My D went to put a load in her dryer and discovered her roommate must have had a pen in his pant pocket. The dryer walls are covered in blue ink. She has read online various methods to try. I’m concerned about her using acetone or rubbing alcohol in the clothes dryer. Another hack of bleach would worry me that it would be difficult to make sure all the bleach was removed before drying my clothes. What methods have CCers used successfully. I trust the wisdom here over Google.
Another suggestion I gave her was to call out the appliance man I use and charge her roommate for the call. It is a 1 yr old dryer that belongs to my D not the roommate.
Of course this is another reinforcement of why she hates having a roommate.
Do NOT turn the dryer on with a solvent-soaked rag inside!!!
This is what I would do. I would turn the laundry room fan on high, unplug the dryer to make sure there is no chance of a spark, and then scrub the ink off the walls with a solvent-soaked rag.Then I would leave the fan on for a while until all of the vapors are gone.
what about a magic eraser? I used one last week to get blue jean dye transfer off of light beige leather car seats. I was surprised how well it worked. May not work but there isn’t any harm in trying.
acetone works
Thanks everyone who posted and the PM messages.
I sent her a bag of supplies this am with H as he works near her. I gave her the all important info of unplugging dryer and good ventilation.
She should have her housemate clean it but she doesn’t trust him to do it right.
In the stone age, we used hairspray to get ink out of things. That might be easier if it is just a one-spot situation.
Don’t forget that hairspray is flammable as well. It does work though!
I had this happen to me recently. I used rubbing alcohol. the magic eraser didn’t work as well. It was a pain. I was unable to get all the ink off the drum. Then I dried some of DH’s old tee shirts in it a couple of times to make sure none of the remaining ink was going to come off on any clothes.
Since acetone was mentioned… I highly recommend wearing rubber gloves, not nitrile, but latex, if acetone is used. Acetone goes through nitrile gloves easily. While acetone is not considered toxic, it can wash the oils out of the skin’s outer layers and leave it brittle and dry. So it is best to wear some acetone-resistant gloves while handling it.
Alcohol cleans up ink pretty fast. Wouldn’t worry about being flammable since it dries so quickly.
gouf, same can be said about any volatile solvents, that they “dry quickly.” But guess what? The matter does not disappear. When a solvent dries from a surface, it evaporates. Vapors, not liquid, is what presents danger here. A spark inside the dryer can trigger fiery vapor explosion a la mini vacuum bomb.
Please take safety seriously even when you think the probability of something bad happening is really low.
Where’s the spark coming from in a dryer that is off? The vapors go away quickly also. Just unplug the dryer, clean it and leave door open for a while. Good to go.
Your post was not clear that the dryer needs to be unplugged. I clarified that.
I wiped the inside of the dryer with a wet cloth after I used rubbing alcohol. Better safe than sorry.
Amodex is pretty good at getting ink out of clothes. I don’t know about the dryer, but you could try it in a spot.