Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer

By Geri from Jax Beach, FL

Archives: Tip: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer Archived on 11/12/2009 We have now joined the ranks of people with the dreaded problem of removing melted crayon from the clothes dryer. After my brief crying spell, we were able to devise a removal plan based on other people's suggestions on ThriftyFun. Here are the steps we used to remove the crayon: Run the dryer for 15 minutes to heat up the crayon. Sprinkle Comet on a wet sponge and gently rub the crayon spots. (Rubbing to hard will damage the enamel coating!) A toothbrush dipping into a comet and water paste worked well for the cracks and crevices. (It is important to clean the crevices so that crayon wax doesn't seep out when running future loads of laundry!) Once you have removed the crayon with the Comet use a damp rag to wipe out the Comet and crayon residue. If there is still crayon left after doing this, run the dryer again for 15 minutes and repeat the above cleaning process until all the wax has been removed...DO NOT run the dryer with any cleaner still inside! Finally, to "test" whether it is completely clean, run a few clean white rags through a drying cycle and inspect them for crayon marks! If there aren't any you loads of good clothes should be safe! I have included some before and after pictures of my dryer...to give you the hope and encouragement you might need to tackle your disaster! Good Luck! Laurel and Lewis from Port Orchard Feedback: RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer Please let me know where I can buy AWESOME. This is pretty urgent. Blue crayon everywhere, including on my sister's Anthropologie shirt!! Geez, big drag, but that's another post. Thanks. (11/11/2008) By sofunny RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer I used Crest baking soda and peroxide toothpaste (NOT GEL) I applied it to a damp rag and buffed away. It took out melted glitter crayon from a brand new dryer without a scratch. (11/17/2008) By Laundry Queen RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer Spray W-D40 on a Magic erase sponge and scrub. It actually works. (11/29/2008) By Meagan G RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer I'm a new member and I didn't have any Comet but found "Bar Keepers Friend" and with a little time to soak and scrubbing its working like a charm. Thank God for this site! (12/04/2008) By Audrey RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer After playing in the snow, my husband had the kids' peel off their coats, hats, mittens, snowpants etc. and then threw them in the dryer. What he didn't realize is that while the dryer door was open as he transferred the clothes that were in there to the bedroom, our 2 year old managed to sneak in a dozen, yes 12, crayons! Imagine my surprise the next day when I opened my psychedelic dryer and crayons fall out. I about died! I immediately ran to the computer and found this extremely helpful information! It worked like a charm! I didn't have Comet, but used Cascade instead. It took about 40 minutes to get it all out. My dryer was glistening. I joked that we could eat out of it! :) To get it out of the clothes took a little more, but I was amazed by the results. I washed the clothes twice on the heavy duty cycle in hot water using this recipe: 2 scoops of the ultra liquid Tide, 1 cup Borax powder, 1 cup Zout, 2 heaping scoops of OxyClean and 1 cup white vinegar. I was shocked that it all came out! (01/31/2009) By Robin F. RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer Thank goodness I found this site. My son had a black crayon in his pocket, but, of course, I didn't notice until I had already done three loads of laundry. Ugh. I ran the dryer for about fifteen minutes to warm it up and scrubbed it off with Comet in about five minutes. Of course, now I have to try to rescue three loads of clothes (including his winter coat, naturally). (02/16/2009) By Mikki Saving the Clothes I did it! I got the crayon out of all but one shirt. I used Tide, Borax, Oxy Clean, and white vinegar. I let the laundry sit overnight and then ran it through the washer. I did this twice. I am shocked that it came out of everything but the one shirt. (02/20/2009) By Mikki RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer I didn't read this site until after I tried to clean the dryer. I used Lysol disinfectant ALL Purpose Cleaner 4 in 1. Had a degreaser. Sprayed the dryer and used a white towel so I could see results if any. You'll need a mask; though I didn't I just held my breath, but no scrubbing required. Sprayed, and then wiped. Threw the towel in after wetting it down with water on the low setting first to see if it would work. Wiped again and turned the dryer on the high setting with the towel that was cleaning the dryer and. WOW, it worked. No scrubbing just wiped the groves in the back of the dryer drum real good. Tested it with my husbands white sweat shirt that was waiting to be dried. No