fixer rag

[trudee yama]

How does one clean a fixer rag safely?

 

[CBG]

Like a rag one might use to clean up spilt fix??? Washing machine, washboard, soap and water...

 

[trudee yama]

Yes, cleaning up fixer rag. Don't want to contaminate washing machine/laundry or water system. After washing, fixer smell still permeates the rag. Was hoping there was detergent/soap than someone used to rid the rag of the smell. I hand wash these rags.

 

[ozphoto]

I wash all my towels in the washing machine separately from everything else.
From memory I use the hi-soiled setting or your machine's equivalent.

Regular detergent plus "NappySan" or "Vanish" and if really heavily soiled add some bleach as well.
Never had a problem with smell - apart from the stains that have been there forever, they have no smell at all.

I have tried doing it by hand previously, but the fact I couldn't get my darkroom towels clean was the major reason i switched to using the machine.

 

[MikeSeb]

You're not washing plutonium dust here. wash separately if you must; don't drink the waste-water effluent.

 

[CBG]

The following may not be necessary, but can be reassuring nonetheless. Pre-rinse towels really soaked with darkroom liquids immediately in the darkroom to get 99% of the solutions out in your darkroom, thus sending that percent of the solutions down the drain, then keep the rags wet so the fix or whatever doesn't get a chance to really embed itself into the fabric. Then, wash on the heavy duty extra soiled fabric "grunge cycle" setting before the towels ever get the chance to dry.

Now for the parts I do...
1. Use worn out old bath and kitchen towels and the like for the really ugly cleanups in the darkroom like wiping up the sum of chems and shoe dirt on the floor. I use the ugly old towels so they do not become part of the ordinary household towel ecology.
2. I have special rags and towels for the day to day hand drying and less nasty cleaning in the darkroom. They too do their work only in the darkroom so they do not end up in the bathroom or kitchen. I found some hand towels for super cheap in a Bed and Bath store I think. Packs of three for a couple of bucks or so. I couldn't pass them up. And since no other towels or rags in the house match them, there is no confusion of what towel goes where.

 

[MikeSeb]

You can also get huge packs of bar towels at places like Costco or Sam's Club. These usually have a strip pattern or weave that distinguishes them from the kitchen towels your spouse would smack you for using by mistake.

 

[hrst]

Used fixer contains for example;

Thiosulfate - added in aquarium water
Some dissolved silver - some people drink this because they think it's beneficial to their health - but large amounts are not good for the ecosystem
Perhaps some acid - not even close to Coca-Cola in acidity

I wouldn't drink it. There's some bromide and iodide also (from the films). So take a sip only if there's a nuclear catastrophe nearby. But, you can wash the rags normally. If you want to be very careful, then you can wash them separately, to avoid the smell at least.

 

[MartinP]

The laboratory answer is use paper towels once, then throw them away. Whether you put the towels in to paper-recycling probably depends what you used them for, but they are biodegradeable so it could be possible. It is a bit surprising to hear that people expect to pour their chemicals all over a dirty floor though.

You can find wide rolls of paper-towels in places supplying 'dirty' businesses (garages etc) or, for occasional use, just get an economy pack of kitchen towels.

 

[fschifano]

Wash them, as in laundry? Not a chance. Once in a while, I'll throw the whole bunch of old darkroom towels into the washer and run them on the regular wash cycle without detergent. Most of the time, I just rinse them out well, wring 'em out by hand and hang them up to dry. Do they look really crappy? You bet and so what? They're only going to get messed up again anyway; and of course looking the way they do, you're not likely to want to use them for anything else.

 

[wclark5179]

Some clothes soaps, bleaches, fabric softeners have a fair amount of chemistry. Look on a bottle of bleach.

How does that come out of what's washed?

 

[CBG]

... It is a bit surprising to hear that people expect to pour their chemicals all over a dirty floor ...

I plan never to do have big spills, but I prepare for spills and errors regardless. Expect anything.

 

[fschifano]

How does that come out of what's washed?

You know it doesn't, especially the soap and fabric softener. Tell you what. Anyone who thinks otherwise should run an extra rinse cycle and observe what comes out of your supposedly "clean" clothes. You might be surprised.