Full Disclosure: I seriously considered throwing out my grimy iron and getting a new one.
OK, let's see if I can make iron-maintenance vaguely exciting. Or just not so boring that you don't turn away at this point. Please, hear me out! It's important!
You know, in the interests of not filling the world with unnecessary garbage (though, as I've always said, they're going to make those 8 zillion (insert appliance here) whether I throw mine out or not), I have opted to clean my iron
S, my fitting friend, has a really nice iron with a really clean plate and it works so well, it's been affronting me with its functionality. Throw in the fact that mine has enough fusible interfacing on it to grip over certain fabrics (I USE AN ORGANZA PRESSING CLOTH, so don't get on my case), plus the fact that I'm about to be pressing the shit out of "fine fabric", and I didn't see any way out.
You should know that the first / last time I cleaned my Rowenta Professional (I don't know that this model is made anymore), I opted for the natural approach. Why spend 35 bucks on corrosive cleaners on an appliance that's been cleaned, sans cancer-causing chemicals, since the beginning of time? (In truth, I don't really know how long the world has had irons, but it's got to be hundreds of years, don't you think?)
Lo those many months ago, I cleaned the canister of calcium build-up with white vinegar diluted with water and then I used a paste of baking soda to sparkle-ize the plate. About a zillion hours after I started, everything within a square mile still smelled like chips. Really, for a month, every time I used the fucking thing I could detect the scent of vinegar - which is gross, by the way. I was constantly worried I'd wreck the fabric I pressed, with microscopic (though odorous) droplets of vinegar - but really, I suspect it's the baking soda paste that LODGED itself in the steam holes of the plate that was the greater risk.
Let's talk about baking soda paste, which I have nothing against. It's fun to assemble, not harmful, it's odor-absorbing, it's satisfyingly (but not overly) abrasive. What's not to love? Well, my friends, you will not love picking bits of cooked paste off of your clothes (punched up with the steam button) till the end of all fucking time. Before you assume I did it wrong, I read numerous instructions online. I considered, in advance, that the gunk would lodge itself in the holes and I carefully avoided them. I also had all manner of gizmos to assist in case the holes were impinged upon by paste, accidentally.
The thing is, there's no way to remove the paste from your sole-plate without dragging it and, if you drag for more than a cm, you hit a hole.
You can see why it's been since the last time I made a suit that I've tried to clean this thing. (For more info, see: Just throw the fucking iron out and get a new one.)
This time around, I went full-on chemical. (Yeah, I know everything's a chemical, but you know what I mean. I went "evil chemical".) As of 10 minutes ago, I finished cleaning corrosive gunge off the plate of my iron (coming out of those pores as I infused water and phosphoric acid). I didn't exactly follow the instructions cuz they didn't quite work. If I turned off the iron once it started steaming (as directed) then the steam stopped within a minute and there was no way to get the water out of the canister, via steam (as directed). So, and Lord knows what impact this will have, I stood over the chemical soup, plugging and unplugging the iron intermittently. Yeah, I had the window open but I'm not sure I'm feeling as smart as usual.
The gunge was easily cleaned from the sink but not so easily from the holes (some of which are now blocked with soot-like grossness rather than baking soda grossness). I'm waiting for it to cool at which point I'll work on the remaining gunge.
Tomorrow I'll tackle the sole-plate directly with another chemical - this time a cream! - and truly, I don't know if that's going to stay out of the holes much better than the baking soda did the last time. Probably - this stuff is made by the Rowenta people and it costs enough. That's its own special task involving the ironing board and special cloths.
I suppose it's not rocket science: The key is, natch, to ensure that whatever you've applied to clean your grimy iron is painstakingly removed from it by numerous re-fillings of the canister and steaming/pressing over rags.
Or you could just put the thing out on the curb and wait 10 second for the yard-pickers. And go out and get yourself a new one.
Thoughts?
Posts
A brilliant and hilarious post. I attack mine with a washing up scourer so it's probably best if I keep my thoughts to myself.
ReplyDeleteHa! I want to have at this thing with a scrubbie! Thanks M :-)
DeleteI've had good luck with the paste stuff on the sole plate, it doesn't smell too horrible, and if you use a terry bar towel it comes out of the holes easily. (I use stuff made by Dritz I think, and it's fairly inexpensive.)
ReplyDeleteAnd to prevent buildup in the tank, I just use distilled water, so I've never had to do anything with the tank in the 2 or 3 years I've had my iron. :-) Hope that helps!
