Cleaning Tips : How to Clean a Steam Iron

The best way to clean a steam iron is with a mixture of vinegar and baking soda, which should be applied with a nice, clean cloth. Find out how to use distilled water to clean out the reservoir of a steam iron with help from a professional house cleaner in this free video on cleaning tips.

Expert: Rachel Yatuzis
Bio: Rachel Yatuzis is a professional house cleaner in Nashville, Tenn., specializing in using everyday household items for cleaning purposes.
Filmmaker: Tim Brown

Series Description: Outdoor wood furniture is best cleaned with a combination of mild soap and water. Use a scrubby sponge to apply soapy water to wood furniture, and use a little bleach to get rid of mildew with help from a professional house cleaner in this free video series on cleaning tips, both inside and outside.

[antonjeyaseelan]

Wow. I come from a scientific background, and what you showed, made so much sense. I was about to buy descaling fluid for my Bosch iron, at £13 (and that was half price, normally £26 from Argos),  and you are so right. I now realise you are correct; they are just gimmicks.

A simple acid, like vinegar should dissolve the calcium carbonate deposits within the iron. The increased temperature should speed up the reaction. Then as you say, distilled water should clean it, without leaving more calcium carbonate behind.

Maybe you should add that using only distilled water in your iron, will reduce the need for cleaning it so often.

As vinegar is so much cheaper than descaling fluid, you have just saved me at least a tenner.

Thank you.

If you had a Paypal button I'd give you a quid right now.!

Nice Info.
Anton.

[gypsylostheart]

Vinegar....wonderful for cleaning...I use it to clean glass, chrome, spray it into shower heads etc. At times I guess I have used a bit too much and the house smells like a fish and chip restaurant....but the smell of vinegar does fade. I think it must be more environmentally friendly than some other cleaning and descaling products.
Thanks for your helpful video.

[JulieWallis]

Fabulous. This *works* I was looking at my pile of ironing as it was growing due to my iron leaking some nasty brown (rust?) water. The vinegar trick worked well. It wasn’t pleasant inhaling vinegar steam but it works and it works quick too. Thank you.

[anordinaryman]

First of all, I would thank you very much for your great presentation.
Secondly, You have to push steam instead of pushing dispenser when you ironing the rug to let the steam holes output getting clean by the power of (white) vinegar

[guitarjamie]

READ THIS FIRST*** I tried this technique with my iron using the towel on counter and steamed the vinegar out. It left a huge white heat stain mark on my countertop, even with a very heavy and folded towel. Have tried everything to fix it but nothing works, absolute nightmare, be careful not to use this on any delicate surface!

[amywinnswihart]

Works beautifully. I cleaned both of my irons to remove the musty smell--probably for sitting unused with water in them. But I was amazed at all the gunk that came out of my irons. And both the steam button and misting spray are functioning like they were brand new. Just be careful not to inhale the vinegar steam.

[jjuita]

Tqvm for the tip and it really work for me. I dont use that much vinegar tho. 1/4c is enough + hot water to fill the inside and the steam back to normal againl.

[theresaciallela]

Thanks Rachel! I Recently I received the honor of caring for our altar linens. I live in an over 55 apartment complex and, since I use a steamer on my clothes, I didn't even own an iron. The sweet elderly lady across the hall let me use "one of" hers. Of course I rinsed it with water 3 or 4 times and everything was fine, the water was clear. I ironed a few inconsequential items without a problem and then, while ironing the linen for Sunday, I got a huge streak of rust water all over the beautiful cloth! I got the stain out and bought another iron but I wanted to clean and keep this one as a backup. This is the first time that I have seen anything that you have posted. Your video was informative and consice. I plan on following your site. Thanks again and God bless you and yours.

[LoveMsKitty]

Your nails are always beautiful, Rachel.

[TheGirlfriend]

Thank you.  This worked beautifully to help me save a very expensive iron that was clogged.

[Winnie]

It works! Bloody marvellous. Thank you for sharing.

[assahnaazkurrumbacus]

Thnks a lot .It really works. Thnks for the step to step demo...

[starmazaheri]

Hi and thank you for this video, but I wonder 1. shouldn't we dilute the first wash with the white vinegar? 2. what about the smell of the vinegar, wouldn't the strong smell of vinegar kind of remain and cause our clothes to smell too?

[Bob-ylpm]

I couldn't find vinegar, but I found HCL (for etching concrete) a black liquid came out of the iron, and I coughed and choked, nasty, but i suspect it's ok now, rinsed it repeatedly with tap water! should work now, I hope!

[OndrejPopp]

Cool Rachel. Gonna give it a go. Mine is spitting brown residue. Maybe it got rusty.

[ascensionmojo]

You are so awesome Rachel. Thank you so much for this tip. Was just on the verge of a nervous break down (lol) with my iron and brown spots even after cleaning the ‘hot’ side or face of the iron. This is so helpful. Thanks so much. Mj 💙

[DrMontague]

Warm iron, spray plate with oven cleaner, leave on for 20 minutes, wipe off with cloth.

[ccjohncc]

Actually straight vinegar for cleaning an iron done too often can damage the internal parts and ruin the iron. I would try just distilled water first. More importantly Follow your irons specific Manufacturer's recommendations for cleaning.

[ShanonT]

My iron came with specific instructions NOT to use distilled water!!!  I ignored it. Seems like they just want to sell irons. Btw...your nails are cute. Thanks for the tip.

[Bob-ylpm]

I kinda figured vinegar would work, I was ironing my sons new shirt for a job interview, and little speckles of white were coming out of the iron all over the shirt! Time for maintenance, LOL