Heat treatments to restore waterproofing



D

David WE Roberts

Guest
Hi,

Googled through the archives and found some info., but would like to
clarify.

The 'beading' effect of the surface treatment is reactivated by tumble
drying.

If you don't have a tumble drier (and are not close to a launderette) then
a cool iron may work (but is it as effective?).

Using a hair drier has also been suggested.

So does anyone know how warm the material has to become to reactivate the
treatment?

Would hanging a garment in a warm airing cupboard be enough?

Would draping it over a hot radiator do the trick (if so, how hot?)?

Heated towel rail?

If an iron works then presumably it is the heat and not the hot air flow
that is important?

We have always avoided tumble driers because they seem environmentally
unfriendly compared to air drying.

Should we accept that walking is more environmentally friendly than
driving, and trade this off against buying a tumble drier?
[Not that we have anywhere convenient to put his ]

TIA

Dave R
 
On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 12:31:08 +0000, David WE Roberts
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Googled through the archives and found some info., but would like to
>clarify.


I asked a question in a similar vein recently and ISTR that the iron
and hair dryer were both suggested then. It was also said, by ChrisT
IIRC, that the Nikwax product doesn't absolutely *require* the heat
treatment whereas the Grangers does.

ATEOTD I went with NikWax and it worked a treat; without heat
treatment.



HTH




SteveO
--
NE Climbers & walkers chat forum;
http://www.thenmc.org.uk/phpBB2/index.php

NMC website: http://www.thenmc.org.uk
 
In message <[email protected]>, David WE Roberts
<[email protected]> writes
>Hi,
>
>Googled through the archives and found some info., but would like to
>clarify.
>
>The 'beading' effect of the surface treatment is reactivated by tumble
>drying.
>
>If you don't have a tumble drier (and are not close to a launderette) then
>a cool iron may work (but is it as effective?).
>
>Using a hair drier has also been suggested.


I've found a hair drier effective.
>
>So does anyone know how warm the material has to become to reactivate the
>treatment?


I've never seen figures for this. I never let garments get too hot to
touch but I do heat them to close to this.
>
>Would hanging a garment in a warm airing cupboard be enough?


Not in my experience.
>
>Would draping it over a hot radiator do the trick (if so, how hot?)?
>
>Heated towel rail?


Both the above might work but I could see problems with getting the
whole garment hot enough.
>
>If an iron works then presumably it is the heat and not the hot air flow
>that is important?


Yes.
>
>We have always avoided tumble driers because they seem environmentally
>unfriendly compared to air drying.


Same here.
>
>Should we accept that walking is more environmentally friendly than
>driving, and trade this off against buying a tumble drier?
>[Not that we have anywhere convenient to put his ]
>

I haven't found a tumble drier necessary.

Note that when the DWR wears off no amount of heating will restore it.
Also that washing in detergent, even environmentally friendly stuff like
Ecover, will damage or strip off the DWR.

Nikwax waterproofing treatments don't require heat to work, though
Nikwax say they are more effective if heated. Granger's treatments do
require heat.

There's a current thread on DWR on the Outdoors Magic forums headed
"Help with Nikwax".

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com
 
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
>
> Note that when the DWR wears off no amount of heating will restore it.
> Also that washing in detergent, even environmentally friendly stuff like
> Ecover, will damage or strip off the DWR.
>

I was under the impression that Ecover was a soap, not a
detergent. I could be wrong, however...
 
In message <[email protected]>, Graeme Cogger
<[email protected]> writes
>In article <[email protected]>,
>[email protected] says...
>>
>> Note that when the DWR wears off no amount of heating will restore it.
>> Also that washing in detergent, even environmentally friendly stuff like
>> Ecover, will damage or strip off the DWR.
>>

>I was under the impression that Ecover was a soap, not a
>detergent. I could be wrong, however...


I checked this with Nikwax, who say it has some of the components of
detergents that cause problems with DWR. It may have soap in it but it's
not pure soap.
 
In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> In message <[email protected]>, Graeme Cogger
> <[email protected]> writes
> >In article <[email protected]>,
> >[email protected] says...
> >>
> >> Note that when the DWR wears off no amount of heating will restore it.
> >> Also that washing in detergent, even environmentally friendly stuff like
> >> Ecover, will damage or strip off the DWR.
> >>

> >I was under the impression that Ecover was a soap, not a
> >detergent. I could be wrong, however...

>
> I checked this with Nikwax, who say it has some of the components of
> detergents that cause problems with DWR. It may have soap in it but it's
> not pure soap.
>

Yes, I just looked at the contents on a bottle of the stuff.
It's basically soap + surfactants - whatever they are!
 
I noticed that Message-ID: <[email protected]> from
Graeme Cogger contained the following:

>> >I was under the impression that Ecover was a soap, not a
>> >detergent. I could be wrong, however...

>>
>> I checked this with Nikwax, who say it has some of the components of
>> detergents that cause problems with DWR. It may have soap in it but it's
>> not pure soap.
>>

>Yes, I just looked at the contents on a bottle of the stuff.
>It's basically soap + surfactants - whatever they are!


http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=define+surfactant&meta=

Basically, they do the opposite of waterproofing.

--
Geoff Berrow (put thecat out to email)
It's only Usenet, no one dies.
My opinions, not the committee's, mine.
Simple RFDs http://www.ckdog.co.uk/rfdmaker/
 
David WE Roberts <[email protected]> wrote in
news:p[email protected]:

> Hi,
>
> Googled through the archives and found some info., but would like to
> clarify.
>
> The 'beading' effect of the surface treatment is reactivated by tumble
> drying.
>
> If you don't have a tumble drier (and are not close to a launderette)
> then a cool iron may work (but is it as effective?).
>
> Using a hair drier has also been suggested.
>
> So does anyone know how warm the material has to become to reactivate
> the treatment?
>

<snip>

OutdoorsMagic has just put up a section on cleaning/reproofing all sorts of
kit with Grangers products:

http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/news/article.asp?UAN=2906

John