Sometimes the instructions say how to clean it out, but I don't think many of us keep them. I know I don't. If you don't have them, you might look online for some. Every steam iron I've ever used does the same thing after a while. I recently bought a dry iron from Home Depot, but unfortunately, it isn't staying hot, so it's going back. I've read that if you buy a steam iron, but don't ever put water in it, it will be like the dry irons. I hauled out the old iron and have been using it without water. It's better that way so far anyway.