Machine washing towels and pads. Is it safe?

[Hernandez.Art13]

As the title says, is it ok to wash the towels and pads in "our own personal" washing machines and dryers at home.

I've been thinking, so it is safe for the pads and towels to be washed at home, using the right detergent etc..., it's actually really easy and simple. However, what popped up in my head was...

What about our health? Does it put it at risk? Meaning, we spent all week detailing cars, from washing, drying, claying, compounding, polishing, waxing, interior, exterior, engine, wheels and tires etc...

So we used a good amount of towels and pads for even just 1 car and now we throw them in our washer and then dryer. What if left over residue, dirt, grime, grease, etc, which most likely does, got left behind. Then we wash our own clothes, right after or even a week after.

How does Meguiar's recommend we do this correctly (wash our detailing towels, pads, etc) so it's safe for our health as well.

Thank You Everyone,

Art

[Blueline]

Re: Machine washing towels and pads. Is it safe?

I think you are being unrealistically concerned. If it really bothers you, run the washer after with just plain water to clean it out although I think the normal rinse cycle takes care of that.

[Matt-erhorn]

I've thought about this before but if I'm worried about it I will normally run a hot rinse through after I'm done. Occasionally I'll run a bleach cycle through and then a 2nd clean cycle after that to "truly" clean it out.

[Jarhead0754]

I make it easy and go to the laundry mat.

[GLOCKer]

Re: Machine washing towels and pads. Is it safe?

I'm not worried about this, as I'm exposed to far more dangerous material (lead) during most working days of the week, and I'm still maintaining safe exposure levels even though it's everywhere. I pre-rinse the towels and pads with fresh, clean hose water before they go into the wash, and then I set my washer on the "Heavy Soil" setting. The only real concern I have is with the dryer. There are sensors in there to sense when the clothes are dry, and they can be coated in wax (dryer sheets will coat the sensors with wax) and it will stop the conductivity of the sensor, causing it to think the clothes are dry before they really are. So far though, no problems. I'll probably just start wiping down the contacts on the sensors more often.

[Hernandez.Art13]

Re: Machine washing towels and pads. Is it safe?

Bump, forgot that the Meguiar's Crew was going to SEMA. So hoping to get Meguiar's opinion on this now. On a safe way of going about this. If it'd be best at home, second rinse, going to a local laundry mat, etc..

Thanks Guys

[wifpd4]

Re: Machine washing towels and pads. Is it safe?

So you're saying when you wash, rinse and dry your towels, pads, and other detailing "tools" and then wash, rinse and dry your clothes, your clothes washer and dryer carries over chemicals through the first rinse and through the second rinse and leaves the chemicals on your clothes? You could set your washer to "second rinse" for the towels and your clothes and this would essentially have run four rinse cycles before your clothes hit the dryer.

[Michael Stoops]

Re: Machine washing towels and pads. Is it safe?

Most everything used in the detailing process is water soluble, other than waxes and sealants, so it tends to come out very effectively. If you use some distilled white vinegar in the wash process it does a great job of even removing the last of the wax residue. But the detergent very thoroughly cleans product residue out of towels and pads, and the rinse process does a great job of flushing out anything that remains. Remember, that rinse process is designed to extract all the detergent residue out of the items in the wash, and it does that very effectively.

I can add the following from personal experience, though: my wife has allergies that are off the charts - it's not uncommon for her to react so severely to a wide variety of chemicals, plants, foods, etc that we make a little trip to the hospital so that they can load her up with drugs that, well, basically let her breathe again. Yes, it's that severe. There are times when she won't come out into the garage when I'm working with certain chemicals because the smell irritates her horribly (mostly the more chemical smelling products, not things like the blueberry scent of D301, etc). But she has never once complained or even commented about any sort of residue left in the washer or dryer that has caused any sort of issue for her.