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22 responses total.

The choice of a bleach depends upon both the stain and the fabric. I'd
suggest you start "mild", by soaking the clothes overnight in a
perborate-based bleach (at double strength). Avoid chlorine bleaches for
starters, as they can be very damaging to fabrics at higher concentrations
and longer exposure. 

   My mom uses vinegar, usually does the trick

Vinegar would work to remove *fresh* rust stains, but it could either
remove or "fix" (make more permanent) stains from dyes that bleed -
depending upon the dye and the fabric. 

If all else fails, get thee to the Rite Dye display and look for the dye
remover package.  They also have one or two stain removers.  

I know the dye remover works.  I made two dresses for Griz, 1 red and 1 white.
I always wash new fabric before using and wasn't quite awake when I loaded
the washer.  Oops.  The dye remover turned the pink fabric back to white with
no problem, also removed the stains from a few other white things that I
threw in to make a full load (figured I may as well try as long as I was
running the washer with a full water load, anyway).

Is there an ingredients list on that 'dye remover'?

This response has been erased.

Rit.  Yes, there is an ingredient list on the package, not having one here
at the moment I can't give it to you.  I do know that one of their stain/dye
removers is very high in chlorine.  I don't remember if that is one that I
have used or not (I've used 2 of them), though I tend to stay away from the
chlorine stuff unless nothing else has worked.  STeve can't stand the smell
of chlorine, to the point that he won't swim in a chlorinated pool and I have
to shower almost to the point of raw skin before being allowed to come to bed
after I have been in one.

Rit color remover, CONTAINS: Sodium Hydrosulfite, Sodium Carbonate and
Sodium Metasilicate.  (It didn't do a thing against black shoe dye)

The bleaching agent is the sodium hydrosulfite (also called sodium
dithionate). It is a reducing agent that is somewhat selective for indigo
and vat dyes. It is chemically related to sodium sulfite. The action is
rather more specific than oxidizing bleaches, like sodium hypochlorite,
sodium perborate, etc. 

Re chlorine bleach and the ozone layer, see URL
204.7.184.20/JOURNAL/feat.sep.htm, something to do with ASHRAE, where it is
stated that chlorine gas molecules destroy ozone.  Other articles said
chlorine compounds also destroy the ozone layer (possibly by breaking down
to chlorine gas?).  (This came up in another item).

Yes, *if they reach the ozone layer*. However most chlorine compounds
are so reactive they are removed in the atmosphere and troposphere by
reactions with water (and are then rained out). However chlorofluorocarbons
are so nonreactive that they can disperse into the stratosphere, where
they are decomposed by sunlight, and the chlorine itself enters into
the ozone destroying reactions. [That URL doesn't work - please check it
and post a correction.]

I was wondering why most of the websites mentioned not chlorine but chlorine
compounds.  Chlorine itself is a poisonous gas.  Salt-glazed stoneware is made
by sprinkling salt (sodium chloride) on pottery, the sodium reacts with the
silicates in the pottery to make a glaze (glass is sodium silicate) and the
chlorine gas is burnt off.  It has to be a kiln with an exhaust, and there
were lots of restrictions on where potters could operate because of the poison
fumes.  I would not intentionally introduce chlorine gas into my house. 
Regardless of the ozone layer.  It reacts with my respiratory system.  I have
seen ads for carbon filters for showers to remove the chlorine from the water
so it would not get into the air and your lungs.  (Sorry about the URL, I
thought I had checked it, I searched on chlorine and ozone).

There is a lot in the web about the dangers of drinking chlorinated water.
The chlorine reacts with organic compounds to form carcinogens.  It is also
not healthy to breathe the chlorine vapors from chlorinate water.  
The following was a few pages longer, I removed the parts on drinking
chlorinated water.  I can smell the chlorine coming out of hot showers,
and if I were to wash my clothing in hot water the area would smell like a
swimming pool.  This is with only the small amount of chlorine that was
added at the water treatment plant.  I cannot imagine how much toxic gas
is going into a house where bleach is added every time laundry is washed.
If you are that concerned about mildew, run a dehumidifier in the laundry
area, mildew will not get started growing.

                   Potential Health Hazards from Chlorine
                                      
    
   "A long, hot shower can be dangerous. The toxic chemicals are inhaled
   in high concentrations."
   BOTTOM LINE - August 87, Dr. John Andelman, Ph.D.
   
