Water tank has turned green on steam generator iron

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My Phillips steam generator iron's water tank has turned green! A mossy kind of substance mainly down the bottom of the clear plastic tank. I cannot get the lid off to try and clean it, it's stuck down. Has anyone had this problem? I used deionised water as I live in London and regularly clean the iron sole plate and bottom water tank that has a self cleaning plug. I guess I would use vinegar, but I am not really too sure. Any ideas??? It is pretty gross!

If it is algae, it will be caused by storing the moist tank in light, especially sunlight, and especially if it is warm. Bleach wil usually kill these things, and once dead they will wash away easier. you will have to rinse it out very thoroughly to get rid of the bleach and cleaner.

If you email the makers, they may have better suggestions.

Thanks pigletjohn. Yes, the iron does sit in sunlight. Not direct sunlight, but the room is still light. The resevoir minimum level is about one fifth of the container, so it always has water in it iyswim. I will contact the manufacturer just to be sure. Algae, it sounds quite awful!

We have the same iron, what you need to do really is not leave water in it, but we do also, what we have done is to carefully take out the water chute, then you need to get a Stanley knife and cut along the top of the soft plastic grill, then down each side.
You will now be able to put a toothbrush ( clean ) into the tank, just fill up with Luke warm water and gently brush away the algae, when done thoroughly rinse tank, replace the water chute and away you go.

I know this is an old thread but I've just had exactly the same thing happen to me - I filled the tank with about 2cm bleach and swished it around then topped up with hot (but not boiling) water. 10 mins later and all the algae is off and the tank is back to normal!

Will be emptying it and storing in the dark in the future though!

Thanks. Me too, same iron. I was just checking if there was a thread before starting one

Would a baby bottle brush fit in the hole , scrub in hot soapy water with a bottle brush

I don't fancy taking a Stanley knife to my iron. I think I'll try the bleach first. Bwark bwark

fill the bottle up with warm water and then use something similar to these stainless steel cleaning brushes to get inside and clean the algae out.

Different Problem! My Bosch iron(Ironing Station) now froquently makes a hissing noise and water runs out of the sole plate soaking the board. Also sometimes, after the green light comes on, brown stains are caused by the steam. Any hepl???

For the tank on my coffee machine, I use Milton tablets and then rinse thoroughly.