How do I get the crayon marks out of my dryer drum?
Kris from Sacramento, CA
Wd40 works wonders. Unplug the dryer, and spray wd40 and wipe with a clean rag. (08/14/2007)
By Marty
Sure was glad to find this thread after my son had a POCKETFUL of crayons go through the dryer.
After reading the advive here, I decided to try my Dawn Power Scrubber spray. Sprayed it on, left it alone for about ten minutes, and most of the crayon residue (which was smeared all over the walls of my dryer) just wiped off. It was really easy. The only downside was that the dryer seemed pretty "gooey" with the Dawn Power Scrubber, so I threw in a wet towel and ran the dryer for about 10 minutes so it could twist around and wipe it clean.
Of course this would have to happen as I was just about the dry the last load before leaving on a trip tomorrow morning. Getting necessary stuff rewashed, plus the waiting load dried, is going to have me up into the wee hours. (08/31/2007)
By In The Same Boat
Makes you wonder what the toothpaste is doing to our insides, if it is on a par with acetone on the abrasive front. The acetone worked on my red & blue crayon fiesta (killed my hubby's best shirt though). My advice is to do the back of the dryer first. You won't want to put your head in once the sides are done because the fumes are too strong. (09/12/2007)
By sarah
I had a purple crayon go through my dryer. It was well distributed and I had no idea how to clean it. Thank God for this site! We found that toothpaste worked well. I used at least half a tube if not more. I found putting it on the scrubby pad first worked better than directly applying it to the dryer drum. I spent about half an hour to an hour scrubbing and applying toothpaste to the drum. If the crayon is a dark color and it is all over the drum it will take a few applications and a few scrubs but it did mainly come off. There are a couple patches on the collar and at the back that still have a slight pinkish color but I don't expect it to come off on any of my clothes since it didn't come off after multiple scrubbings. I'm still working on the clothes. (09/16/2007)
By Heather Stanton
I just found this site after opening my dryer to find red crayon! Not sure if it came from my daughter or son, but at this point what does it matter. I read through the posts and tried the one that suggested Comet - since that was what I had. It worked well. I went back and misted the inside of the dryer with water and wiped it all down. I'm still going to run a test load with rags and old towels before putting my clothes back in it.
As for the clothes that were in the dryer with the crayon, I rewashed them right away with warm/cold water (I read once that hot water may cause the crayon to set it!) That seems to have worked for the most part. (09/28/2007)
By Whitney
Hi, Thank you for suggesting the Bar Keepers Friend. I just cleaned my dryer using this in only a few minutes. It took the black crayon out. I squirted the dryer and wiped it down.
By Terry
Two Words: Comet Cleanser -- (it worked great!) After using comet, I just wiped the inside of my dryer down with a few clorox wipes and my blue dryer is now shining white again. (11/21/2007)
By MJ
OMG this just happened to me today. I have 2 grown children, NEVER did I have this problem, well I can't say that any more. I now have 4 grandchildren who love to put crayons in their pockets! I am trying comet right now. SO far so good but there is a lot of crayon! So far 15 minutes into it. I think this will work, but boy, oh, boy will I ever be checking pockets from now on!! This is hard. SO SO glad I found this site! Thanks a million everyone! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! (12/03/2007)
By penny
Just found fuschia crayon all over white load and in the dryer. Of course I didn't have any Comet. Tried a Brillo pad, scrubbed lightly and no more crayon. Just to be on the safe side, I ran a load of reds through to clean up the remainder. As for the white load, hot water and bleach took care of the mess. To bad about my son's gray gym shirt though. (12/16/2007)
By highjones6
Run the dryer on hot to melt wax a bit. Then use a warm rag and baking soda. It got all my orange crayon out of my dryer. (12/21/2007)
By Kristi from NC
First I ran the dryer for 20 minutes on hot to warm up the dark orange crayon that completely covered the entire interior of my new HE5 dryer. Then, as suggested, I tried the toothpaste, then the Magic Eraser, but neither worked. However, the non-abrasive Comet with bleach (sold at Costco) worked wonders, with barely any elbow grease involved. There are some slight scratches on the surface of the drum, however, it's better than the orange crayon all over the clothing. (02/02/2008)
By Dustie
LOL! I joined the crayon in the dryer club! I am off to the store to buy Oxiclean and bar keeper's friend. We'll see how those and running a few loads of rag towels through the dryer works. (02/05/2008)
By cindy m
I of my 4 daughters who LOVES to collect things had put a yellow and a red crayon in her coat pocket. When I took the coats out of the dryer...AWWWW, It was on everything. My husband had purchased Mean Green Super strength Cleaner Degreaser (spray)for another mess. I didn't want to scratch the dryer drum so I tried the Canola oil someone here had suggested with minimal success. Once I remembered the degresser and sprayed it on the inside of the dryer...WOW! 2 minute job, honest! Amazing stuff! (02/06/2008)
By Deborah
The issue of getting crayon out of my dryer was a trial and error sort of thing. I'm guessing that because different crayon manufacturers use different ingredients in their crayons, only certain cleaners will work on certain crayon types. I tried baking soda, GooGone, Comet, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, Canola Oil, etc...neither of which worked. I decided to use the Wal-Mart brand version of Orange Clean (perhaps the actual Orange Clean works too, but I didn't try it). I sprayed it on, and the crayon just ran off, no elbow grease required. As a note, please be extremely careful using anything that may be flammable in your dryer, and make sure you monitor it very closely when running it for the first few times after cleaning it, just in case. Good luck! (02/07/2008)
By Pamela Martin
I just finished cleaning orange crayon out of my dryer with a dry paper towel. I didn't have a lot to clean up 'cause unfortunately most of it ended up on the clothes. I just put a dry paper towel over the end of my finger a rubbed/scraped it right off. Does anyone have advice on how to get crayon out of the clothes.
