Best washer for towels/cleaning cloths

[khodabear]

I want to set up a second W/D for car towels...cleaning cloths etc. Not for clothes.
I could rework a Neptune - but is that the best choice for this type of laundry? Would an older TL that uses a larger fill be better?

Thanks for your thoughts

Peter
in Denver

 

[gansky1]

Depending on the source of the soiling on the towels/rags, you probably want to stick with something that does use a decent amount of water and has a spin-drain, IMO. A vintage Maytag washer would be fun looking and reliable for garage use.

 

[mayken4now]

Maytag.

 

[danemodsandy]

Maytag.

 

[khodabear]

Well that was easy :~)

 

[spinout]

A real GE Filter Flo. A lot more fun than the esteemed but boring Maytag.

 

[trainguy]

What Else, But A......

Frigidaire 1-18

 

[christfr]

id vote for a tag in the garage they just go and go and go

 

[launderess]

If you don't mind a little work, a Hoover twin tub.

Wash action is though and the spin rinses do a very good job. Final spin/extraction leaves towels and rags almost bone dry.

L.

 

[sillysuds]

Kenmore/Whirlpool.

 

[charbee]

Get an old Maytag!

The beat-up old A407 we found for twenty bucks cleans towels (and everything else) better than anything we've had in the last five years. Even the old "dog towels" we use to clean the mud off the dog's feet look brighter than they used to!

 

[panthera]

Any "real" Frigidaire

That is, a thumper. Preferably a Unimatic. Or a vintage Maytag.
A FL would do a much better job on sand, of course.
I can not for the life of me imagine why anyone would use a modern Whirlpool or Kenmore for this purpose...the vintage machines are cool, but cleaning real dirt day in day out?
Nee, that takes a serious washer, none of the sh** they all build today.
A spin dryer (mine here in Germany does 2800rpm) is a very good idea. Not only does it dry clothes well, but also removes a lot of residue. So, yeah - a good twinny would do ya proud.
Of course, how you get the oil and gunk out is also a factor of the chemicals you use. What works best on motor oil and stuff in the US?

 

[danemodsandy]

Panthera:

For getting grease out of fabrics, it's hard to beat an American hand cleaner called "Goop". Goop looks like cold cream; you rub it into your greasy hands and then wash them with soap and water. Goop dissolves the grease so that the soap can wash it away.

It can be used for fabrics by rubbing it into the stain, then allowing the fabric to sit for about ten minutes before laundering in the hottest water the fabric will accept. I have used it with great success on dinner napkins stained with lipstick worn by female guests. And, in a positive Goop triumph, I used it to get tar out of the carpeting of my Volvo 240. First I used Goop, then I scrubbed with hot water, detergent, and washing soda. I finished up with a steam-cleaning of the carpet, and you can NOT tell where the tar was at all.

 

[jetcone]

Panthera

Have you tried Persil yet? It gets things really clean I buy the German brand here through Amazon.

My best degreaser, I use Shout right in the oily stain with heaps of Persil.

Warm prewash then recharge the machine and clothes and hit hot wash.

 

[launderess]

Oil/Grease Stains? One Word

"Fels" as in Fels Naptha Soap, preferably the vintage sort with naptha solvent.

L.

 

[brettsomers]

Laundress is a smart one. a vintage Hoover twin tub would be ideal, easy to clean, spins very well. the fels-naptha soap, for spots, is much more thrifty than fancy sprays.

ge filter-flo...IMO, uses too much water,and as result, too much detergent.

whirlpool/kenmores neutral drain will settle the grease ONTO the load.

the vintage figidaire would be a washer project, not a rag washer.

you will hot water (in the garage hookup) if the rags are greasy.

 

[spinout]

Spin drains....

We all know that oils and other light soils will float up on the water. Now you guys that advocate spin drains must consider, that when things start spinning, you have nothing more than a centrifuge. So what happens to the lighter matter in a centrifuge? Well, it moves to the inside--the center. As do the light soils and oil, so they actually end up being drawn through the side of the clothes as they spin out. In reality, there is no advantage to a spin drain over a neutral drain in a perf tub machine.

