ReTRo HouSeWiFe

DEAR RETRO HOUSEWIFE

Cleaning & Polishing

Iron Emergency, 2007-01-09

My son ironed some clothes and now he has left burnt stuff all over base of my new iron .... how do I get it off??

RE: Iron Emergency

Dear Jude,

There are a number of commercial cleaning kits for cleaning the soleplate of an iron. I found this one:
Rowenta Soleplate Cleaning Kit at Linen n Things.

The Rowenta Stainless Steel Soleplate Cleaning Kit helps to remove the coating on your iron caused by excess starch, detergent build-up, burned-on synthetics, and more. Features * One 1-oz tube of Soleplate Cleaner, * 1 application cloth, * 1 polishing/finishing cloth, * 1 set of instructions

Faultless also makes a soleplate cleaner, and I hear Walmart carries it; if I find it I'll post a link.

My own experience with burnt on gunk on the bottom of the iron is that it depends on how bad it is as to whether you can save the iron or not. If the burnt gunk has gotten up into the holes, you can kiss it good-bye. The reason I say this is because at some point when you are using the iron in the future, some of that gunk will melt all over the garment you are ironing. You have to do a cost benefit calculation ===>> New iron (starts at around $30) vs. X number of ruined pieces of clothing. Don't try running liquids other than water through the iron to flush out any debris, because that will kill it for sure, (and can make you sick).

Some home remedies I have heard about but have never tried are: 1) Gently clean iron with 0000 (4-0) steel wool, 2) Oven cleaner...spray some oven cleaner on the iron bottom while it is still warm, then polish with a soft cloth (I don't like the sound of that one because of all the chemicals..but they say it works), Follow up...there is acid in oven cleaner, and if the soleplate has aluminum in it, it will turn black...i'd stay away from this one! 3) Sprinkle some salt on a cotton ball (some use wax paper) and "sand" the sole plate with it, 4) wrap a candle stub in a cotton cloth, heat the iron and then wipe it across the hot iron a few times 5) Toothpaste, use a cloth to rub toothpaste on your iron, then wipe it off with a damp cloth. Try these at your own risk, I have not tested them....but I will as soon as I mess up my iron! Bound to happen sometime!

RH

Status: NEW

>>I have been doing some reading up on this in the German forums and the trick with the candle in the cloth is getting RAVE reviews! I might have to iron my carpet tomorrow so that I can test this...if anyone tries it, please let me know! RH<<