   "A professor of Water Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh claims
   that exposure to vaporized chemicals in the water supplies through
   showering, bathing, and inhalation is 100 times greater than through
   drinking the water."
   
   "Taking long hot showers is a health risk, according to research
   presented last week in Anaheim, California, at a meeting of the
   American Chemical Society. Showers, and to a lesser extent baths, lead
   to a greater exposure to toxic chemicals contained in water suppliers
   than does drinking the water. The chemicals evaporate out of the water
   and are inhaled. They can also spread through the house and be inhaled
   by others. House holders can receive 6 to 100 times more of the
   chemical by breathing the air around showers and bath than they would
   by drinking the water."
   NEW SCIENTIST - 18 September 1986, Ian Anderson
   
   "Studies indicate the suspect chemicals can also be inhaled and
   absorbed through the skin during showering and bathing."
   U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT - July 29 1991, "Is Your Water Safe - The
   Dangerous State of Your Water"
   
   "Volatile organics can evaporate from water in a shower or bath."
   "Conservative calculations indicate that inhalation exposures can be
   as significant as exposure from drinking the water, that is, one can
   be exposed to just as much by inhalation during a shower as by
   drinking 2 liters of water a day."
   "People who shower frequently could be exposed through ingestion,
   inhalation and/or dermal absorption.
   IS YOUR WATER SAFE TO DRINK? - Consumer Reports Books
     _________________________________________________________________

  
   

A couple of things:

Sodium silicate is soluble in water - called "water glass". The glaze
is not sodium silicate. Then, NO  CHLORINE IS PRODUCED when making
a salt glaze. What happens is that some of the sodium in the salt substitutes
for both calcium and aluminum in the clay, producing a soda-lime glass,
which forms the glaze. However this also produces calcium and aluminum
chlorides which are slightly volatile at firing temperatures. You don't
want to breath these evaporated compounds.

There is a hazard in using chlorine for water disinfection because of
the production of trace quantities of chloroform. This is greatly reduced
by the use of chloramine, and eliminated by the use of ozone, for water
disinfection. I believe Ann Arbor uses mostly ozone, with maybe a trace
of chloramine to keep the pipes disinfected - I'm not sure what the
current practice is.

The water is ozonated, and then chloramine added as it is pumped out just in
case some contamination gets into the pipes.  It is still a rather high
concentration, about 3 ppm I think it was, and private swimming pools are only
required to have 1 ppm, public ones maybe 3 ppm.  Our water does not have much
organic matter so I do not worry about the carcinogens formed by reaction with
chlorine, but the chloramine releases chlorine gas, which I can smell and
don't like and is unhealthy.  We filter all the house water.

All the pottery books insisted chlorine gas was liberated, shows what they
know.

Washing machines are unlikely to harbor enough oil or other dirt to support
mildew growth, unlike dirty clothing.

Do the pottery books suggest a reaction that could produce elemental
chlorine? You can't get it by heating salt (sodium chloride). Upon
further reflection, it is possible that the aluminum chloride produced
in the primary glaze-forming reaction can be oxidized at high temperatures
to produce some chlorine. Something similar is the basis for what is
called the Deacon process (not used commerically) for producing chlorine,
in which magnesium chloride is reacted at high temperature with oxygen
to produce chlorine. 

The temperature at which stoneware is fired is about 1250 C, will that produce
chlorine gas?  Saltglaze generally does not form at earthenware temperatures.

I don't know. Would have to calculate it (lengthy.....).

Eeep! <dives under a pile of towels>

        Re: #8. After 34 years of dyeing shoes I have yet to find a product
that will take black shoe dye out of any garment. I do have a hand cleaner
that does a great job but I have to use a hand lotion immediately. It
contains what acts and feels like chlorine bleach. It lists:
        PEG-8; Cocamide DEA; Triethanolamine; Sodium Hydrosulfite; Sodium
Hexametasulphate; C-12-18 Pareth 10; Plastic scrubber; Silica; Water;
Titanium Dioxide; and Fragrance ( not a plus ).

No chlorine bleach there. The only bleaching agent in that mixture is
sodium hydrosulfite, which is a mild reducing agent that bleaches only
some dyes (but among which are many common and natural dyes). Are you sure
that isn't sodium hexametaphosphate instead of ...sulphate? If so, that
mixture would have a pH of about 9.1, which might feel "slippery". The
slippery "feel" of chlorine bleach is dues to its high pH, not to the
chlorine. 

The slipperiness is from oils in your skin turning to soap.

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