A solid tub spin drain has a bit of an advantage in this area, as much (but not all) of the fill will quickly travel up and over the clothes during drain taking some of the lighter soils with it. Remember that a perf tubs' spin drain doesn't work like that and will spin the lighter soils to the center until it's drained. Bet you never read that in the sales literature. An overflow wash period would also be an excellent way to handle lots of oily residue.

If your garage towels are anything like mine--or most garage towels, you'll have a lot of lint coming off of them. A machine with a real lint filter is beneficial.

A good rinser will be beneficial as well.

For popular washers, I'm still with the Filter Flo or Belt drive WP or Kenmore with the waterfall or a self-cleaning filter. Both of these are also good with sand and heavy soils too. Forget the 'tag, it's a wimp.

 

[brettsomers]

let the washer battles begin!

i agree, a solid-tub machine that throws the water would do best with oil.

about spin-drain vs neutral drain... the water action of the spin drain keeps the oil broken-up and emulsified. a still-drain allows the oil to pool and come together.

too bad the center-dial Maytags dont offer an automatic second rinse.

lint comes out in the dryer.

sure other makes make more water noise and lots of splash, but Maytag knows you dont need that to get clean. mine was a Maytag family, and those classic Powerfin agitators do their job well with out cheap theatrics.!

 

[panthera]

saponification

You are right about oil floating. I should think, however, that either being "caught" in the detergent/soaps molecules or having, itself, become soap through the saponification process, that it would flush up and out with the water and not lie as scum on the clothes.
At least this has been my observation when spin drying clothes that had been truly filthy dirty.
I do believe there were pictures up on our forum at one time or other showing the difference in visible residue between neutral drains, solid tubs and hole-y tubs, were there not?
Jon, I do know Persil. It is one of the most effective detergents for dirty clothes I have ever used.
Shout gives me a very bad headache.
I confess to using WD-40 (outside) liberally on bad fat and oil-based stains. Seems easier to remove its residues than fight the heavier oils. Got a lot of transmission oil on my favorite jeans last year taking a Frigidaire TL (not a real one, sh** by White) apart. Couldn't use anything but what was under the kitchen sink. The enzyme based automatic dishwasher detergent and two trips through the Frigimore FL did the trick. Would not do that with this machine too often - too much aluminum exposed (spider).
Hmm, anybody have a machine which would stand up to a strong lye solution?

 

[panthera]

dryer

As our forum's official nervous nelly, I would not be drying fabric exposed to too much oil or solvents in a clothes dryer.

 

[volvoguy87]

Old Maytag!

An old Maytag would be the best bet. They seem to run forever, and their swirl-away drain moves the floating crud away from the clothes unlike a neutral-drain WP/KM, but it's not a high-speed spin-drain. With a MAytag swirl-away rinse, you get the best of both worlds. Also, I finally was able to test my Maytag A208 today. It is my first vintage washer, and I am very impressed! It works perfectly, quietly, and turns the load over about 3 times per minute. It washes rings around the stupid Norgetag supplied by my landlord!

Pictures to come soon in a new thread,
Dave

 

[danemodsandy]

Dave:

Spoken like a true Volvo fan! Simplicity and strength, right?

P.S.- I have an '88 245 wagon, navy outside/blue vinyl inside.

 

[volvoguy87]

Strong, simple, perfection.

1987 240 GL sedan. Dark green, almost blue, exterior, tan leather interior. It runs like my A208, like a fine Swiss watch. Companies like Volvo and Maytag should stop what they are doing, think for awhile, and realize that they had it rigt the first time!

If they still made 'em, I would buy a new one, but that just isn't an option, now is it?

