How To Clean A Steam Iron In 3 Simple Steps

Keeping your iron clean is a task that should appear on your weekly or monthly to-do list. We often don’t check the bottom of our iron to see its status- is it ok or does it need some ‘TLC‘? Well, our irons do a commendable job of straightening our fabrics and making them wearable: It’s amazing how a simple act of ironing a cloth enhances its beauty.

To continue enjoying this service, we must take care of our irons in return. I’ll address how to clean a steam iron because this is what I have been using for a long time. A well-maintained steam iron is less steamy and runs smoothly, the reverse of this leaves you with a hard-to-deal-with iron, and consider buying a new one when all you need is to clean it up.

I’ll confess there was a time I let my steam iron run for long without descaling it until I noticed its low performance.

Depending on the type of water you use on your steam iron, impurities solidify as quickly. This is so true when using tap water! Tap water is hard and impurities are created and solidified once in your steam iron.

How do these solids present themselves on an iron? They are usually white or brown stains on the soleplate. These stains slow down your iron’s performance and increase the probability of staining your clothes.

Let’s see how you can clean your steam iron step by step.

What you need to consider before cleaning your steam iron

Is your steam iron under warranty? If the answer is yes, please check on ways to clean an iron under warranty. You don’t want to lose on that warranty and the best way at this point is to clean your iron as specified in the instructions booklet.

What is the status of your bottom soleplate? This means determining how much dirt you’re dealing with. If the dirt/stain is easy to deal with, go for easy cleaning remedies and if what your iron has is hardcore stuff like rust or burnt materials, you need to find a suitable cleaning solution beforehand. At least you don’t have to waste time trying all manner of cleaning agents.

Whichever way of cleaning your steam iron you go for, moreso the soleplate, be careful not to let anything into the steam holes. If not certain, please do some steam bursts to clear any residue (more on this below).

Step-by-step guide on how to clean your steam iron

Take a few minutes to do this cleaning task and your iron will thank you in performance and longevity.

Gather all your supplies

In every cleaning task you partake in, having all your cleaning supplies within reach will save you time and this is no exemption in cleaning your steam iron.

Most of the things you will need are common supplies in your household that you can easily pick from your pantry and yes, they’ll do the job. This is what I use to clean my steam iron;

• Distilled white vinegar (1/2 a cup)
• A jug of water. Either tap or filtered water
• An old toothbrush
• Baking soda paste. Mix a tablespoon of baking soda with water to form a paste
• A bowl/basin/bucket (to hold water released from the iron)
• A clean dry cloth

De-scaling your steam iron

Before dealing with the bottom of your iron, you need to remove excess calc from the inner chambers. Now, most steam irons have a ‘self-calc cleaning’ button, making it easier to dispense the excess calc. This part of the process takes me around 10 minutes to complete. Depending on your iron type and how long it takes to heat, it may take more or less time.

Add equal parts of vinegar and water (I use 1/2 and 1/2 for mine) to the iron’s water chamber, turn on the iron, and push the control knob to the ‘calc clean’ setting. Place an empty bowl under the iron to collect water and particles pouring at the bottom.

And, please be careful when handling the iron- it is steamy and the water droplets are as hot!

Repeat the process for at least two rounds with pure water. This is to ensure you dispel all vinegar from the iron.

Clean the bottom of an iron soleplate

There are several ways to clean the iron soleplate and most of them are quite easy, needing less to zero chemical cleaners. But if your soleplate is in bad shape, by all means, find a good chemical cleaner that will not damage your iron.

I clean the bottom of my iron soleplate using baking soda. Make a paste using 2 tablespoons of baking soda and add water bit by bit till you get a paste you can work with- not too runny though. Apply the paste on the iron soleplate, avoiding the open holes, and let it sit for a few minutes.

Then, gently scrub the soleplate for a few minutes using an old toothbrush or soft brush and wipe off the paste. Wipe the plate thoroughly with a clean cloth and water. Voila! Your iron is good to go.

Other ways to clean the bottom of iron soleplate

1.. Clean with toothpaste: Toothpaste is abrasive yet gentle to an iron steel plate. The abrasiveness will do a good job of cleaning hardcore dirt on the surface of your iron. Apply some toothpaste at the bottom and scrub with an old toothbrush for a few. After this, do some steam bursts to remove any toothpaste residue that may have escaped through the steam holes.

2.. Clean with paracetamol: This is an old method to clean an iron but surprisingly it works! Two things to note: First, your iron plate needs to be hot for this to work. Wear some heat-resistant gloves to protect your fingers. Secondly, work only on the stained areas by ‘rubbing off’ the dirt. This method may only work on grimy build-up but not heavy rust and scorching.

3.. Use salt to clean the soleplate: When I need to use salt, I use the coarse one because its particles clean the affected areas quite well. Now, salt is abrasive and cleans hard rust and stubborn stains well. All the same, due to the abrasiveness of salt, use this method on old irons because there’ll probably be a few scratch lines. Disclaimer! The stains may not be erased 100% but it’s satisfactory enough to ensure your iron does not stain clothes.

4.. Whatever else you use to clean stainless steel surfaces: If your iron soleplate is made of stainless steel material, like some of your pots and pans, whatever you use to clean them can be used too on your iron soleplate. If your soleplate is made of any other material, verify before using the cleaning solutions.