Calgon water softener

[OH tie-dyer]

My water is very hard and I was wondering if Calgon (now without phosphates) is OK.  I was thinking of using it when I scour my fabric.  I use water from the dehumidifier for mixing my MX dyes.

Another question:  Tom and Martine from True Tie-dye add salt to black.  Has anyone else found that it helps?

Joell

[pburch]

No. It turns out that the phosphate-free liquid Calgon, which contains polycarboxylate, can have negative effects on your dyeing.

Instead, buy pure Calgon T of the old formula, sodium hexametaphosphate, which is readily available from any good dye supplier. Jacquard sells it under the name "Calgon", Dharma Trading Company as "Water Softener" (with the subheading "Pure Sodium Hexametaphosphate"), and PRO Chemical & Dye sells it labeled as "Metaphos". All three are the same good stuff.

If you have hard water, it can have several very bad effects on dyeing. It can make your dye colors less bright, a serious problem in the eyes of most dyers. The calcium in hard water can turn your alginate dye thickener, if you use it, into a difficult-to-remove gel which does not melt even when heated. It can even make your dye colors take an inordinate time to wash out, far more than the usual annoying amount, by causing dye molecules to form complexes together with a calcium ion in the middle. Sodium hexametaphosphate can solve all of these problems, though not the problem of iron water, which will "sadden" the color of dyes used with it.

The next question is how much hexametaphosphate to use. It depends on how hard your water is. If you use water from the public water supply, you can easily get this information if you call the right office, and we can dig up the conversion of water hardness to amount of hexametaphosphate to use for you. Most recipes call for far more hexametaphosphate than you will need in most areas, but using too much will have no ill effects on your dyeing.

Paula

[Jaja]

Paula, whenever I read your replies, I learn something new and I start to think about dyeing in more complex way...
So far I wasn't able to find here local source of Calgon T - I've read in textbooks for textile students, that other Calgons are no good, but w/o any further explanation.
I've tried to find some MSDS and there was under ingredients written only "sodium carbonate".
Are there more chemicals sold under this name?

And is there any cure if water contains iron? Is there easy way how to indicate iron in water - e.g. to set aside glass of water and let it sit for a while?

Are all types of dyes so critical with hard water or are there dyes, that are more tolerant?
(I've never seen any recommendation concerning water hardness on diret dyes packets)

[pburch]

Here's an MSDS for sodium hexametaphosphate. Lots of synonyms there: "HMP, Medi-Calgon, SHMP; Sodium Polyphosphates; Glassy; Sodium Polymetaphosphate; Sodium phosphate glass; Polyphosphoric Acids, sodium salts".

The trouble with a brand name, such as Calgon, is that the Calgon company can sell anything they like under this name. Brand names mean almost nothing about what is in a chemical.

I have read, on the DyersLIST mailing list, that hexametaphosphate will produce little clumps with the iron in water, which can then be filtered out. I have no idea how much of the iron can be removed this way. In cases of known iron water, if colors are coming out darker and duller than desired, it might be best to use distilled water or rain water for dyebaths. High-iron water is frustrating to do laundry with, because the clothes can pick up an unpleasant yellow or orange stain. At that point, some sort of large-scale solution to the iron problem is a good idea for the household. For very high levels of iron, some household water systems use chlorine to make the iron insoluble, followed by filtration to remove the particles. Apparently very low levels of iron can be removed by ordinary treatment with water softeners.

I think that it is likely that some dyes in a dye series will be more affected by ions in the water, and other dyes in the same series will be less affected, just as we see that different mordants have different effects on different dyes. I believe that direct dyes are affected by calcium carbonate in the water just as reactive dyes are. How serious the effects of hard water may be probably depend on just how hard the water is.

More than one chemical is known under the name 'alum' used as a mordant, but alum that is really aluminum sulfate is considered poor for dyeing because it is commonly contaminated with iron, unless it is a more expensive grade that is labeled as iron-free.

Paula

[OH tie-dyer]

Paula, I called the water dept. and got the number 160, which I was told is about 9 grains.   Could you explain?  My impression was that that's not all that high.  But I've never lived anywhere else where there is such a hard build-up around faucets and in the shower.
Besides the calcium and magnesium, we have quite a bit of iron.  The city gets its water from wells.

Joell

[pburch]

That number 160 probably refers to 160 parts per million (ppm). Since one liter contains 1000 grams of water, that translates to 0.160 grams per liter of water. (The metric system makes everything so easy to calculate.) As Doug Wilson once posted on the DyersLIST mailing list, you should use three to six times as much hexametaphosphate as you have hardness minerals in your water. Six times 0.16 grams is  just about one gram. ProChem says that one teaspoon of their Metaphos is about seven grams, which should be sufficient for seven liters of your water, or almost two gallons.

Grains are an oddly old-fashioned unit of measurement. We learned grams and liters in school, not grains and ounces and pounds (those are too hard!). Apparently, one grain is 0.0648 grams, so 9 grains  is 0.6 grams. Who know what volume of water that's from, though. I guess a gallon would work out to about the same numbers as above.

Any idea how much iron is in your water? I'll bet your water department could give you a number for that, as well. If your colors are darker and duller than you want, this would be worth further thought, but if you've been able to make brilliant knock-your-eyes-out bright colors when you want to, then your iron is no problem at all.

By the way, when you're not dyeing, or doing laundry, or scrubbing the shower, hard water is a good thing. Populations that drink hard water have a lower rate of heart disease than populations that drink soft water.

Paula