The Best Way To Clean the Bottom of an Iron
It’s only a matter of time before your iron will accumulate a lot of gunk on the bottom plate.
This post will show you the easiest way to get this stuff off your iron.
Do you know those times when you’re applying fusible interfacing, wondering under, or heaven forbid, you’ve melted a synthetic shirt or garment onto your iron?
You don’t want to get this gunk all over your quilting projects, your sewing projects, or an item of clothing.
Nothing is more frustrating than finishing a nice, beautiful quilting block and you go to press it and get a stain on it.
It’s tough to get these types of stains out.
So how do you get it off?
No worries. I’ve got you covered.
I’ve tried a bunch of different methods with all kinds of funky ingredients.
ITEMS & MATERIALS NEEDED
- iron
- distilled water
- distilled vinegar
- magic eraser sponge
- an old towel
You can buy the name brand “Mr. Clean” or you can also a lot of generic magic eraser sponges.
Yes it’s that simple.
Let me just show you a close up of this iron.
I can only remember hitting the fusible interfacing a few times and I didn’t really think it made a mark at the time, but as the iron continues to heat up you’ll get these black brown marks on the iron and it also just eventually happens.
So, it’s good to clean it off so you’re not getting it on your projects.
HOW TO CLEAN THE BOTTOM OF THE IRON
The iron doesn’t have to be hot, in fact it’s better to clean it while it’s cold so you don’t burn your fingers from the steam.
1- WET THE SPONGE WITH WATER AND WRING IT OUT
2- START RUBBING THE IRON WITH THE SPONGE.
You’ll be amazed how easy this stuff comes off!
Scrub the bottom and don’t forget the sides.
While your at it, use the eraser to clean up all the mineral deposits on the inside of iron station if you have one, like I do for this cordless model.
HOW TO CLEAN THE INSIDE OF THE IRON
All you’ll need is some distilled vinegar and some distilled water.
1- If there’s water already in the reservoir, EMPTY IT OUT.
2- Place an old towel on the ironing board or ironing mat.
3-Mix ¼ CUP WATER with ¾ CUP DISTILLED VINEGAR
4- Pour the solution into the water reservoir of the iron.
Put the lid back on. (DO NOT OVERFILL).
5- Turn on the iron and set on “STEAM SETTING”.
6- Let the iron heat up for 3-5 MINUTES.
7- Start pressing the towel using the steam button to create a lot of steam.
Sometimes you’ll see gunk and rusty colored liquid come out.
Have you ever had that colored liquid come out on your shirt or project? It is so frustrating!
8- Use the spray function several times to get that the spray nozzle cleaned out.
8- Use the spray function several times to get that the spray nozzle cleaned out.
This will de-mineralize the inside of the iron, which is a good thing. especially if you haven’t been using distilled water.
When you don’t have any more stuff coming out your iron you can stop.
CLEANING THE STEAM HOLES
9- Take a look on the bottom of the iron.
After you clean out the inside, there may be some gunk around the steam holes, and that shows you that there’s, also some grime and gunk on the inside.
This can wear out your iron, and taking these preventative measures will help the iron last a lot longer and save you a lot of grief.
10-Use the magic eraser to clean around the steam holes.
GETTING THE IRON READY FOR USE
1- Pour out the solution from the iron.
2- Fill the iron with DISTILLED WATER.
Looks good as new!
Pretty dang simple, right?
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2 Comments
Mr eraser isn’t touching mine
Sorry to hear that.