problems. Now I'm trying to clean the clothes. Almost let them wash before letting them soak. By sahw RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer Rock n' Roll! Thanks guys! Just achieved sweet success and wanted to share a few tips: Use a headlamp. Really helps to see all those spots. For the crack, or where the drum meets the "back wall" or ventilator or whatever you call it, use a stiff plastic grout brush. Really gets it out of there Then for the same crack, use a plastic knife inside a t-shirt to wipe away the residue. Thanks again for the info! (05/27/2009) By Daveman Report Spam or Abuse Request: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer Archived on 11/06/2008 A whole bunch of crayons melted in my HE Dryer. I tried the soft scrubber Magic Eraser, and it's not working. Also, it melted on my son's jackets. My HE Dryer is just a week old and it looks like a rainbow swirl. If I'm not mistaken, around 8 colors were melted inside. Can anyone help me without using WD-40 or anything flammable? Thanks! Rhona from Round Lake Park, IL Answers: Answers: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer I have 4 kids of my own and 2 visiting! Even after checking all pockets (routine) 3 blue crayons made it into my brand new dryer! I read these postings and I found the way! Use generic Orange Clean, lightly mist the drum then use a Brillo pad. Provides enough grit but does not scratch. Use a warm wet cloth to wipe as you go, start from back to front. Then toss in a wet towel with a little bleach on it. Started with WD-40, then oops! Fumes and flammability issues were not worth it. By Dan from Summerville, SC RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer I used comet (the powdered kind) to clean out my dryer. I sprinkled the comet and wiped it with a sponge, then I took a wet rag and wiped it up. Then I put a couple of wet towels in and it worked great! Now I'm getting ready to try something for the crayon stained clothes. (06/30/2008) By Christi, mom of two RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer We discovered the crayon melted all over the dryer and a load of whites yesterday. We tried the baking soda with no luck, and then made a paste of water and Tide with Bleach powder laundry detergent. Presto! It's working like a charm and there is no concern about fumes, etc. It's even working with a soft rag so we don't scratch the drum. Best of luck! (07/17/2008) By Katherine from Texas RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer Thanks for all the helpful info. Water and comet did the trick and saved our dryer. (07/27/2008) By Rick In Tampa (08/21/2008) By Kezia_admin RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer Try heating just the crayon with a hair dryer and when it is pliable, scrape it out. (08/23/2008) By Terri RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer I read most of the advice and I cringed every time I came across something flammable. I was about to try old dutch cleanser because that was what I had, then I remembered a degreaser that was recommended by a friend previously to remove stains from carpet. Anyway I tried it and voila, it wiped right off. It's called Awesome and it's just that (awesome). I got it from the dollar store (Dollar General). I heated the dryer for a few minutes (I don't think I needed to), I sprayed a damp cloth with Awesome and wiped, then it came off, NO elbow grease needed. And it's non flammable. Thank you so much for this site. I had no idea what to do about my dryer covered in black and green crayon but thanks to the different ideas it gave me the right road to go down. (08/25/2008) By vonna RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer Well, I am now part of this club. I've actually been a part of this club for a while. About a month ago my daughter left a blue crayon in her pocket. It was only on her shorts though when I got the stuff out of the dryer. However, my husband is in the Navy and went to wash his whites and when his uniform came out of the dryer it had blue spots all over it! So I just put some dark colored dry towels in the dryer and ran it several times before I put anything else in there. The crayon melted and came out on the towels but since they are dark colored you couldn't tell. Now, I just got clothes out of the dryer and yet again another crayon. This time brown. I wanted to do something quick rather than running the dryer over and over and over. So I sprayed some Easy Off oven cleaner in there and let it sit for about 20 minutes. I went back with a dry rag and it wiped right off. Then I put a wet towel with bleach on it into the dryer so that it could clean off the walls. Now it is good as new! (09/18/2008) By Alisha RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer I couldn't believe it when I unloaded my year old HE dryer. A black crayon! It wasn't even wavy, it was just black/grey streaks everywhere. It almost looked like it had caught on fire. I am so grateful, toothpaste did the trick! The fumes are a little much when your heads in there but it's worth it. After about 25 minutes, most of it is gone. I just needed to take a little break and now I'm going back to it. Thanks so much. (10/03/2008) By Kim RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer I hate to admit that I actually tried the WD40, but I did and I want to make it clear to everyone never to try it. In hindsight, the risks were too great and it didn't work. Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser worked with a bit of elbow grease. (10/03/2008) By Martin RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer The dreaded blue crayon in the dryer. Crayola's web site says to use WD 40 but we have a gas dryer so that seemed a bit dangerous to me. I used Comet with bleach and in about 30 minutes, the blue streaks were gone. (10/19/2008) By Jennifer RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer A blue crayon melted in my 3 day old HE dryer. The Mr. Clean eraser didn't work, but the Comet with bleach did it. I used Comet with a little water and just wiped it in the drum; like a paste. I let it sit there for about 1 minute and wiped it off. NO elbow grease! The stain was gone. (10/25/2008) By Leontyne RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of a Dryer It's so nice to see I'm not the only one this has happened to. I just got my new dryer last week and one of my children left a crayon in there pocket. I had a whole load of clothes in there that I think are ruined. I'm trying to wash them now to see but it doesn't look like they can be saved. On top of that, the whole inside of my dryer has a blue tint to it now I'm working to get the crayon out. Thanks for the tips ladies. I'll have to try them. I tried clorox cleaner with bleach and that did not work. (11/03/2008) By Tamika Report Spam or Abuse Request: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Archived on 06/25/2008 How do I get the crayon marks out of my dryer drum? Kris from Sacramento, CA Answers: RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Wd40 works wonders. Unplug the dryer, and spray wd40 and wipe with a clean rag. (08/14/2007) By duckie43 RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Sure was glad to find this thread after my son had a POCKETFUL of crayons go through the dryer. After reading the advive here, I decided to try my Dawn Power Scrubber spray. Sprayed it on, left it alone for about ten minutes, and most of the crayon residue (which was smeared all over the walls of my dryer) just wiped off. It was really easy. The only downside was that the dryer seemed pretty "gooey" with the Dawn Power Scrubber, so I threw in a wet towel and ran the dryer for about 10 minutes so it could twist around and wipe it clean. My next load was also towels, which I'll rewash if they smell too much like the Dawn. Next step is to try Oxyclean on the clothes. Of course this would have to happen as I was just about the dry the last load before leaving on a trip tomorrow morning. Getting necessary stuff rewashed, plus the waiting load dried, is going to have me up into the wee hours. (08/31/2007) By In The Same Boat RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Makes you wonder what the toothpaste is doing to our insides, if it is on a par with acetone on the abrasive front. The acetone worked on my red & blue crayon fiesta (killed my hubby's best shirt though). My advice is to do the back of the dryer first. You won't want to put your head in once the sides are done because the fumes are too strong. (09/12/2007) By sarah RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I had a purple crayon go through my dryer. It was well distributed and I had no idea how to clean it. Thank God for this site! We found that toothpaste worked well. I used at least half a tube if not more. I found putting it on the scrubby pad first worked better than directly applying it to the dryer drum. I spent about half an hour to an hour scrubbing and applying toothpaste to the drum. If the crayon is a dark color and it is all over the drum it will take a few applications and a few scrubs but it did mainly come off. There are a couple patches on the collar and at the back that still have a slight pinkish color but I don't expect it to come off on any of my clothes since it didn't come off after multiple scrubbings. I'm still working on the clothes. (09/16/2007) By Heather Stanton RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I just found this site after opening my dryer to find red crayon! Not sure if it came from my daughter or son, but at this point what does it matter. I read through the posts and tried the one that suggested Comet - since that was what I had. It worked well. I went back and misted the inside of the dryer with water and wiped it all down. I'm still going to run a test load with rags and old towels before putting my clothes back in it. As for the clothes that were in the dryer with the crayon, I rewashed them right away with warm/cold water (I read once that hot water may