another reason apart from possible staining of whites why it is normally not used for laundry?
Thyroid problems from long term exposure on the skin come to my mind as well as possible environmental risks. Maybe it effects the needed bacteria in waste water treatment? I don`t know.

As to 6kW heaters and energy costs, it`s just about quick heating in a commercial washer.
A boil wash in that Miele PW6065 should not exceed 2 to 3 kWh, that is approximately the same as an average US toploader consumes on a warm wash when connected to an electric water heater.

 

[henene4]

Think that 3kWh on cold fill are okay. Keep in mind: The heater on this washer just runs about 20-30min on a boilwash. Our Panasonic uses about 2.5kWh for a full 8kg boil wash, but 100l+ with the 3rd rinse on, and water coast way more arround here...

 

[arbilab]

6 drops of iodine solution in 6 gal of water, followed by several rinses, is not going to leave a problematic (health) residue in finished laundry. I mean like, JMO, I'm not a physiologist.

Iodine is indeed a potent stain/dye. But again, see dilution ratio above. I've used it in laundry and didn't notice anything turning red.

DID notice the "fresher than fresh (city) air" smell, whereas chlorine leaves a chemical-factory smell and literally eats fabrics.

Just a suggestion anyhow.

 

[foraloysius]

This week a doctor was on TV, she said all the sanitizing was a bit overkill. There is little chance that you get a flu or so from laundry that has been washed well. A whole different thing is for instance dustmites. They are much harder to get rid of. Does iodine kill dustmites?

 

[arbilab]

According to internet sources, temperatures above 130F/55C kills dust mites. This need not take place in the wash phase, as almost all dryers reach or exceed that temperature. I don't know how well a dilution of iodine low enough not to stain would kill them or their eggs.

*I think* we got the whole 'boil wash' idea from hospitals. Which are trying to keep people from catching diseases they didn't come in with. IOW, other people's bugs. Yet hospitals are notorious places to get sick with things you didn't have to start with. Despite all their heroic measures.

OTOH, if your clothes and bedding didn't make you sick when you were using them, why would they make you sick after washing them? They're not 'other people's', they're YOURS or your immediate family's.

If one means commercial laundromat machines, run them empty through the hottest cycle with a heavy dose of sodium hypochlorite to kill 'other people's' bugs before putting YOUR stuff in. That in fact is what I do, now that I am reduced to living in an institution which prohibits private laundry machinery.

 

[henene4]

Indeed, I don't use boilwashes to often anyway. But sometimes, it is just the non plus ultra. Tell me a stain that cant be removed in 195° wash for 30min with a prewash and some LCB or stuff like that.
The most common boilwash-load I do are our mops and cleaning clothes. Next would be white bedsheets followed by the pillows and blankets. Sheets because they smell just genious and are brighter then you can get them on any other way (without heavy chemical use) after the 30 min of heaven, pillows because of there volume (keep in mind, your pillows core temperature needs to exceed 65° for 10 min to get genaral kill of all dustmites) and blankets because they get pretty fast yellow because of the sweat in them...

 

[tomturbomatic]

Before bleaching products existed, boiling was the only way to whiten cotton. North of where I live is Savage, MD. where there was a textile mill on the river from the earliest days of this country where they made sailcloth and in the history of the mill, a big event was when they got the boiler so that the cotton could be whitened. High temp washes were used mainly to whiten cottons and linens, not to sanitize although that was a side effect.

 

[henene4]

Yep, and today it's the opposite of it in the most cases...