Definitive 3D Towel Kleen instruction thread.....

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AllenK

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I love 3D Towel Kleen! Great product. My microfiber towels have always come out nice and soft and clean.

The last few times I've used it on my microfiber mitts they felt somewhat stiff and hard after washing,and my drying towels as well. This is with two different washers as we just got a new one last month. Have tried various techniques

So....

How much per wash?
What temperature water?
Dump it in the washer or through the dispenser?
Normal,Heavy Duty cycle etc...
2nd rinse yay or nay??

Have never rinsed with vinegar with Towel Kleen.

Got a new Samsung wa45h7000aw washer. Consumer Reports gave it a 70,and it is highly rated and reviewed on just about every website you look at. Supposed to be quiet and vibration free. Drain Pump noise drives me up the wall,and it is noisy and seems to shake during spin cycle. Everybody says it's normal. I would hate to hear what they call a loud washer. We were going to return it,but we talked ourselves out of it. We decided we might not like whatever we got next any better.
New Samsung dryer is loud and making noises also. We did go back and buy extended warranties,and a tech is supposed to come if we can ever get rescheduled from a missed appointment last week.

Caveat Emptor. I never was too high on CR to start with,but I really am not now.
 
I use about 1 oz in my he washing machine and have been very happy with the product. I used to use All Free and Clear.
 
1.5oz- 2oz a wash. Depends on size of the load or how dirty they are. I usually wash in hot, rinse with cold, and use the "extra" rinse function on my washer so I don't have any residue left in the machine. Permanent press settings, on my washer it's about 30 minutes. Dump the TK right into the dispenser.
One thing I've been doing lately is keeping a bucket of TK for soaking till I get enough for a full load. Usually I put about a ounce in with a couple of gallons of water and add towels as I use them. I find that keeping whatever you're cleaning out of the towels moist makes it easier to wash out later. Most of the time I only use 1 or 2 drying towels and a couple MF at a time so constantly doing small loads doesn't make sense to me.
 
custmsprty said:
Hot water is not a good thing for mf towels.
Click to expand...

Oh boy. At atmospheric pressure water can't get hotter than 212F, I would suspect even one of those washers with a heater in it probably doesn't get the water over 180...how hot does it get in your dryer?

You do know that some people boil their towels to restore them? The only negative effect that hot water has on MF towels is to sometimes make the dye run.
 
I don't use the major dryer modes on my dryer when drying mf towels, I use the refresh mode (which is minimal heat)on my dryer and they are dry in 10-15 minutes. I can't personally see any reason to use the hot water cycle for mf towels. Been washing mine the same way for years, cold/cold lowest drying cycle. It's worked for me so it's the way I'll continue to wash mine. My feeling with mf towels is considering the investment in high quality towels is to take the least aggressive approach to cleaning them. But we all have our own preferences.
 
custmsprty said:
Hot water is not a good thing for mf towels.
Click to expand...

Hate to break it to you but hot and/or boiling water is one of the best things for cleaning and rejuvenating Microfiber towels aside of any cleaning agents whatsoever. Typically you could get away with just boiling a towel as a means of cleaning it and not using any sort of cleaning agent. After all, the manufacturing of microfibers involves high heat and various chemicals to begin with.
 
Thanks y'all. One thing I have thought of doing is using the bedding setting so there will be more water to swish the towels around. Definitely going to try the soaking bucket deal too.
 
3D Towel Kleen. I use 2oz. per 10 towels if they're really dirty [i.e. rinseless/waterless wash towels]
1oz. per 10 towels if they're not too soiled [i.e. wash mitts & drying towels]
I wash with hot water on normal speed setting and turn it up to "fast" for a couple minutes midway through the wash cycle.
No extra rinse, unless I find that I've used too much soap and there's an extreme amount of suds that still need to rinse out.
I usually do a pre wash in a bucket with a bit of car wash soap and a Grit Guard to agitate the towels against. I've found the car wash [in my case Megs D111 Shampoo Plus] works far better and is much sudsier than using Towel Kleen.
I dry on low heat and the towels are 100% dry in about 35min.
My washer & dryer are both old Kenmore models. Nothing fancy.
 