cause the crayon to set it!) That seems to have worked for the most part. (09/28/2007) By white_98c1 RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Hi, Thank you for suggesting the Bar Keepers Friend. I just cleaned my dryer using this in only a few minutes. It took the black crayon out. I squirted the dryer and wiped it down. Blessings, Terry (10/07/2007) By Terry RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Two Words: Comet Cleanser -- (it worked great!) After using comet, I just wiped the inside of my dryer down with a few clorox wipes and my blue dryer is now shining white again. (11/21/2007) By MJ RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer OMG this just happened to me today. I have 2 grown children, NEVER did I have this problem, well I can't say that any more. I now have 4 grandchildren who love to put crayons in their pockets! I am trying comet right now. SO far so good but there is a lot of crayon! So far 15 minutes into it. I think this will work, but boy, oh, boy will I ever be checking pockets from now on!! This is hard. SO SO glad I found this site! Thanks a million everyone! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! (12/03/2007) By nina98168 RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Just found fuschia crayon all over white load and in the dryer. Of course I didn't have any Comet. Tried a Brillo pad, scrubbed lightly and no more crayon. Just to be on the safe side, I ran a load of reds through to clean up the remainder. As for the white load, hot water and bleach took care of the mess. To bad about my son's gray gym shirt though. (12/16/2007) By highjones6 RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Run the dryer on hot to melt wax a bit. Then use a warm rag and baking soda. It got all my orange crayon out of my dryer. (12/21/2007) By Kristi from NC RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer First I ran the dryer for 20 minutes on hot to warm up the dark orange crayon that completely covered the entire interior of my new HE5 dryer. Then, as suggested, I tried the toothpaste, then the Magic Eraser, but neither worked. However, the non-abrasive Comet with bleach (sold at Costco) worked wonders, with barely any elbow grease involved. There are some slight scratches on the surface of the drum, however, it's better than the orange crayon all over the clothing. (02/02/2008) By Dustie RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer LOL! I joined the crayon in the dryer club! I am off to the store to buy Oxiclean and bar keeper's friend. We'll see how those and running a few loads of rag towels through the dryer works. (02/05/2008) By cindy m RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I of my 4 daughters who LOVES to collect things had put a yellow and a red crayon in her coat pocket. When I took the coats out of the dryer...AWWWW, It was on everything. My husband had purchased Mean Green Super strength Cleaner Degreaser (spray)for another mess. I didn't want to scratch the dryer drum so I tried the Canola oil someone here had suggested with minimal success. Once I remembered the degresser and sprayed it on the inside of the dryer...WOW! 2 minute job, honest! Amazing stuff! (02/06/2008) By Deborah RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer The issue of getting crayon out of my dryer was a trial and error sort of thing. I'm guessing that because different crayon manufacturers use different ingredients in their crayons, only certain cleaners will work on certain crayon types. I tried baking soda, GooGone, Comet, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, Canola Oil, etc...neither of which worked. I decided to use the Wal-Mart brand version of Orange Clean (perhaps the actual Orange Clean works too, but I didn't try it). I sprayed it on, and the crayon just ran off, no elbow grease required. As a note, please be extremely careful using anything that may be flammable in your dryer, and make sure you monitor it very closely when running it for the first few times after cleaning it, just in case. Good luck! (02/07/2008) By Pamela Martin RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I just finished cleaning orange crayon out of my dryer with a dry paper towel. I didn't have a lot to clean up 'cause unfortunately most of it ended up on the clothes. I just put a dry paper towel over the end of my finger a rubbed/scraped it right off. Does anyone have advice on how to get crayon out of the clothes. (02/07/2008) By lisa RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer We used lacquer thinner and it just wiped the crayon right out in seconds. However you must let ALL the fumes from the thinner out or risk ignition of them in your dryer. this is done easily. just run your dryer with the door open ( hold the button ) ( or use a pen for older models ) for a few minutes and your good. febreeze a rag and run the dryer. Works the fastest yet. p.s. We have three kids. (02/22/2008) By jeff and rene RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I