Today I poured about a 1/4 cup of water in my iron and went along my merry way. A few minutes later I noticed a funny smell, but I thought it was some starch that had oversprayed on the ironing board. Later it was worse and I suddenly realized that what I thought was water was flat Sprite.

I rinsed the iron out as well as I could just by pouring water in and dumping it out again, but is there any way to get the inside of the iron clean?

rinse and dump
rinse and dump
rinse and dump

are sewing late at night? I know it's time for me to go to bed when I make silly mistakes.

I was afraid of that.

Now I'm worried it's going to have bits of burned sugar inside and when i'm pressing quilt pieces it will leave big brown blotches.

Rinse thoroughly several times with warm water and you should be fine. Test it on scrap fabric first, though, just to be certain. You're not the only person who's done something silly. Don't worry about it.

No, midmorning, I just wasn't thinking. :oops: I pretty much have banned myself from sewing after 9:00 at night, though. I tend to make a lot of cutting and math mistakes at that point.

By the way, I like the sampler quilt in your avatar.

Oh wow! I hope you get it all out! If not...just think how "sweet" your quilts will be!! :/
Best of luck!

HAve you seen the commercial where the guy starts the BBQ and when he notices a funny smell, the camera pans to the bag of dog food. LOL Just clean it out well and all should be OK.

Does your iron have the steam all the time button ? After a few rinses I would turn the iron up all the way, push in the button and let it run thru all the water, do that a few times to make sure you get the pop out from the holes :thumbup: Good Luck and keep us posted

Well, I rinsed and dumped, plugged it in again and let it heat up, ran it with steam awhile, rinsed and dumped again. It doesn't seem to be leaving stains, but we'll see. You know how it goes, on an old stained tea towel it will do just fine, but on my $9 a yard quilt fabric it might leave big stains.

You can also try adding vinegar to the iron and letting it steam out. It will smell a bit. You can steam it out into an old towel. It should remove any sticky build up from the Sprite and any hard water or mineral deposits inside the iron.

I agree with letting it steam itself out. Fill it with vinager water (1/4-3/4) and set the iron on a folded cotton towel with the steam button pushed in. Let the iron just sit there and go through the entire tank. Do this a couple of times. And when you do start to use the iron, use a pressing cloth for the first several times. Hope this helps.

OH - - you might also want to check with the person qwho takes care of your sewing machine. Most of their techs can also work on irons. Although if the iron is just a regular iron and not one of the really expensive ones, it might be worth it just to pitch the irohn and buy a new one. With me I would probably just buy a new iron and see the $$s as the price for my sanity.

Butterfly, I did that very same thing years ago. Just did the dump and repeat thing, but also after several times of that, I filled with water and held the iron over the sink and just kept steaming.

I would pour some white vinager into it and turn it on steam and set it over the sink. then do plain water

All sound like great tips for the boo boo.

Vinegar works wonders and it should help with the residue.

I was going to suggest vinegar also.

Vinegar. Just like for your coffeemaker you can clean out an iron. Put the vinegar in and let it heat up and then steam the heck out of it on a towel. Then rinse out the water tank and replace with refresh water and steam again to make sure vinegar is out.

White vinegar, set heat to the highest level, steam away. Rinse a couple times with clear water and you should be good to go. I only drink hot coffee or hot tea in my sewing room for fear of doing that very thing. :?

lmao, so sorry for your mstake, but it is funny. hope your iron gets better

Well if nothing else you made me feel better. I'm not the only one that does things like that.

Well yuk, glad I'm not the only one with brain flight moments, Good Luck !!

Sounds like something I would do! NO soda allowed near my iron! Thanks for the tips on cleaning an iron with vinegar, everyone. Mine has been leaving white chalky mineral stuff on things when I iron, time to clean it!

:lol: :lol: Sorry, I can't help but laugh! It sounds like something I would do!!

white vinegar, same as you would use in your coffee maker. then rinse.

I always put some white vinigar in my iron with the water. it seems to make the steam steamier and wrinkles fall out of the fabric quicker.

Ah yes, I remember my Aunt saying, years ago, that if you want to get a nice crease down the front of a pant leg, to spritz it with vinegar water. The same to get out a stubborn wrinkle.

Sorry to hear of your problem, but yes I would do the vinger
also, hope it all comes out ok for you.

The vinegar does work. Remember, they tell you to run vinegar through a coffee pot to clean it and this is the same idea. It works

I'm with Texas Granny; vinegar is great and recommended for cleaning irons and coffee pots... Try it and let us know.

O.K. Now I have to ask, does the smell of the vinegar linger, when used on clothes ?? I know someone will know, and how did the Iron turn out?

Oops! Think I'd toss the iron and get another one. I did something similar when very, very tired! I used the can of compressed air to clean out my serger. Right? Wrong!! It was spray adhesive! Ouch!!:( Now I really pay attention to the container!

I was going to suggest vinegar too, it works for everything lol. But if that doesn't work do to the store and get some iron cleaner, they have that. Clean according to directions, then I would fill and dump a few times anyway. I am a over achiever. Hope the vinegar works good luck. Oh by the way, I happen to be the master of all goof ups so don't worry about it.

Rita

try vinegar & water; more vinegar than water; leave the iron on for a while, at least 1 hour, occassionally turning it to allow it to steam. Then dump what is left, rinse and dump, rinse & dump, then try just water & steam. :wink:

There are products on the market for cleaning the insides of irons to get the white buildup of lime out of them. I don't know the names but perhaps your local hardware store - like a True Value - could help you.

Not trying to be ugly. But I just had to laugh. LOL

White vinegar solution always gets me out of my mistakes.

Through the years I have spent oodles of $$$ on "special" irons only to be disappointed in performance or length of service. I only use a dry iron and a little spritz of water if necessary, never steam when quilting. My latest iron cost $10 at Walmart so when I get mad at it, it will just go in the trash. It's already lasted longer than the last $80 iron.

Have you tried adding a little vinegar to the water you're putting in the iron? It will clean out the sugar and any other stuff built up inside. You just gotta keep steaming on fabric until nothing shows up any longer. I use a real old towel and then I toss the towel in the laundry... most of the time the stuff on the towel washes out.... especially if I use Oxyclean.

I did the same thing once only it was 7 UP not Sprite. It really gives you a stupid feeling. :)

try white vinegar it helps cleaning the iorn