My washer and dryer is filthy from oilfield smut (grease, mud, oil, etc.). My husband washed his coveralls and then dried them too, in my machines. Shudder. Anyone have any tips to clean my machines without having to purchase a commercial cleaner? If not, do you know a good cleaner?
By Brooklyn_rayne from Edmonton, Alberta
One word: vinegar. add a quart to hot water in a empty washer, run the cycle. Might have to do that 2 times. As for the dryer I have no idea. sry
If it is that horribly dirty maybe you should use a commercial cleaner. I googled "washing machine cleaner" and found Tide and Sears make a product for this. There are other options as well.
First thing I'd try is a hot water load with baking soda, washing soda or borax. If that didn't help much I'd purchase something like the ones I mentioned above.
Get out as much as you can by hand - whether you use Mr. Clean, Lysol, Fantastik, Windex, etc. Then wash a load of towels (that you don't care about) or rags with some sort of degreaser (low suds) - this is for the washer.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Anyone know how to clean grease from a gas dryer drum please?
My first pass would be white cotton rag that is dry. That should get get it out of there.
If you still feel tacky or see residue, use a few drops of simple blue dawn (not the fancy kind) on another clean white cotton rag and just VERY SLIGHTLY dampen it and squeeze it out until it is almost dry (NO SUDS). The Dawn should cut the rest of the grease. Be sure NOT to use anything sopping wet as you could risk ruining the dryer. Wipe it out again with a totally dry rag when you are done.
Post back with an update!