I couldn't stop myself from trying the cream 5 minutes after I wrote this post. It definitely works much better than the baking soda paste. Gotta say, though, it's not like the sole plate is gorgeous and new. It's pretty scratched to shit and has dark spots. And I rubbed the crap out of it. Apparently (so I've read) it's not good to use distilled water! Don't ask me why, I can't remember. But you're obviously having good luck with the system so don't listen to me...
DeleteMy cheapass Rowenta (that I'm not using anyway) is supposed to have a self-clean function. Does yours?
ReplyDeleteIndeed it does, Alexandra. Doesn't work so much. Truthfully, I'm tough on my iron. But I feel ripped off that the feature seems useless.
DeleteBummer. I never tried it on mine because I couldn't find the manual. On irons with a non-teflon sole plate, I've found the salt on a paper bag trick works pretty well.
DeleteI've been reading David Coffin's "Shirtmaking", and he advises using a dry iron and a spray bottle of water, instead of a steam iron. Better steam control. No buildup in the tank. No clogged steam holes. So yes, throw it out.
ReplyDeleteOooh, interesting info, thanks! I realize I've got to invest, eventually, in one of those olde-style extremely heavy irons. Not there yet. I hope I can get another couple of years out of this iron cuz it works quite well, even though I'm tough on it. It's starting to look its age, though. Or older.
DeleteWe have a Rowenta which is starting to get gunky despite using the organza pressing cloth. Interesting that you were able to get yours pretty clean using a chemical solution. What chemicals did you use?
ReplyDeleteFor the plate: Rowenta original kit (can prob be found where you bought your iron) and the canister cleaner (the liquid to decalcify) has phosphoric acid (not peroxide as I mistakenly said in the post). You can't use it on irons with teflon or non-stick plates, fyi. So look at your iron against the product before you use!
DeleteYou totally crack me up. You have managed to make something as mundane as cleaning an iron an adventure.
ReplyDeleteLast time I really cleaned my iron it was because my fusible interfacing was facing the wrong way when I put the iron down. Not smart. I seem to remember cleaning it with stuff like rubbing alcohol (maybe?) that was aimed at getting the glue off more than cleaning the iron.
Oh, I don't know what passes for adventure in your life (German film fests?) but this is high excitement here :-)
DeleteThings will be settling down with a good 2/3 of my vacation time already used up. :)
DeleteCan you get the Mr. Clean "Magic Erasers"? Looks like a white dense sponge with a scrubbier side on one side.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, on a cool iron, dampen the "magic eraser" and rub. You don't even have to rub vigorously. I swear this works better than anything I've ever tried, is not messy, and is fast, fast, fast.
http://www.mrclean.com/en_US/magic-eraser.do
I'll go get one for sure! Thanks E!
DeleteI too use the Magic Eraser and it does the trick no problem. Even on the black stuff that should have been cleaned off A LONG time ago and got put off for another day!
DeleteOooh, this thing has got to go in my shopping cart!
DeleteSomehow, in my cyber-mailbox-clearing, in my distracted state, I've lost your lovely, thoughtful e-mail. Thanks so much for your sympathy and support. xoxo
ReplyDeleteNot at all, Frances. I'm just glad you saw it and I'm giving you lots of positive thoughts. xo
DeleteI'm glad I'm not alone in the iron woes .... I've got a Rowenta Professional "Luxe", and it's self-clean function never really worked for me either. Of course, I also never read the instructions about how to gradually heat up the thing before switching to the steam function - who does that? Mine now only steams when I'm holding down the steam button; several bouts of the vinegar thing resulted in it producing a wee bit of steam on its own, for about a week. Do you have the same issues with yours? I use the Rowenta cream for the soleplate, but I love the Eraser idea - much less $$.
ReplyDeleteThe steam feature on mine works, though occasionally, I have to press the steam button to engage it. Get one of those spritzer bottles.
DeleteHum the plate of my iron has a nasty brown surface due to all this interfacing. I was considering giving up on fusible interfacing (I hate this stuff anyway) or having two irons: one for interfacing and one for the rest.
ReplyDeleteSome people recommend freezer paper to clean the plate, but being French I don't even know what that is :)
I'm on the fence about fusible interfacing too... But it does have its place. To be honest, I'm Canadian and I don't know what freezer paper is either :-)
DeleteLol, my iron is GROSS, it has brown stuff on the plate... I reckon I need an upgrade so I can't be bothered cleaning it :P lol, so lazy!
ReplyDeleteTry that Magic Eraser if you can find it. Apparently it's magic. And an eraser!
Delete