Help - my steam iron is spouting water containing brown muck. How can I clean it?

Question

My Tefal Ultra Diffusion 70 iron has worked OK for years, and occasionally it would spout brown muck with water and would stain my shirts.
However now it has started to erupt and there is loads of brown stuff.
I don't have the manual, but it talks about self-clean on the website.
How can I get this stuff out of the iron?

Correction - its an ultraglide diffusion 70.

Answer 1

Sounds like rust in the resovoir..You could get some iron rust remover at the grocery store .It's a powder so dissolve a tablespoon in some warm water make sure it is totally dissolved let stand a little while say 10min or so. Then pour out and rinse out several times. also do vinegar and water to help get rid of any residule then fill the iron with water and turn steam on and iron on some old shirt to be sure it is working right,,

Answer 2

You need to ensure that the iron has not rusted inside! But a good way to clean it is to fill the reservoir with either boiled or filtered water, switch the iron on and let the water steam through into the sink. Keep doing this until the water runs clear.

Answer 3

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/cleaniron

The best way to maintain a steam iron (after you get it clean again). Water in your locale might contain too many minerals and other stuff. It's cheap. Buy a gallon of distilled water to use only in your iron. After an ironing session, always empty the reservoir of water completely. Depress the sprayer until no more water comes out. Then store the iron with the cover (if you have one on your iron) over the water opening in open position.

For convenience, I place my distilled water in one of those water drinking bottles (the kind with a pop up sip top) next to my ironing board. I refill it from water in the gallon container. Distilled water is cheap but the use of it and following above procedure, stopped my iron from sputtering.

Good luck in recovering the full use of your iron. Hope the flushing works.

Answer 4

It desperately needs descaling. Get the usual one from any shop and follow the instructions. After that it should run clear. To stop it happening in the future. Press the button to spray the water out after use. Do not leave it with any water in the tank. Also during use periodically spray the water out so that it keeps the jets clear and clean.

Answer 5

For the cost of a new steam iron,not worth the mess or the rewashing of clothes.

Answer 6

You may need a new iron.Always use distilled water in your steam iron

Answer 7

put rubbing alcohol or sumthing