Laundering Flame Resistant Clothing

[don_resqcapt19]

Wonderful! So the $1000 of ordinary work clothes I have, all nicely certified to meet the standard, are now worthless .... not because they changed the standard, but they changed the name?

Let me guess ...... in a few years they'll change the name again, and expect me to buy it all over again.

Hate to be cynical, but my BS detector is ringly quite loudly now.

If you wear it all the time it don't last that long anyhow. I wear a shirt and jeans rated at 8 cal, and this stuff only lasts about half as long as ordinary shirts and jeans. They say that the FR treatment lasts for the life of the garment....I think they make the fabric weaker so that it wears out quicker so that they are sure it still has the FR properties when it is no longer wearable.

 

[renosteinke]

Short work clothing life? I hope not!

Even when starting the trade, and I was assigned all the rough jobs .... I'd get three years out of a simple cotton t-shirt, and two from a plain pair of jeans. My current FR clothing - worn every day - has three years onon it and it's still going strong. Heck, it's almost broken in

If I spend $100 on a change of clothing, I better get some serious life out of it. Otherwise, I'd have no more disposable income than were I a minimum-wage clerk at the mini-mart.

 

[kwired]

Short work clothing life? I hope not!

Even when starting the trade, and I was assigned all the rough jobs .... I'd get three years out of a simple cotton t-shirt, and two from a plain pair of jeans. My current FR clothing - worn every day - has three years onon it and it's still going strong. Heck, it's almost broken in

If I spend $100 on a change of clothing, I better get some serious life out of it. Otherwise, I'd have no more disposable income than were I a minimum-wage clerk at the mini-mart.

Safety equipment is part of overhead costs. Those that don't use it - or use it incorrectly have less overhead cost, but may eventually have more overhead cost in medical bills, insurance, or OSHA fines:happyyes:

 

[don_resqcapt19]

...Even when starting the trade, and I was assigned all the rough jobs .... I'd get three years out of a simple cotton t-shirt, and two from a plain pair of jeans. My current FR clothing - worn every day - has three years onon it and it's still going strong. Heck, it's almost broken in

...

I get about a year out of regular jeans and about 6 months out of the FR ones.

 

[busman]

Wow. I bet any co-workers keep their distance too...:lol::lol:

Don't worry. No co-workers. I'm a one-man-show. That's why I can legally work live. No employees.

Mark

 

[Fulthrotl]

I recall being told and/or reading that Flame Resistant Clothing should not be laundered with Non-Flame Resistant Clothing. I have scoured the websites of a few manufacturers of Indura Ultrasoft and none of the cleaning guides I found said not to mix them with other types of clothing. I actually found one website said mixing Nomex and Indura with other types of clothing was OK. Do I remember wrong?

FR class, we were told that you shouldn't wash FR stuff with non FR stuff, 'cause cotton fibers
that aren't FR will become embedded in the FR product, and cotton burns.....

 

[eric9822]

FR class, we were told that you shouldn't wash FR stuff with non FR stuff, 'cause cotton fibers
that aren't FR will become embedded in the FR product, and cotton burns.....

Yep. I was told the exact same thing. I just don't understand why I can't find that statement in any of the manufacturers laundering instructions. I have emailed them twice and have yet to get a response.

 

[eric9822]

This is the response I received today from Westex.

Hi Eric,

Thank you for your enquiry about laundering Indura UltraSoft? clothing. Yes, it is OK to launder your FR clothing with non-FR clothing. I’ve attached Westex’ laundering instructions for you.

Please feel free to contact me if I can be of further assistance.

Kind regards,

Wendy

Goes against everything I was ever told so I think I will continue laundering mine separately.