ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Flame retardent clothing back from the laundry

My employre supplies electricians with flame retardent work uniforms and when the uniforms come back from the laundry ( a national company ) the uniforms have a sandy grit in the pockets . I have talked to the uniform man and he said that he has no idea what the grit is. This is in all the FR clothing every week. My question is have those of you that wear FR clothing noticed grit in the pockets . It is my understanding that FR clothing is washed seperate from other clothing and this might be something we have to live with like there could be a filter breakig down in the laundry . THANKS HYPRESS>

hypress,
It depends on the type of material your work uniforms are made from. If they are 100% heavy cotton, the flame proofing will be in the form of a chemical solution dip, (usually a phosphate), which has to be re-applied periodically as it slowly gets washed out of the cloth- but they're not dipped on every wash. This material is old technology- cotton overalls shrink so much when laundered, plus quality control of the effective proofing is difficult to assess. Proofed cotton has been largely superseded by polyamide-mix materials, the market leader is 'Proban' in the UK.
Either way, 'grit' in the pockets is not normal or acceptable- they're not clean, are they?- and IMO the laundry quality-control is at fault.
Alan

Had auto shop uniforms in the past. They seemd to be flame retardant and also resistant to battery acid. I am thinking most of their blue collar uniforms are FR and acid resistant. I believe they are chemical cleaned. They could get most any stain out except RTV. Never remember a problem with grit in the pockets.

I worked at a factory that made large air filter products. They took cotton thru a pool of ? to make it flame retardant.

Tom

Hypress,
You are right, FR clothing should be washed seperately from any other clothing.
I wear FR clothing at work, however I've never seen it come back with grit in the pockets.
This sounds rather dodgy if you ask me, it makes you wonder if the laundry isn't throwing your FR clothing in with someone elses (say a fish-mongers) clothing.

I know alot of dry detergents have sand in them to aid in the cleaning process.