Crayons in the Dryer

My daughter left crayons in her coat pockets and it was run through the dryer. Needless to say, it made a horrible mess inside the dryer, but also in two new winter coats. What is the best thing to use to remove crayon from inside the dryer and from the coats?

By Bobby from Salem, VA

Answers:

Crayons in the Dryer

I don't know how many times my kids (ages 12-27) have done this to me over the years, but my son just did it again last week with a wax fire starter he made for Boy Scouts! The dryer is pretty easy, scrape chinks off walls, then I just run it for a bit, wipe out what I can with paper towels while it's warm, then run a couple of my towel rags through on high to get rid of any excess residue.

The clothes are harder. A lot of times the color from the crayon will set into the fabric like a dye if it goes through the dryer. I have been able to get it off clothes about 98% of the time with Simple Green and a lot of work (Simple green is a cleaner/degreaser in the cleaning or automotive section). First, I use straight Simple Green on the spots and scrub them in with a toothbrush, let it sit approximately 20 min, then wash clothes in warm water with extra laundry soap and a cup of Simple Green.

Check for spots, (but let air dry even if it looks like spots are gone, just in case). If spots remain, rub with more Simple Green, let sit. Then I fill the washer, again, with warm water, extra soap, 1-2C Simple Green and let the clothes agitate a bit, then turn the machine off and let it sit all day or overnight.

If you remember, let it agitate again a few times during this waiting time (I have also pulled some of the clothing out of the water to check the spots and rubbed them again with the toothbrush dipped in the soapy water). In the AM, run the washer through it's longest cycle. If it looks like the spots are gone, I run the washer through another cycle with 1/2 the amount of laundry soap and an extra rinse to be sure I get all the Simple Green out. (02/02/2010)

By Judy = Oklahoma

Crayons in the Dryer

The same thing happened to me 20+ years ago. What a mess! I also used Simple Green to remove the mess in the dryer, and it worked! (02/03/2010)

By Jeannie Keating

Crayons in the Dryer

Thanks so much for your suggestion. I hope that it never happens again, but if it does, I'll try Simple Green. I wound up using WD-40 which did a nice job. After washing two times, most all the smell is gone! (02/06/2010)

By Bobby

Crayons in the Dryer

I have just gone through this in the last two days! WD-40 removes the crayon from the fabric. Spray the WD-40 on the crayon marks and let soak in. Then launder. My problem was after that I could not remove the smell of the WD-40.

After much research, it was determined that since WD-40 is an oil based product, it would take another oil to remove it. So, I filled the washer with hot water, put about 1/4-1/2 cup baby oil in the water, agitated it, then added the clothes. I let it agitate again, then let them soak for an hour. Then I agitated a bit longer, then let the water out through the rinse cycle. Then I washed with a powder based soap and the smell is finally gone. Good luck! (02/16/2010)

By Laura Butler