National Clothesline

Some cleaners who are doing wetcleaning are not checking their system to find out if the clothes are coming out as bright and clean as possible.

There are many reasons why clothes may be coming out gray, dingy, yellow or discolored.

Hard water contains dissolved impurities such as calcium and magnesium salts. Many synthetic detergents loose their efficiency in hard water and in some cases the detergent remains in the fabric. Hard water can be calculated by chemical suppliers who sell wetcleaning and laundry supplies.

Excess detergent or putting in too much detergent can also affect the look of a fabric. The clothes will come out dingy looking and gray when excess detergent remains in the fabric.

Although the name sounds awesome, the ingredient is commonly found in the household product called Calgon, which can be obtained on the shelves of most large supermarkets.

The ingredient is used to prevent insoluble residue forming on a fabric from hard water. It also can remove impurities caused from residue of detergents and other impurities. It is very easy to test whether you have excessive detergent or a high level of insoluble residue on fabrics.

• Fill the wetcleaning or washing machine with warm water.

• Add Calgon as directed by the manufacturer but do not add detergent.

• Add fabrics to the wetcleaning or washing machine and run through on a normal cycle.

• Observe inside the machine for any suds and foaming.

If you have any foaming it means that Calgon is removing insoluble detergent from the fabrics because Calgon does not cause foaming.

If no suds occur then you probably do not have detergent or other impurities on your fabric.

Also, Calgon is not highly alkaline. If Calgon is used with detergents, dissolve it in the water first before adding detergent.

This means that alkaline-based chemicals and bleaches are remaining in the fabric after wetcleaning.

It is important to neutralize alkaline based chemicals and bleaches used in wetcleaning. This includes alkaline based detergents, sodium perborate and sodium percarbonate. When sodium hypochlorite is used to whiten clothes, that must also be neutralized.

To neutralize alkaline based chemicals, acids must be used in the rinse water. A common acid to use is 28% acetic acid. The amount used is one to two ounces per gallon of water.

Mixing two different detergents can cause rings and dingy fabrics. This means that anionic detergents, which are used to clean regular fabrics, can never be mixed with cationic detergents, which are used to clean wool and silk. Anionic and cationic detergents break down causing fabric discoloration.

The detergents that are used to clean wool and silk are usually cationic in nature and slightly acid. These detergents are not as good a cleaning agent for cleaning soiled garments made from cottons and linens.

To remove the necessary soil and stains requires pre-spotting. For dryside staining, use any nonionic detergent sold by various manufacturers.

For ground-in soil, use a neutral detergent mixed with ammonia. This formulation should only be used on cottons, denims and raincoats.

On silks and wools, do not use anionic detergents for pre-spotting since they will break down and form rings from the cationic detergents used for silks and wools.

Use protein formulas and tannin formulas to remove necessary staining. Garments that are heavily stained with oil and grease should be drycleaned for best results.

Do not mix colors when wetcleaning. Dark garments usually contain more soil and are more likely to bleed and transfer on to light fabrics.

Cotton, linen and denims are more likely to bleed than acrylics and polyester.

Suede and leather trimming bleed readily and should be wetcleaned separately.

Test for safety before using a diluted sodium hypochlorite or titanium sulphate. If the area clears up, the dye staining on fabrics probably occurred from improper classification.