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water softener, how much to use

The water in our area is very hard, from the Niagara Escarpment with lots of limestone. I have been using some weak acid dyes from a local supplier, (I don't know the origin) with no problems up till now. Recently I bought rather a lot of dyes (washfast acid) from ProChemical and found that some colours didn't work, especially yellowey ones. They came out drab. I used these same dyes visiting a friend in North Carolina with wonderful results which is why I got some. ProChemical when I emailed them said it's probably the water here. So I bought some water softener, metahexaphosphate from G&S Dyes but can't find instructions on how much to use on their website and today they are closed (Sunday, and I want to dye!). Advice much appreciated!

By Maureen Harding at 2007-07-15 04:11 | Miscellaneous | login or register to post comments | previous forum topic | next forum topic

how much metaphos to use

There's a little info on this page in my FAQ:

"We have very hard water. Should I use distilled or spring water instead of tap water?"

Unfortunately, I see now that that page needs to be amended. I thought it mentioned how much to use, but it does not. I'll fix the page later.

Some of ProChem's dye recipes says to use one teaspoon, or 7 grams, of sodium hexametaphosphate (Metaphos) per 10 liters dyebath, but they also recommend using the same amount for making one liter of dye concentrate for tie-dyeing. (The amount you need depends on your water, not on which dye you're using.) Jacquard says to use 1 teaspoon, which they say is 4 to 5 grams, per quart of chemical water. There is no harm, as far as I can tell, from using more than you need. (Though of course you shouldn't be dumping pounds of this stuff down the drain, since it causes unwanted algae to grow in rivers and lakes.)

Doug Wilson, a Canadian on the DyersLIST mailing list, says that you should use three to six times as much hexametaphosphate as you have hardness minerals in your water. That's useful if you happen to have the analysis for your water supply handy. (Our public water supply sends that information out to us every year.) If your water hardness is 200 ppm (parts per million), that would be 600 or 1200 ppm of metaphos, which works out to 0.6 to 1.2 grams per liter. Wikipedia lists some hardness levels for water supplies in different areas: Calgary 165 mg/L, Saskatoon < 140 mg/L, Toronto 121 mg/L, Vancouver < 5 mg/L, Charlottetown PEI 140 - 150 mg/L. So, for example, if you live in Toronto, you want to use at least 363 to 726 milligrams per liter, which is about one teaspoon for ten liters of water.

Add the metaphos to the water before adding anything else, stirring constantly as you pour the metaphos in. You can also add it to your rinsing and washing water.

By the way, hard water is healthier for drinking than soft water. Populations that drink hard water have slightly lower levels of heart disease, apparently due to their higher intake of calcium and magnesium in the water.

By pburch at Sun, 2007-07-15 07:48 | login or register to post comments

does metaphos get "used up"?

Does Metaphos get used up when doing multiple dye baths in the same water, is it necessary to add some with each bath?

By Maureen Harding at Tue, 2007-07-24 06:31 | login or register to post comments

metaphos

The Metaphos that does the water softening does get used up, so if you put in only as much as is needed, then you should add more whenever you add more water.

If you're using the one teaspoon, which is either 5 grams or 7 grams, that is called for in the recipe, and if you actually need only 0.6 to 1.2 grams per liter, as in the sample calculation above, then you have enough to spare to add quite a bit of additional water to the dyebath without there being a problem.

If you're reusing the same water and not adding any additional water, then you do not have to add more Metaphos. It's only when you add more water that you have additional quantities of hardness minerals to worry about.

Paula

By pburch at Tue, 2007-07-24 06:49 | login or register to post comments

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