Smelly clothes forever?

[Casperroonie]

So, I put lavender oil in the water dispenser bit of my iron. My clothes smelt wonderful for that one iron session. Then I left it, when I went to use it again, the vapour stank to high heaven of that wee-like dampish clothes smell and now I can't get rid of it after several refills and squeezes of the vapour bit. Help!

Has anyone ever done this, apart from me, and has managed to fix it, or am I and my family doomed to stink forever? It seemed a really good idea at the time!!!

New iron?

New iron yes

Have you tried filling it with scented ironing water

Why do freshly washed clothes need it anyway? Mine smell lovely ironed after fabric softener in the wash.

Try lemon juice or vinegar they may cleanse the lavender oil away.

Stop ironing, pointless waste of time 😉

New iron seems a bit extreme

I’d contact the manufacturer (of the lavender thing, not the iron) and ask them what the hell to do about it

I’m guessing there’s something you can wash it out with, like a bleach solution.. obviously you then need to wash out the bleach

Summer in an office, needs cotton, which needs ironing, sadly

Clothes given a good shake before hanging to dry helps reduce creases, and if there's something still a bit creased, it goes into the dryer for ten minutes on the relax creases cycle.

I can't remember the last time I ironed, and I wear a fair bit of linen.

Hate to break it to you, but many folk don't even own driers, let alone one with a 'relax creases' cycle. 🫣

Thank you!!! Will give it a go.

No but will do!

They'll probably say what in earth did you put it into an appliance for?

If you put actual lavender essential oil in I can imaging their is gummy residue all over the area that gets hot in the water tank now. You could try the vinegar and lemon solution as a previous poster suggests but I think it will be hard to remove. The gums and resins in the oil will now be burning and scenting the water as opposed to the actual fragrance compounds the oil.

Probably not the best idea to use an actual oil for this application, there are fragranced waters and you might be able to get a natural fragrance one if that is what you would like but avoid an actually oil. You could try a spray with the oil but that could also mark your clothing.

The iron may need to be replaced if you can't bare the smell!

Oh no 😢 it does seem like smelly clothes forever then!!!! What a knob (me)!!!!

I’d use an anti limescale iron cleaner like Oust. If it’s made for that job it shouldn’t damage your iron and it should be quite acidic to dissolve limescale.

I wouldnt be faffing about putting other things in the dispenser and then trying to rinse it out, it will ruin any clothes for a start if you dont quite manage it, it will be next to impossible to undo the damage. Chuck it, get a new iron and dont do it again.

Now purchased. Will see how it goes.

Add warm water, bicarb and vinegar. Pour in. This gets rid of all smells known to man.

Oh, bad luck! I used to add a bit of tea tree oil to my iron years ago, with no obvious ill effect - but I learned it’s not a good idea, so stopped. Hope one of the proffered solutions works.

Extraordinary that people would think their strictures on ironing are of any interest at all to someone who does iron!

Piss-smelling clothes forever, or £50 for a new iron?

Not sure how I'd ever decide between the two TBH 🤔

Indeed!!!!!