Patent ID: 8336144

Claim:
A method of washing fabric articles in a continuous batch tunnel washer, comprising the steps of: a) providing a continuous batch tunnel washer having an interior, an intake, a discharge, and a plurality of modules that divide the interior into a plurality of zones that include pre-wash, main wash and rinse zones; b) moving the fabric articles from the intake to one or more modules that are a pre-wash zone; c) counter flowing liquid in the washer interior along a flow path that is generally opposite the direction of travel of the fabric articles in step “b”; d) transferring the fabric articles to a main wash zone; e) adding a washing chemical to the main wash zone; f) wherein the main wash zone is a standing bath in step “e” for a selected time period during step “e”; g) after the selected time period of steps “e” and “f” increasing counterflow so that it is a greater counterflow than is provided in steps “e” and “f” to provide a rinse for the fabric articles.