How do you wash your LEGO... Seriously?

[Jim]

You might want to check this topic as well:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=53806

[naf]

I don't think a washing machine is necessary, you take a risk at damaging or losing your Lego pieces. A soak in a mild detergent is all you need to clean them up.

[Hrw-Amen]

I put dirty and damaged bricks into the replicator and press the waste button. When I need new ones I say 'Replicator 10 blue 2X8 bricks.' and so on and they magically appear fresh and new in the same place the dirty one vanished from. If only it were that simple!

I have found the warm soapy water and small nylon brush to be the best, it is very time consuming and tedious but it gets the results. Then just rinse them and lay out on dry cloth / paper towel / sheet depending on how many there are. Hopefully though fingers crossed I don't have to do it that many times.

[eurotrash]

I don't think a washing machine is necessary, you take a risk at damaging or losing your Lego pieces. A soak in a mild detergent is all you need to clean them up.

Trust me - if these pieces come from a multiple smoking cat house you want the washing machine. Soaking wasn't enough to remove the odour and I had no damage from the washing machine. But do set it to gentle wash.

[paul_delahaye]

I have a small ultrasonic bath, which I use for most of the small technic pieces, although the results are very hit or miss.

A good scrubbing brush and water, cleaning brick by brick is the only real option without damaging the bricks, it also allows you to rebuild the set afterwards.

[AmperZand]

Perhaps unusually, I wash new parts (I don't buy used) but only when they're BAM parts from the Lego store or have an odour from BrinkLink/EBay.

For those who think that cleaning BAM parts is neurotic, I have found bits of cookies and sweet wrappers among the LEGO parts. Yuck!

I wash parts in a small plastic tub using washing up liquid and warm water. I rinse the parts by running them under a tap then dry them by shaking off any excess water, patting them with tissues (the kind without added oils) and then air drying them shielded from sunlight.

Amps

[Ralf]

I put the dirty parts in a pillow case with zipper and then in the washing machine.

I use the wool program 30 degrease with soap.

After that i put the pillow case with the legos in the dryer, but not to hot!

Then the parts are like new condition.

Edited November 9, 2013 by Ralf

[Phoxtane]

Water seems to help.

[Off the wall]

Deleted.....replied to wrong topic....sorry.

Edited November 13, 2013 by Off the wall

[Andy D]

Sorry to drag an old thread out of the dusty places... But I find myself in possession of a "gift" of 10 to 15 pounds of used LEGO. I really want to clean an sanatize it before I integrate it into my inventory. Someone mentioned using peroxide and Oxy as a soak (after a soak in water and dishwshing soap).

My question is how much Oxy per ammount of peroxide?

Thanks,

Andy D

BTW: folks be careful what you post, I almost spewed reading about the "smoking cats", some of us may have a cup of coffee while reading EB.

Edited February 14, 2014 by Andy D

[Modulex Guy]

Sorry to drag an old thread out of the dusty places... But I find myself in possession of a "gift" of 10 to 15 pounds of used LEGO. I really want to clean an sanatize it before I integrate it into my inventory. Someone mentioned using peroxide and Oxy as a soak (after a soak in water and dishwshing soap).

My question is how much Oxy per ammount of peroxide?

Thanks,

Andy D

BTW: folks be careful what you post, I almost spewed reading about the "smoking cats", some of us may have a cup of coffee while reading EB.

The oxy clean and peroxide mix is only used to de-yellow white bricks. I've never cleaned a batch of mixed colors this way. I don't want the peroxide damaging colored bricks!

Oxy clean though by itself does get rid of smoke smell in bricks!

[Andy D]

Tkatt mentioned using hydrogen peroxide as a drying agent after a soak in dishwashing liguid an water, this got me to thinking... What else could be used as a drying gent to eliminate spots. How about...

Vinegar

Automatic dishwasher drying agent such as "Jet Dry"

What else could be used s a drying agent for a bulk of LEGO?

Thanks,

Andy D

Trust me - if these pieces come from a multiple smoking cat house you want the washing machine. Soaking wasn't enough to remove the odour and I had no damage from the washing machine. But do set it to gentle wash.

BTW: eurotrash... Is it multiple smoking cats, or a smoking "cat house". These are two entirely different houses. One is a home with cats, he other is a place of business.

Edited February 15, 2014 by Andy D

[62Bricks]

The oxy clean and peroxide mix is only used to de-yellow white bricks. I've never cleaned a batch of mixed colors this way. I don't want the peroxide damaging colored bricks!

It does work on colors, too, with mixed results. It works OK on yellow and old gray. not so well on blue.

