How do you get dried plastic off the sole plate? I accidentally hit a baggie that was laying on my table with my hot iron and now it's hard

get the iron hot. Take a piece of fabric and a dryer sheet. Put the dryer sheet between two layers of fabric. Place this at the edge of your ironing board. With the iron hot, run the sole place over the "fabric/dryer sheet set" several times. This will remove wonder under and many other adhesives from your iron.

Buy a new iron.

Frequently it's recommended to rub the sole-plate with beeswax.

there is an iron sole plate cleaner on the market
the stain is electrolysis from using other that de-ionized or distilled water

Self-Cleaning and Maintaining Sole Plate

Use the self-cleaning feature once a month by moving the steam lever back and forth from the "dry" setting several times. This will remove any residue from the steam valve and ensure that the steam system works properly.

Wipe the sole plate with a soft, damp cloth while the iron is cool and unplugged.

Run the iron over a cotton cloth several times to remove any residue from the sole plate.

Cleaning Anti-Calcium Feature

Fill the water cup that came with your iron. Use enough water to reach the Sunbeam logo in the top corner of the cup.

Add a teaspoon of salt to the cup and stir.

Empty the salt solution into the water reservoir in your iron.

Allow the iron to stand for 15 minutes, then empty out the water reservoir.Repeat this cycle with a second cupful of salt water.

Rinse out the reservoir with clean water. You should perform this cleaning once a month.

totally open your iron, your iron element or thermostat is dirty with dirsty paticles, clean with thinner & fix it

If you have hard water, there will be a buildup of minerals where the rubber gasket on the water tank meets the steam chamber that is built into the sole plate. This will make the rubber gasket surface become hard and no longer seak to the team chamber, resulting in water leaking from the tank onto the outside of the iron.

If you are reasonably skilled with tools and have a Torx T20 driver, you can disassemble the iron and remove the rubber gasket between the tank and the steam chamber and soak it in vinegar to remove the mineral scale. First remove the three Torx screws visible at the rear of the iron and gently pry off the gray rear cover plate. This will expose two screws holding the rear end of the sole plate. Remove those two screws. Then gently pry off the stainless steel nose piece on the front of the iron; this is the curved piece that says "high precision" on it. This will then expose the screw that holds the front of the sole plate on the handle. Remove thqt screw. Pull the black connector at the rear of the iron off the two rods to which it is attached, and you can move the sole plate away from the handle. The rubber piece in the handle that is sort of oval shaped and about 2 inches long is the gasket that is probably causing the leak. Gently remove it and soak it in vinegar to remove the scale, and remove the scle from the round hole where it meets the steam chamber in the sole plate. .When they are clean, reassemble the gasket onto the handle and the sole plate onto the handle, connecting the electrical connections, and replace the screws, It is not simple, but it is doable.

Rowenta has a cleaning kit found where the irons are displayed.

Faultless Hot Iron Cleaner can be found in the laundry area.

Dritz Iron-Off is with sewing notions.

You can also use a damp cloth dipped in baking soda, but the above listed cleaners will work faster and better.

This IS a steam iron? The iron must be hot for the steam to form. If it's not hot enough, the water is leaking thru the steam holes. Also if the channels are calsified (boiler stone has formed into the steam channels) this may happen.

Hi, two problems:

DIA' s problem - the brown water is due to poor water quality and debris in the boiler and iron sytem. Rowenta is clear that they do not want anyone to cleaning solutions - only clear filtered drinking water to rinse out the boiler (via the water inlet screw hole) and I have found running the system dry, letting it cool, rinsing and draining the boiler several times before putting unit away works fine.

Guest' problem with brown/black tar substance is likely caused by too hot and iron setting (steam setting may also be too high) for ironing man-made synthetics (like Nylon, Rayon, Polyester or blends are basically petroleum based fabrics) that breakdown or melt, leaving deposits on the iron's stainless steel soleplate. A secondary cause could be bad water or debris in the boiler/iron in which the solution for DIA's problem might provide relief. Cleaning the soleplate is tricky, I use nothing stronger than an old fashioned wooden orange stick to gently scrap of all traces of the "stuff" and dry "Dutch" cleanser w/ a terry cloth or old cotton sock to polish without scratching the soft stainless soleplate...