found orange crayon completely covering my dryer and all over a load of pink clothes. I started out with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (did not work at all) and then my mom suggested bleach so I did that with the scrubbing part of a dish sponge. It worked but the smell was horrible. Then I found this website and tried the degreaser. I happened to have BAM kitchen degreaser and it worked! Thank you! As for the pink clothes, I am washing them for the third time using a spray n wash for the crayon stain and I think it'll be completely out of the clothes this time (I have 2 girls and a boy). (03/07/2008) By Breaz How do you get crayon and ink out of clothes and off of walls??? I have a couple loads of clothes that have crayon all over them, and my two girls have decorated their bedroom walls with crayon and even some ink. What will take it out without damaging the walls and clothes? (03/11/2008) By Amanda RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer My entire large dryer drum was one pink stain from a bright red crayon. (Luckily there wasn't much of the actual crayon waxy stuff.) I tried Goo Gone but it didn't work. Then I tried some Melaleuca Sol-U-Mel 3 in 1 Cleaner a friend gave me - it wiped right off. Thank you, Roseanne! (04/05/2008) By Michelle B. RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I've become a fan of Mean Green. So far, everything I have tried it on has come out. I haven't had reason to use it on crayon, though. (04/05/2008) By ksflwrpetals RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Thank you, thank you so much for the tip on Bar Keepers Friend. I had tried six or seven other things and it was the only thing that worked. It took two nights of scrubbing but every bit of crayon came out. I made a paste of the powder and rubbed it on with a cloth in small sections and this rinsed it of with a clean one. (04/10/2008) By Monica RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Thanks for all of these ideas. I tried many without much success, so tried my original idea: steel wool very gently applied took out all of the crayon melted onto the dryer-- even let me get into the cracks and crevices. I then tried the wet towel idea, which got out the last few hiding chunks. thanks!! (04/17/2008) By Jen in Boston RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Mr. Clean Magic Eraser worked for me. My daughter left a black crayola crayon in her pocked, so I had black streaks throughout the dryer. I used the textured side of the Magic Eraser with a little Comet sprinkled on it. Then, I rinsed and wiped with the white side. All gone without using anything flammable. Hello! WD-40 and Goo Gone are flammable products and extremely dangerous in a gas dryer!! (04/24/2008) By Cara RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer For the clothes themselves, I JUST learned that Windex removed the crayon immediately and it did pretty well on the dryer itself but I resorted to a bit of Comet as suggested on this site. I'm starting to believe the father in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was right - Windex fixes/heals everything! :) (05/04/2008) By Carrie RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Where do I find "BAR KEEPERS FRIEND"? (b)Editor's Note:(/b) It is usually near the Comet or Ajax in the leaning section of the grocery store. (05/24/2008) By WENDY0156 RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I just opened the dryer to find the towels covered in black specks and the dryer drum gray thanks to a little black crayon! After trying lots of other things, the thing that worked for us was Scrubbing Bubbles and lots of elbow grease! (05/25/2008) By Angela RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Just cleaned my dryer with KABOOM bath and tile cleaner. Worked in seconds. I let the dryer run for 10 minutes to warm it up. don't know if I needed to but just sprayed and wow!!! It worked great! don't use on clothes!!! spray is a little yellow colored and didn't come out easily from my husbands white shirt and did nothing to remove the purple crayon. hope this helps. (05/25/2008) By tmsiler RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Hot dryer and mr clean sponge! (05/29/2008) By RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer This just happened to me for the first time. I read this post and opted for the Mr Clean Magic Eraser teamed up with Bon Ami ( or Bar Keepers Friend if you don't have it). Worked like a champ! I wet the Magic Eraser and made a nice wet area and then sprinkled the Bon Ami over that and mad e a paste and scrubbed it right off. Not more than 20 minutes and my dryer is like new! Whew! Now for my son's favorite skull shirt...... (06/15/2008) By Stephanie Report Spam or Abuse Request: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Archived on 08/11/2007 I dried an orange crayon in the dryer and ruined some clothes. any ideas on how to get the stains out? Hannah from Burlington, WV Answers: RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Soak clothes in washing machine with 3-4 scoops of oxyclean powder for about 1-2 hours. Then wash as usual and repeat if necessary. It took we two times soaking and washing the clothes and every single red crayon mark came out. Good luck! (06/26/2007) By Jen RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Thank you to the person who recommended Canola Oil. It thinned out the crayon really quickly and made it easy to wipe it off. I followed up with Oxyclean foam, which took the red stains out. The whole process only took 15-20 minutes. What a relief! (07/09/2007) By R Wantz RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer My 2 year old had a blue crayon in his pocket... which left crayon streaked all over the inside of my dryer... Heat the dryer for a few minutes, spray the dryer with WD-40 and scrub with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.... Then just wipe with a damp cloth... It works great. (07/31/2007) By Lindsey S Report Spam or Abuse Request: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Archived on 05/13/2007 I opened the dryer to find an entire load was washed with guess what, crayons in a pocket! So far, I have not had any luck getting the crayons off the clothes or the dryer drum. Lots of things work to get the blue and yellow off the dryer drum, but not the red. I've tried WD-40, toothpaste, a citrus solvent, Soft Scrub, a degreaser and nothing works. On the clothes, I've rewashed the clothes twice with detergent and Oxy-Clean in hot water and now I'm trying it again with baking soda and vinegar. Can anyone help? Marla from Rocklin, CA Answers: RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer For cleaning black crayon marks that covered the entire inside of our dryer we found the combination of Colgate toothpaste (white paste type) AND Oxy spray cleaner for bathrooms (yes we stumbled on the combo) finally worked. We rubbed the toothpaste all over the inside, waited about 10 minutes, then sprayed the Oxy cleaner on top of that. We waited about another 30 minutes, With lots of rubbing the marks finally started to come out. We wiped the whole dryer clean with cool water. It took a long time and lots of elbow grease but it worked! (08/05/2006) By Pat RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I don't understand how I've gotten this far without having this problem before (5 kids, all teens). Anyway, ceramic/glass cooktop cleaner works like a charm on the dryer. Same idea as the slightly abrasive toothpaste. (08/15/2006) By Zack RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer This weekend I opened up my brand new dryer and found it covered with green crayon. I thought I would have to get a new one. The repair man cleaned the blades for free. I went to the Internet and found one website that suggest WD-40. It did not work. Then I found this site. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser work wonders. Thank you. (08/25/2006) By Danna RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I tried 100% acetone for cleaning crayon out of dryer. WORKS better than WD-40 and Mr Clean magic eraser. Just make sure you are in a well ventalated area, the smell is awful. (09/02/2006) By fun1973 RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I'll toss in my two cents. Running the dryer a little to warm the crayon seemed to help a bit. The Colgate worked great once I switched from a toothbrush to a scrubby sponge. It still required a lot of elbow grease, though. (09/11/2006) By NoJoy RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer You shouldn't use GooGone or Gasoline or anything flammable! The dryer itself has a warning to NEVER dry anything with anything flammable as an explosion might occur. GooGone has a warning to never use near heat. (10/19/2006) By Monica RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I used Colgate Luminous toothpaste and it took the black crayon residue right off that the magic eraser couldnt get off. Dryer is just like it didnt happen. I washed the pants that had the black crayon on it in HOT water and it took 100% of the crayon out of the jeans and maybe 50% of it out of my favorite work out pants but its ok they are only my gym pants right. I am just so happy it didnt happen to the light, white, or bright loads. Good luck everyone toothpaste who knew! (10/23/2006) By Shannon Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I just learned that my 18 mo old daughter puts crayons in the legs of her pjs. I had a purple dryer! I used Comet, hot water, and a scrubber sponge. I was afraid I'd end up scrubing for hours. But everything came off in about 10 minutes with very little effort! It looks like new! Hope it works as well for you! (11/04/2006) By Beth RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer My daughter asked me to 'throw her shirt' into the dryer, she works part time at a restaurant, and I didn't notice the blue crayon in her pocket. Needless to say... big mess in the dryer. Tried