Britsdaddy said:
I usually wash in hot, rinse with cold, and use the "extra" rinse function on my washer so I don't have any residue left in the machine.
Click to expand...
I do a second complete wash cycle but with water only. That way the towels get really agitated and all residue is gone.
 
Mike Honcho said:
I do a second complete wash cycle but with water only. That way the towels get really agitated and all residue is gone.
Click to expand...

There is a good idea I had never thought of!

I tried the bedding setting thing,and still used 2 oz. of the Towel Kleen. Mitts came out much softer. Gonna try the drying towels next!

Thanks for all the suggestions! Keep them coming.
 
Towel washing temperature seems to be like car washing methods. Some people only use a traditional hose wash, others are fine with Rinseless. I know my towels come out clean, and I feel using hot water helps to break up any fabric softener residue that may be in the washer. My wife dumps that stuff into every load of clothes she does.
I've got towels that are ten years old and still work and aren't falling apart. I only take care of my vehicles so I'm not putting a ton of use into them, and thus not having to do a lot of MF loads.
 
I started with 1-oz. added to water. Found that per my load, it left alot of suds. Found that 1/2-3/4 oz. worked great based on towel dirt/condition. Then did the vinegar application and stopping (rinse) mid-cycle I had less suds, with no affect on cleaning. Turned out great. You may have to experiment depend on washer make and model. FYI. I mix 3D Towel Clean in glass with water and apply direct and not thru dispenser.
 
Bumping this.

I've been a longtime Towel Kleen user. Great stuff. However, we've just purchased an all new signing and dancing HE (High efficiency) washer. You're only supposed to use HE detergents in this machine.. I've just pulled my TK out and it doesn't mention anything about being ok to use on HE machines.

Does anyone know anything about using TK on an HE machine ? The instructions on the washer says using non HE detergents may result in component failure and noticeable mold and mildew. Low water washing, creates excessive sudsing with a regular non-HE detergent, which will result in longer cycle times & reduced rinsing performance.

Am i just better off giving up on the TK and getting a regular HE detergent and calling it good. Probably over thinking this, but one thing is for sure, i don't want to mess up a brand new expensive washer over my microfibers. Missus would kill me !
 
I use 3D Towel Kleen in our HE washer all of the time. No issues at all. Two ounces of soap per load and a double rinse. Works great! You will have no problems...
 
thedoc46 said:
Bumping this.

I've been a longtime Towel Kleen user. Great stuff. However, we've just purchased an all new signing and dancing HE (High efficiency) washer. You're only supposed to use HE detergents in this machine.. I've just pulled my TK out and it doesn't mention anything about being ok to use on HE machines.

Does anyone know anything about using TK on an HE machine ? The instructions on the washer says using non HE detergents may result in component failure and noticeable mold and mildew. Low water washing, creates excessive sudsing with a regular non-HE detergent, which will result in longer cycle times & reduced rinsing performance.

Am i just better off giving up on the TK and getting a regular HE detergent and calling it good. Probably over thinking this, but one thing is for sure, i don't want to mess up a brand new expensive washer over my microfibers. Missus would kill me !
Click to expand...

I've been using non HE in our Samsung Washer since our old one, and our new one we just got, no issues.
 
I would be a lot less concerned with using hot water than I would putting micro fibers in a dryer (which I do). The bigger concern would be damage from micro heat spots than an overall temperature greatly dissipated by water.

Has anyone any thoughts on using Shout in a bucket (I would think 2-3 ounces) as a presoak? You can get it at Costco by the gallon for a reasonable price.
 
I soak mine for a day or so in TK solution 1-2 oz mixed with a small splash of Roll Off. Seems to work well,dry them on low cycle. We had Samsung machines on the boat for 2 years,glad they're gone. Lotsa problems.
 
custmsprty said:
Hot water is not a good thing for mf towels.
Click to expand...

Where did you learn this from? I question your source, given that MF is by nature extremely tolerant of moderately high temperatures. MF yarn is made of polyester fibers, virtually indestructible once spun into fiber yarn. I think you're getting bad information and your towels are not being optimally cleaned and dried.


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