Maintenance versus masks: College asks students to stop putting face masks in wash due to clogging

Home News Maintenance versus masks: College asks students to stop putting face masks in wash due to clogging
Maintenance versus masks: College asks students to stop putting face masks in wash due to clogging
Masks are small enough that they are clogging washing machines. Courtesy | Pixabay

After three face masks clogged the pipes of New Dorm in one day, Hillsdale College maintenance has asked students to stop putting their masks in dorm washing machines.  

Alicia Kelley, aide to the director of facilities, emailed house directors and resident assistants last week after several face masks had caused washing and drying machines to break or stop working. Due to their small size, face masks were escaping the washing machine barrel and getting caught in the dorm water pipes. 

Kelley said at least three masks were caught the day she sent her email alone, leading the maintenance department to request that students stop washing their masks by machine.

“Maintenance has asked residents to hand wash their masks to prevent this from happening in the future,” said Hadiah Ritchey, project manager for Career Services.

This is not the first time articles of clothing have congested pipes, according to senior Barrett Moore, head resident assistant of Simpson Residence.

“We’ve had similar problems before, but instead of masks it was socks and underwear which caused the plumbing problems. For some reason they never asked us to stop washing those,” Moore said.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, people should wash cloth face masks with tap water and laundry detergent or soap, and then rinse them thoroughly with clean water. Air dry masks by hanging them in direct sunlight to dry completely, or lay the mask flat to dry if there is no direct sunlight.