Laundering Plastic Pants

[Padded53]

Slightly off-topic but I clean my Gary and Leakmaster PUL pants in the regular wash. Then just hang to dry which takes a day or two for the elastic areas to fully dry. I wear them every night and some days and rarely have any leaks so I can usually get away with laundering them just once a week I've been doing this for about five years and the pants look great with virtually no signs of wear or damage. In addition once a month I'll add a bit of Clorox 2 to the wash just to freshen them up a bit and kill any germs and whiten them up a bit. Not sure they really need the Clorox 2 treatment but it makes me feel better and hasn't damaged them in the least.

[wayne]

Today I was washing two pair of plastic pants with a tincture of Tide Free and Gentle by hand, like I usually do. But after a couple of rinses, I could still smell the stale pee smell. I really hate pee smells.

For those that are unaware, oil/grease removal is bad for the plastics.

So I decided to try something different, taking the advice of a website claiming that just about any hand soap can be used, since hand soap is designed not to remove oils. Using our bathroom hand soap, I easily got fresh smelling pants again. So time will tell, whether this works out with our usual brand.

[wayne]

I've modified my hand washing procedure to include using cleaning grade vinegar (cheap) mixed with warm water for a pre-soak. Rinse and then use the hand soap soak, hand wash and rinse(s). The weak vinegar pre-soak eliminates all traces of that dreaded stale pee smell, which I found tended to build up over time.

Vinegar is a weak acetic acid, which neutralizes the ammonia (base).