But you're right it is not a general cleaning solution. Just used to reverse the yellow/brown staining on old bricks.

[eurotrash]

BTW: eurotrash... Is it multiple smoking cats, or a smoking "cat house". These are two entirely different houses. One is a home with cats, he other is a place of business.

Definitely the former and not the latter.... thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Andy D]

Definitely the former and not the latter.... thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

I thought you woukd say that...

But what about a drying agent so the LEGO doesn't have wter pots after soaking md air drying?

Andy D

[Gatthekid]

Hehe, I don't clean my collection. :P. I mainly just build and display, so other than dust they don't really get dirty. I just blow them off sometimes. If they really get bad dust, the simplest way to clean it is use a can of air. (Idk what it's called.) With small parts, I really dont feel safe using a sink or washer or anything like that.

[Milan]

Pillow case-washing machine-soap-dry on towel.

[Kalais]

Sorry for the diggin' up old topic, but I think it is never out of date.

I wrote whole tutorial how to wash LEGOs. I hope you'll find it useful :)

Link:

http://bricks.kalais.net/post8

[alois]

A lot of people in this thread mention brushes. I used to use brushes too. But be careful, they make scratches on your Legos. Nowadays, I wash everything in a pillowcase, and only the dirt that won't go away otherwise gets brushed off.

[VintageLegoEra]

Best method!

1- Bring a bowl/Small container (Depends on your parts )

2- Put your parts into the Container.

3- Put some dish washing liquid and add watm water.

4- Leave it for 1 houre ( make sure to mix the parts at lease 5 times during the 1 hour to make sure all the parts are covered with the solution)

5- Bring a spong and clean the parts while they are in the solution.

6- Remove the water ( you will see how dirt you have cleaned )

7- Put all of you patrs on a larg Towle Cloth and leave it to dry ( You can use a hair dryer for faster result but make sure not to expose hot or very warm air or you can open a fan and leave it)

I did this and i turned out to have even parts with Shiny looks..

Heers

[alois]

Pillow case + washing machine + powder detergent = less work and same or better results.

[kibosh]

I've bought numerous large lots, or had them donated, and I've washed them all. I fill the bathtub with several inches of warm water, and add some dish soap to gets things nice and bubbly. I let them site for a while, and hand agitate them from time to time. The dirtier they were, the longer I let them soak. To remove them, I use a pasta strainer. Fill it up with pieces, and then rinse it under the faucet. After everything is rinsed, I spread them out on a dry towel. Again, I agitate them and move them around periodically. Sometimes I blow a fan across them to help dry things up. Always works for me.

[fred67]

I've not had more than a few pounds at a time, and I haven't ordered bulk and quite some time, either, but when I cleaned I used the colander in the sink method. Mild dish detergent, let them soak (the colander fits in a larger container), agitating them a bit. Pull out the colander, rinse well, dump them on old towels in some convenient spot; I do pat dry them a bit to try to avoid water spots, but then leave it to thoroughly air dry overnight.

I don't stickered pieces this way, I will gently clean them by had. I have not washed any chromed parts, so can't comment on it.

As far as the "brush controversy" goes, I use an extra soft toothbrush on stubborn parts that have gunk or really packed in dust in tight spots. I don't think I've ever scratched a LEGO piece doing that, but then again, they're used at this point anyway, so usually aren't exactly perfect to begin with.

As far as tumble drying in the dryer .... NO!!!! It kills me how people can get NEW pieces from TLG S@H PAB that are all scratched up because they're packed loosely and just destroy each other on the trip to the buyer's house. I can't imagine what tumble drying would do.

[Tezclatipoca]

I've not had more than a few pounds at a time, and I haven't ordered bulk and quite some time, either, but when I cleaned I used the colander in the sink method. Mild dish detergent, let them soak (the colander fits in a larger container), agitating them a bit. Pull out the colander, rinse well, dump them on old towels in some convenient spot; I do pat dry them a bit to try to avoid water spots, but then leave it to thoroughly air dry overnight.

Hi !

Me too. I Use this method. It is easy and don't damage Lego parts. Of course it doesn't work with stickered parts.

[LandmarksWorld]

I've read the discussion and I'm currently trying to clean my Tower Bridge without disassembling it. Firstly, I put it in the bathtub and I sprayed some degreaser on it, I left it for a minute so that it could descale dust, and then I rinsed the (partially disassembled) Tower Bridge

with current water. Dust simply disappears, but as soon as everything dries, terrible water stains appear all around the studs, especially on baseplates and/or on large plates. My question is: how can water stains be removed, so that the pieces really look brand new? What's more, we have hard water here...