Gray linen is a common problem that many hotel laundries face. A thorough inspection of the practices and processes used can resolve the problem, says Brijesh Rathore.
A good first step in fixing gray linen is to wash it in a heavy-soil wash formula with plenty of bleach. There are a host of possible causes for graying, such as under dosing detergent/bleach, overloading the washer, poor water levels, and so on.
Extremely hard water can cause hard water salts to build up on laundered goods. Using a mineral acid-based laundry sour and dosing it aggressively, will help to slow down the deposit of hard water salts.
As linens get older they gradually begin to acquire a buildup of redeposit soil. Polyester/cotton blends can gradually lose cotton fabric over time. This increases the concentration of polyester, thins out the fabric, and can affect the overall whiteness of the linens.
Good new linen wash formulas use hot water, plenty of alkaline detergent, and importantly, no chlorine bleach. Some textiles come with chlorine-reactive finish that need to be stripped from the linens before they are bleached. New linens that have quickly turned gray have very often not been properly put into service.
Firstly, it is important to differentiate between soils and stains. Secondly, if 97-98% of the linen is coming out clean and stain free, that’s really not a big problem.
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Laundry reject/rewash rates should vary from 1-8% depending on the type of laundry being done. A complete lack of rejects suggests that the laundry is being a bit too effective in their cleaning methods. They may be wasting money on excessive cleaning chemicals, unnecessarily-long wash cycles, or excessive use of hot water.
There are a couple of initial checks to be made when identifying a stain. Drop a little water on the stain to see if it absorbs water rapidly. If the water beads up on the stain but absorbs easily into the rest of the linen, it is an oily soil that requires better general laundering (hotter water, more emulsifying detergent, and suchlike).
Rewash the stained linen or soak it in a mild bleach solution. If this corrects the problem then it may be necessary to examine the way that bleach is used in the wash cycle.
Common lodging and food service laundry stains are makeup and oily food soils. Solvent and emulsifier boosters are often helpful at removing these soils in their first laundry.
Polyester fabric is quite resistant to chemical wear, whereas cotton fabrics can be damaged primarily by four types of stresses:
- Physical/mechanical stress: Linens take a beating during use, handling, and laundering. Mechanical stress in the laundry is greatest along the edge of a piece of linen, and this is where fraying and abrasion is typically first seen. Being conscientious about not over-stressing linens with mechanical action is important to minimise fabric wear. It is especially important not to over-dry cotton goods. Goods can catch on metal burrs in laundry chutes, laundry carts, or even on a washer/dryer drum to cause snags and tears. The biggest difference between physical rips/tears and chemical or microbial damage is that most or all of the fabric is still present after physical damage, while chemical and microorganism damage tends to cause large holes or patches of missing cotton fabric in textiles.Â
- Chemical stress: Polyester goods are quite resistant to most chemicals, while cotton goods can be damaged/weakened by the chemical action of bleach and acid. If an entire piece of linen is weak and can be easily torn, this suggests that the damage may be occurring during the wash cycle. This could occur if chlorine bleach were applied at high temperature and low pH, if the cotton goods are being regularly over-soured (below pH 5), or if excessive levels of chlorine bleach are in the goods when they enter/leave the sour bath. Small holes typically indicate that a bleach/acid concentrate is dripping or splashing onto the goods. Chemical damage can only be positively identified in a lab environment.
- Mildew/fungus: Certain microorganisms can slowly digest cotton fibres. Such an occurrence should be obvious as the infecting organism is typically easily seen.
- Faulty manufacturing: It is not unheard of for entire lots of linens to be manufactured that are simply easy to tear. They are fundamentally flawed and are destined to be damaged. This is often the default explanation whenever chemical damage can not be confirmed, there is no evidence of microbial damage, and no physical or mechanical stress can be identified as a probable cause.
