CrayonS in the dryer. A very loud vent.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!

I swear I should put the dryer drum on Ebay as an art deco piece. If I hadn't been so mad when I opened the dryer at lunch I probably would have been awed by it's splendor.

It was an ENTIRE load of Labor Day vacation clothes. IOW, most of our nice stuff that gets public display.

I can't even be mad at the kiddo since I knew I should have taken the two extra seconds to check his pockets. ARGH!!! I KNOW better.
Musta been a whole handful of those silly things in his pocket!!!! Not even the nice crayola kind that I might have a chance of getting out...those cheap restaurant crayons that are probably made with highly permanent, never-get-out-of-anything dye.

I've read all over that WD40 will work? I swear I'll buy a whole case of the stuff if anyone will attest to it working!

And the clothes? Will shout really work with TONS of hot water?!? ...especially now that they've sat all afternoon after being dried on high?!?!

I swear, if this was the 80's my new pair of capris would be highly fashionable now!!!

[mommy2maya]

I'm so so sorry! I've been there. Of course mine was all of dh's work clothes. I tried the wd40 and it took out the crayon and left grease stains.

[zebra15]

Sorry, but after the day I've had I really needed your post, it makes my day seem not so bad... I'm really sorry. I've been there, fortuantely I was renting and the apt was able to bring me a new dryer the same day. The maintenance guy just rolled his eyes when I asked him if the machine could be repaired. (I took that as a very loud yet silent NO). Lucky for me I/DS only ruined play clothes. I never had luck getting the color or wax stains out of the clothes but I didnt try that hard since they were play clothes.

Back to the dryer, can you tell if the wax melted and dripped into the holes in drum area? If the wax is in there, the machine is a goner

I'm also starting to get flashbacks of when candle wax gets places it shouldn't around here.

I'm sending you a virtual hug...

FYI- I dont think you can use WD-40 inside the dryer.

[zebra15]

http://homeschoolblogger.com/mommaofmany/377024/

try this

[HappilyEvrAfter]

Inside a pocket had been lurking two crayons, a red and a blue. Now they were smeared all over the inside of my dryer and all the clothes. This was a load of mixed colorfuls, kacki and light colored pants, white shirts, washrags, dresses, bathtowels…

From that linky...

ROFLMAO. It's not even funny, but I laughed my hiney off at this.

Ok, I seem to have redeemed some parts of this fiasco.
First, I ran the clothes through three loads of HOT water and Shout. The first two didn't get anything out and I figured one more try couldn't hurt and VOILA! 95% of the crayone was gone. I added some white vinegar to the last load so I don't know if that's what helped or if it was just because they'd been Shouted to death.
Luckily, I'll only have to replace one or two items, but can really just use those items as "house" clothes.

Second, the dryer. I tried all the concoctions and nothing worked. I went to get the hair dryer and then thought, "All this is gonna do is heat up the crayon. Duh. The dryer heats itself up."
I set the dryer on HIGH HEAT and let it run for a min with a damp cloth. When it was hot enough I just dove in and wiped up the crayon that was melted. About 8 cycles of this all the visible crayon was gone.

But, well, I don't have any idea if any of it got throgh the vent!
Am I running a risk of fire if I keep using it since it's running normally??!?!
Now I'm worried.

Thanks for the hugs. It was a rough day all around. Lol. This actually the high point of my day. Lol.

[mommy2maya]

Is there wax on the lint trap? I would probably run it a bit to make sure it isn't going to smear crayon on anything else.

I'm surprised that repair men have said crayon is death to a dryer. Dryers are VERY simple appliances. They are really easy to take apart and shouldn't be too hard to clean the innards of.

[mum4vr]

wd40

I know you're already thru it, but just for the record:

To remove crayon or anything greasy (in our case old nasty MOTOR OIL from an heirloom baby blanket that X put on the ground to change oil!)...

first wash normally with a squirt of dish soap on it and air/ hang dry (there is still hope even if machine dried tho after a few cycles of this process)

second spray w WD40 and work into stains very well (this emulsifies the waxy/ greasy stains)

then use a WATERLESS HAND CLEANER to work into the WD40ed area-- including out past edges of the "ring" it makes around stain (this takes out the greasy/ waxy stain and the WD40)

Finally wash normally and hang/ air dry.

Repeat if necessary.

HTH

[Zoesmama]

GooGone and Oxyclean baby. It works. I had that happen several years ago. Googone will wash off the drum as well as get the stains out of most fabrics.

[HappilyEvrAfter]

Stuff that's always good to know!!