the toothpaste with a teflon scubber, and it worked great. (11/25/2006) By Dennis RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer When my daughter left a blue crayon in her pocket, I spoke to someone who told me to use WD-40 before washing the clothes a second time. Spray the WD-40 on the clothes and work it in with a little detergent using a toothbrush. Then you may have to wash the clothes a couple of times to get the WD-40 out. (11/25/2006) By Mel RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I could not believe that I googled "clean crayon out of dryer" and this page came up as the first hit. I thought I was done (clothes and dryer). I read through the posts and tried what I had. Magic Eraser and Toothpaste had NO impact at all. Thanks to the person who said ceramic cooktop clenser. I had Bar Keeper's Friend clenser. It worked perfectly!! Thanks. (11/29/2006) By Tracey RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer As a career Firefighter, I certainly hope none of you have truly put WD-40, Goo Gone, or Goof Off in your dryers. If I were a dryer salesman, then yeah go ahead. Anyway, I used Ace Hardware Floor Stripper on my crayon incident (green, and by the way, and it was in MY pocket) wiped of in less than 5 minutes...And I DID try WD-40, Goo Gone, Goof Off, toothpaste, stove strubber stuff, eraser pads. Yeah I know, do as I say, not as I do, why do you think FFs get burned at home! (12/28/2006) By Tim RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I tried the magic eraser first, did not work. switched to white ultra brite toothpaste from the dollar store and it worked great! I followed up with some oxiclean to clean off the toothpaste. (01/27/2007) By trisha RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Everyone please don't use any chemicals that are flammable or explosive in a dryer. Even if you wash the drum out, there could still be residue. I don't want anyone getting hurt or dying because of a crayon. I did use the toothpaste on a sponge and IT WORKS! The mint fumes did burn my eyes a little though. (02/11/2007) By paulkellar RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer This just happened to me i'm still trying to get it out of the clothes, my dryer was orange, I found the Mr. Clean magic eraser worked wonders on the dryer too bad it didn't work on the clothes, just follow the directions on the box and wipe it out you really don't even have to apply pressure (02/22/2007) By Kris RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer On the dryer we used canola oil on the crayon smears to thin them out and then cleaned it all off with Fantastik original spray cleaner. It's cleaner now than before. (02/28/2007) By Anne RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I open up my brand new "white" dryer to find purple crayon on all my light colored clothes & all over the inside of my dryer. I used Bar Keepers Friend on it with a damp cloth and it came out the dyer insantly. I hope that I can it comes out of the clothes now. "I am so glad that I am not the only one this has ever happened to." (03/10/2007) By Tara RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer My 6 yr. old son left a red crayon in his pants and they were dried. My dryer was dark red. I tried everything listed and the magic eraser worked pretty good, but Momet with bleach worked the greatest along with some scrubbing. My dryer is now red crayon FREE! (04/10/2007) By Stephanie RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Misery loves company and we just joined the party today. We were able to catch the culprit because 1/2 the crayon was still in the pocket. Thanks for all the advice this is what we did: Simple Green (undiluted) with the Mr Clean eraser took the black crayon right out of our white dryer with very little elbow grease. Note our drum has a textured surface. The door with the smooth finish was very easy to clean. We also ran a load of work cloths through before any good went back in. And my white work shirts will be hung dry for a long time. For the cloths we used Simple Green (undiluted) with a toothbrush to scrub it out. And while tedious we put on a movie and brushed the rest of the day away - Hoodwinked is a very funny movie if you have not seen it. (04/15/2007) By Tom RE: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer I just used Barkeepers Friend and a scrubby sponge. It was pretty quick and easy. I wiped it clean with a wet towel and put a test white tee shirt through the dryer. (05/06/2007) By TB Report Spam or Abuse Request: Cleaning Crayon Out of Dryer Archived on 06/01/2004 What do you do for the dryer itself which has the crayon melted inside somewhere, ready to destroy another load of laundry? Ben Answers: -- 06/01/2004 leave dryer to cool down, place ice cube or bag of frozen peas over crayon leave it to harden again then scrape off or run machine a few times with an old cloth in it till all the crayon marks stop appearing. By carol (Guest Post) -- 06/02/2004 Use an old rag sprayed