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Dumb Question: Washing Work Rags

michaeln

michaeln

New member
Joined
Mar 8, 2003
Location
Angels Camp
Moto(s)
2017 KTM Duke 690
2016 KTM Super Duke 1290 R
Name
Michael
I like to have a good supply of clean rags around when I'm working on the bike. I bought a big bag of those industrial red rags, and they're great. But they get real nasty dirty. I toss 'em if they have wads of black grease on them, but if it's just oil or WD40 or polish, or any of the other lightweight kinds of muck, I wash 'em.

I just washed a load in hot water with lots of Tide, and they came out pretty good... but the inside of the washing machine was a disaster. Black greasy shit all over the inside of the tub. I had to get in there with paper towels and Simple Green to clean it all out, and obviously I only got the spots I could see and reach, there's probably plenty more in places I can't see. Luckily, I'm not married so I won't have a SWMBO gunning for me.

Anyone have a good way to wash these work rags? I'm thinking next time put them in a bucket with a strong Simple Green & hot water mix and soak 'em and agitate 'em for a while to get the worst of it out before putting them into the washer to finish the job.

Other ideas?

Yeah, I know I could just toss 'em instead of washing 'em.
 
i would like to know too. i got kicked out of the laundry place close to my house for doing that. and my rags still smell like oil.
 
geez mang, tough luck...
i almost made the same mistake before my pops stopped me.
good thing i asked.
i would just say to throw 'em away.
grease is a big bitch to work with.
 
I got busted for washing my air-filter in the laundry machine :(

Not worth the domestic strife- or the messed up clothes.

My recommendation is to just chuck 'em away.
 
My 8th grade metal shop teacher, Mr. Unsworth :)twofinger ), wants me to say be careful storing oily rags. These should go in a sealed metal container only to help prevent the possibility of fire or (gasp) spontaneous combustion.

I always wondered what happened to the oily rags I throw away. Now I know. They just go to the big dumps outside the City and get bulldozed into the earth to leech forever. Not very good but I don't know what else to do with them. Wash them? No thanks.

Better waste management desparately needed.
 
industrial cleaning services probably available. i'll have to ask my dad where/what they do w/ the dirty rags.
 
HeavenzJai said:
y not just hand wash them in a bucket?
Click to expand...

then pour the oily water down the drain? that's exactly what we NOT supposed to do (take note laundry washers).

what is the solution here. (yeah yeah he the guy on 2nd base :twofinger )
 
Dude, I just throw them away. They are so cheap that damaging your washer (or getting yelled at by the old lady) isn't worth my money. Yes, not even worth TCG money.
 
By law, you're not suppose to wash or throw anything away that will cause harm to the environment ( i.e flush coolant/engine oil down the toilet or by entering residential drain in anyway) You can dispose or have a local industrial cleaning service wash your rags and trash your used oils ( Aramark etc.)
 
I (a) do them at the laund-ro-mat.... and (b) use a proprietary combination of SprayNWash, detergent and BLEACH (ok, yeah, they don't stay quite so red, LOL). I do throw away the rags which are hopelessly grease-soaked (i know bad, but like almost everyone else said.... wtf ELSE can you do w/ them????).

I think the bleach helps a lot to break down the grease...

Also - i don't use rags to soak up much straight grease/oil - i'll either collect/drain into a recycle receptacle, or use a grease pickup like kitty litter or what-not...

Good luck!!

-BMT
 
i got a pack of 75 of em for 10$ or so. I try not and use them to mop up grease or oil if I can use newspapers instead. At that rate, when they are all oiled up, i just toss em. If I get a good amount of use out of a 13 cent rag, im happy.
 
Whodathunk a thread on washing rags would provoke such a heated discussion? Ya gotta love the internet!
 
talkin' w/ pops, they use an industrial cleaning service like aramark. i think we switched to another cleaning service that's a little cheaper. forgot to ask but i dunno if they do individual pickup/clean and it probably isn't cheap. i suppose it's best to bring them to a recycling center/dump and have them take care of it. though if they're not disposable, what ARE you supposed to do w/ them?
 
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