Dave

 

[sudzreturn]

Towels and Detergent

Personally, as a twin tub owner, i start from a hot (60c) to very hot (95c or 85c on Hoovermatic twin tubs)and work my way down through to light coloureds as the water cools and use a high sudsing detergent. Ive used all the major UK brands, and the best i would say is Ariel, auto or twin tub, but its not for those with sensetive skin, its biological. For those with sensetive skin type, the best for stains would be Fairy Non Bio (which is an auto low sudsing detergent)or Fairy Snow (high sudsing). But to be honest, i dont know why people rave about Persil, its crap, water goes grey with the automatic version powder, and the twin tub Persil.... oy vey, talk about soap cake! When it comes to wash time, in a normal agitator twin tub, wash time is usually about 12 mins, with PLENTY of water for them to move around, but it only takes 4 mins in a Hoovermatic, well they are quite vigorous. Hard stain wise, like oil and the like, i soak in cold water with your bog standard vinegar, works a treat then wash as normal! Oh, anyone got a spare Hoovermatic??? I still got that horrid Thomson thing, i want wanna of `my babies' back!! Ty

 

[pturo]

Vintage Center Dial Maytags Fabricmatics have a Permanent Press Cycle that gives I believe 3 or 4 rinses. Fill, agitate, slow partial drain, fill, agitate, slow partial drain,fill, agitate, spin, spray rinse, fill, agitate, spin. I think that is three rinses plus a spray rinse. Would be excellent cycle for getting extra residue off clothes. In permanent press, the draining of the tub acts more like a neutral drain(very short slow spin) for two of the 4 rinses.(Cool down) Uses more water than regularfill, spin,fill, spin, spray) but if you want clean clothes or cloths.... Phil

 

[sudsmaster]

Minority Opinion

I wash all manner of shop towels and shop coast and shot work clothes in my Neptune 7500, and they come out great.

For the real dirty stuff, I do a warm rinse/spin with 2 oz of STPP. This gets rid of surface dirt, and also foam suppressants that are loaded up in machine coolant. Then I do a regular 34 minute boosted hot wash with stain cycle. Currently I'm using about 2 oz of STPP with about 1 oz. of grated soap. If you can't find STPP, then a good HE detergent works well also, and STPP helps with just about any detergent, especially for really grimy stuff.

An old Maytag top loader is great, but it won't rinse as well as the Neptune.

One the shop rags are laundered they should pose no fire threat in a dryer.

 

[panthera]

gosh,

The Neptune solution sounds ideal for the problem. My concern is more with the Amannananatags and the Norgetags and the Shredmores (especially with their dirt-redeposition neutral drain design) which do not remove the flammables well enough.
Too many dryer fires in the last years to be just co-incidence.
I take grief for it without end over here, but I just use lots of disposable, recycled paper towels for really dirty work. Sure, they get tossed. But what about the determents, hot water, etc. needed to really wash that stuff out?
Bet the environmental impact comes out to be about the same, if not better - we have a heat generating plant in Munich which burns our rubbish cleanly.

 

[sudsmaster]

Keven,

There may be an issue with laundering shop rags. If done in a business, there might be environmental regulations that affect the discharge of the dirty wash water into the sewage system, because it might contain greases/metals/etc. Or so a former employer told me, when I suggested we move from dispo paper towels to washable shop rags and get a little front loader (like the Danby) to handle them. My suggestion fell flat.

Another option is a used Frigmore front loader. These can often be had for less than $200. While they don't have internal heaters, they are relatively robust and could certainly handle shop rags/etc, especially if they have a good supply of hot water.

 

[panthera]

Rich,

You got that right - my dad wrote me not to long ago that folks in Larimer County, Colorado had all stopped developing film at home because the county was charging penalties of 10,000$ if any silver was found in the sewage.
Since Colorado water has always had high levels of silver, I find this kinda stupid, but then...well, I am a strong proponent of protecting the environment, just think the old "you get more flys with honey than vinegar" mentality applies here.
I save my paper towels, by the way, in a fire-proof container and take them to the "alt-Öl" collection center around the corner.There they take shop towels and contaminated paper, it is burned in the city's power plant.
Those old Frigemore FLs are very robust and truly good machines, especially compared to the FL sh** produced in the US nowadays.

 

[sillysuds]

I agree with spinout, get a GE filter flo or Kenmore or Whirlpool.