with WD 40 and wipe it off. By Mnchyld95 -- 06/03/2004 I had this happen years ago - on my best washable work clothes - devastating! I tried many many things to no avail. Then I happened to try turpentine - cheap, worked like a charm in dryer AND on the clothes! Just carefully clean it out of everything when you are done. It was a lifesaver for me. Try it and let us know. By Carolyn (Guest Post) -- 02/08/2005 I too washed a load of my sons clothes and threw them in the dryer not knowing there was black and red crayons in one of his pockets. I had both colours dried on all his clothes and my new dryer was now a nice black and red swear colour. I used oxyclean and soaked them all in hot water for several hours (did it twice) and 95% of the mess came out of the clothes. Pretty good considering I was going to toss them all. As for the dryer, I used some oxyclean and hot water and the eraser and the majority of it came out. Lesson learned: check all pockets next time! Mckenzie By Thrifty_Fun -- 02/12/2005 Tried the Wd-40, running the dryer with a cloth, and oxiclean. Too much work! I then used toothpaste (plain Colgate) on an old rag and I was done in 5 minutes! Wish I had known of that first. Would have saved a lot of frustration! By laura (Guest Post) -- 04/13/2005 I tried all suggestions except for the turpintine. I found applying Carbona Stain Devils Ink and Crayon remover applied directly on a dry rag worked the best. Then wipe inside of dryer clean with a wet rag before using. The Colgate toothpaste also worked but not as well. By Mrs. Clean -- 05/22/2005 I'm just happy to see that I'm not the only one that this has happened to. For me, the color was blue and now the inside of my brand new dryer, less than 4 months old is now a very pretty shade of light blue. It's not in one little spot where ice can freeze it and it be scraped, that would be sooo nice. Nope not mine, it's (b)EVERYWHERE(/b). By Sandra N. (Guest Post) -- 06/20/2005 Plain white colgate is the shiznit! Way easier than WD40. Wipes up easy and leaves your clothes smelling minty fresh! By samajm (Guest Post) -- 07/05/2005 White toothpaste is awesome! Hidden in my load of wash was a bright blue crayon that colored not only the clothes but changed the dryer drum on my new dryer to a not so flattering shade of blue with little chucks everywhere. First I warmed up the dryer to soften the crayon and used a stiff nail brush (tooth brushes are too soft), a cup of very hot water and scrubbed with the toothpaste and wiped with a hot damp rag. Mopped up every bit of surface with a clean hot rag to remove all the tooth paste residue (cause it can become sticky!) and I sacrificed a cheap white kitchen towel (damp) for a few test runs incase I missed any spots! The holes to the lint trap is hard to clean and may have some tid bits of crayon. Once again my dryer looks white and new thanks to the tooth paste and doesn't sound quite as dangerous as some of the (b)flammable(/b) suggestions made.(b)(/b)(b)(/b)(b)(/b) By Michelle (Guest Post) -- 10/23/2005 Simple and easy: Preheat the Dryer for 5 mn. Spray WD-40 deliberately, Scrub with Mr Clean "Magic erasers" (YOu should never be without. The crayon will dissapear like Magic! By David (Guest Post) -- 01/11/2006 This very thing happened to me today. My first thought was to check online. Then I remembered what has saved me from crayon in the past... Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It came right off, a bit of scrubbing with the thicker bits. Took about 3 minutes to remove the crayon damage. These things are worth keeping around if you have little ones. They get pen, pencil & crayon off of walls too. :) By mrscmw5 -- 02/18/2006 My brilliant husband used a 3M scrubbing pad and scrubbed vigorously for 10 minutes and removed all purple crayon (thanks to my creative 4 year old son) as well as blue stain from laundry detergent. He washed with hot soapy water, dryed with old towels and saved us $400 (cost of new dryer). All done without using harsh, toxic chemicals. By Hallie S (Guest Post) -- 03/03/2006 We tried the other suggestions: WD-40, Goo gone, colgate toothpaste and the Magic Eraser. However, none were as effective or as fast as Bon Ami household cleaner. Just sprinkle a bit onto the drum and rub with a wet rag. Then vacuum out the crumbs and rinse with a clean wet rag. By M & M (Guest Post) -- 03/13/2006 I had this happen a few years ago, and now it has happened again. At least, I think it's crayon, but I can't really be sure as I can't find any piece of it. Now my dryer is streaked. Last time, my husband used gasoline, which I wasn't crazy about. Since he's not home, I definitely won't be trying that. I'll have to try the Colgate. Also, to get it out of the clothes last time, I used baking soda. I have to try it again since now I have a load that included my favorite jeans with black spots all over them. That worked on probably 90-95% of the clothes. Certain fabrics just won't release the crayon. By Christine (Guest Post) Report Spam or Abuse