AndyRoo Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 Hello The other day I decided to dye our sofa covers to give them a new lease of life, and I used the Dylon 'pods' to do it. The new sofa looks great - but I am having terrible problems cleaning the machines afterward! I have run 2 lots of bleach through it, along with detergent and fairy liquid as well as wiping it all down, but I've put a jacket through it and it's come out with tiny blue splatters all over it (from the original dye!). How on Earth do I get the washing machine clean enough again that I can actually put normal washing through without ruining it!?!? Any ideas? I don't want to have to buy a new machine!! Help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Gosh I regularly redye navy jeans and run it through once and have never had any problem. Not sure what to suggest. Can you do a dark load and see what happens. Is it navy? I use the dylon boxes of powder which has the salt in it. Maybe the pod dud not dissolve? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickencam Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Salt seems to be a big thing with those dyes. Perhaps run a wash with salt in. I have used them a couple of times to dye black jeans, back to black without any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 I've never had a problem with using Dylon - sorry Andy, not much help to you to hear that, but I wonder if there's something in your machine that isn't draining fully? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 Basically what happened is that I dyed the covers for the sofas etc., and then gave everything a wash out as per the instructions on the Dylon packet. I then put in a (favourite, RIP!) pair of jeans in to the wash to dye them back to their original grey colour. I took them out and the grey had taken really well, but there was all this blue spotting all over it!! I couldn't understand why the machine hadn't cleaned itself properly!! I had a jacket I wanted to re-dye to restore the green colour as it had faded a bit over the years, but I was a little gun shy, so I did the following: I cleaned all the rubber sealing rings with a cloth (which were in fairness a little blue!)I ran the machine through empty at 95 degrees with a half cup of bleach and 3-4 tablespoons of baking sodaI then ran the machine through again at 95 degrees with some fairy liquid and detergent on an extended cycle with a rinse at the end The machine looked spotless, so I then dyed the jacket with the green dye - again, the green dye took, but the damn thing was covered with these little blue spots all over it!! I can rescue the jeans by dyeing them black (although I am reluctant to do so!), but I fear the jacket is a lost cause unless I can somehow get the blue out!! I've now repeated all the steps I mention above and, again, it seems spotless but I'm a bit scared of putting any clothes in just in case those get blue spots all over them too! I'm so mad I could scream! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Mary Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Andy, I suspect you may have limescale in your machine which is holding onto the dye. So my suggestion is boil wash with 250g citric acid and then empty and clean the filter - your washing machine instructions will tell you where to find it and how to do it. FYI - I get my citric acid from Amazon as chemists don't like to sell it as it is used to "cut drugs" - I am nearly 60, overweight and ...well matronly ... just your picture book drug dealer I always get food grade as I use 50g to descale my kettle too. Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Any acid will do, no need for getting expensive citric acid. Vinegar, cooking or for cleaning will do too. The cleaning kind ( not sure how you call it in UK) is stronger (about twice as strong as the cooking kind) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 Andy, I suspect you may have limescale in your machine which is holding onto the dye. So my suggestion is boil wash with 250g citric acid and then empty and clean the filter - your washing machine instructions will tell you where to find it and how to do it. FYI - I get my citric acid from Amazon as chemists don't like to sell it as it is used to "cut drugs" - I am nearly 60, overweight and ...well matronly ... just your picture book drug dealer I always get food grade as I use 50g to descale my kettle too. Mary I thought that to begin with, but I de-scale the thing once every 6 months or so, and we also have a water softener so it's never too bad in the first place! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 Any acid will do, no need for getting expensive citric acid. Vinegar, cooking or for cleaning will do too. The cleaning kind ( not sure how you call it in UK) is stronger (about twice as strong as the cooking kind) I did think about Vinegar, but I was very cautious about using it right after the bleach... Just for anyone that doesn't know: don't mix bleach and vinegar together because it creates chlorine gas which can kill you! I've now successfully done a clean wash, but in order to do so I did another 2 bleach rinses and another 2 detergent rinses and used some of those colour-absorbent sheets! Oh well, I will just have to remember to run the machine through a hefty number of times next time. I think I can save the jeans by dying them along with the rest of the cushions, but the jacket it lost. I suppose I can dye them black, but *sigh* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackrocksrock Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 You can get a dylon dye remover - maybe worth it with the jacket - anything is worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 You can get a dylon dye remover - maybe worth it with the jacket - anything is worth a try. Yeah, I saw that. I think I'm going to try some of this pre-dye stuff they sell to lighten it all - maybe I can get it to re-dye that way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 If all else fails, just fly with it and make the blue spots a new fashion thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyRoo Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 If all else fails, just fly with it and make the blue spots a new fashion thing! Haha! If it was in any kind of fashionable pattern, I might try it. Unfortunately it looks like my 4 year old nephew got some food colouring and randomly flicked it all over me! I was working my way through the rest of the sofa covers this evening so I threw them in with those and dyed them a navy blue instead. Because of the grey I already used they're now a kind of dark grey-blue which look quite nice, so I'll live with them! I just have to remember to run the machine through over and over again before washing anything else. I'm still quite upset about the jacket because, although I had had it years and it was looking 'distressed', to say the least, I do love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Andy, I suspect you may have limescale in your machine which is holding onto the dye. So my suggestion is boil wash with 250g citric acid and then empty and clean the filter - your washing machine instructions will tell you where to find it and how to do it. FYI - I get my citric acid from Amazon as chemists don't like to sell it as it is used to "cut drugs" - I am nearly 60, overweight and ...well matronly ... just your picture book drug dealer I always get food grade as I use 50g to descale my kettle too. Mary I just use white distilled vinegar - sold by the 5 litres for pickling. I always use some in my wash as I live in a hard water area, plus it really helps to get the wash sparkling and fresh. Also excellent for cleaning the limescale around taps. I only use filtered water in the kettle, so have no problems with that. I would be inclined to ring Dylon's customer service as I haven't ever had that problem before either, and wonder if there's a batch problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