(02/07/2008)
By lisa
We used lacquer thinner and it just wiped the crayon right out in seconds. However you must let ALL the fumes from the thinner out or risk ignition of them in your dryer. this is done easily. just run your dryer with the door open ( hold the button ) ( or use a pen for older models ) for a few minutes and your good. febreeze a rag and run the dryer. Works the fastest yet. p.s. We have three kids.
(02/22/2008)
By jeff and rene
I found orange crayon completely covering my dryer and all over a load of pink clothes. I started out with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (did not work at all) and then my mom suggested bleach so I did that with the scrubbing part of a dish sponge. It worked but the smell was horrible. Then I found this website and tried the degreaser. I happened to have BAM kitchen degreaser and it worked! Thank you! As for the pink clothes, I am washing them for the third time using a spray n wash for the crayon stain and I think it'll be completely out of the clothes this time (I have 2 girls and a boy). (03/07/2008)
By Breaz
I have a couple loads of clothes that have crayon all over them, and my two girls have decorated their bedroom walls with crayon and even some ink. What will take it out without damaging the walls and clothes? (03/11/2008)
By Amanda
My entire large dryer drum was one pink stain from a bright red crayon. (Luckily there wasn't much of the actual crayon waxy stuff.) I tried Goo Gone but it didn't work. Then I tried some Melaleuca Sol-U-Mel 3 in 1 Cleaner a friend gave me - it wiped right off. Thank you, Roseanne! (04/05/2008)
By Michelle B.
I've become a fan of Mean Green. So far, everything I have tried it on has come out. I haven't had reason to use it on crayon, though. (04/05/2008)
Thank you, thank you so much for the tip on Bar Keepers Friend. I had tried six or seven other things and it was the only thing that worked. It took two nights of scrubbing but every bit of crayon came out. I made a paste of the powder and rubbed it on with a cloth in small sections and this rinsed it of with a clean one. (04/10/2008)
By Monica
Thanks for all of these ideas. I tried many without much success, so tried my original idea: steel wool very gently applied took out all of the crayon melted onto the dryer-- even let me get into the cracks and crevices. I then tried the wet towel idea, which got out the last few hiding chunks.
thanks!!
(04/17/2008)
By Jen in Boston
Mr. Clean Magic Eraser worked for me. My daughter left a black crayola crayon in her pocked, so I had black streaks throughout the dryer. I used the textured side of the Magic Eraser with a little Comet sprinkled on it. Then, I rinsed and wiped with the white side. All gone without using anything flammable. Hello! WD-40 and Goo Gone are flammable products and extremely dangerous in a gas dryer!! (04/24/2008)
By Cara
For the clothes themselves, I JUST learned that Windex removed the crayon immediately and it did pretty well on the dryer itself but I resorted to a bit of Comet as suggested on this site. I'm starting to believe the father in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was right - Windex fixes/heals everything! :) (05/04/2008)
By Carrie
Where do I find "BAR KEEPERS FRIEND"?
(b)Editor's Note:(/b) It is usually near the Comet or Ajax in the leaning section of the grocery store. (05/24/2008)
By WENDY0156
I just opened the dryer to find the towels covered in black specks and the dryer drum gray thanks to a little black crayon! After trying lots of other things, the thing that worked for us was Scrubbing Bubbles and lots of elbow grease! (05/25/2008)
By Angela
Just cleaned my dryer with KABOOM bath and tile cleaner. Worked in seconds. I let the dryer run for 10 minutes to warm it up. don't know if I needed to but just sprayed and wow!!! It worked great! don't use on clothes!!! spray is a little yellow colored and didn't come out easily from my husbands white shirt and did nothing to remove the purple crayon. hope this helps. (05/25/2008)
By tmsiler
Hot dryer and mr clean sponge! (05/29/2008)
By
This just happened to me for the first time. I read this post and opted for the Mr Clean Magic Eraser teamed up with Bon Ami ( or Bar Keepers Friend if you don't have it). Worked like a champ! I wet the Magic Eraser and made a nice wet area and then sprinkled the Bon Ami over that and mad e a paste and scrubbed it right off. Not more than 20 minutes and my dryer is like new! Whew! Now for my son's favorite skull shirt...... (06/15/2008)
By Stephanie
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