What is Secret for Cleaning White Mold from Attachments

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chicagomike

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 18, 2013
Messages
608
Location
Plover, WI
What is Secret for Cleaning White Mold from Attachments? I can get it off with elbow grease but sometimes have to clean the parts a number of times to get it off. Does anyone have a solution to getting the white mold off - it is really hard to get off when it is on a ribbed hose...

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I use a scotchbrite sponge with an industrial degreaser/cleaner and it really takes cleaning the part 2-3 times to get them clean. I will give a liquid automotive rubbing compound a try to see if it works easier than my current process.

Anyone else have a proven process to try?
 
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It's very easy: Put some straight chlorine bleach into a spray bottle. Put the attachments in your bathtub or other safe place. Thoroughly douse them with bleach and watch that mold disappear! Don't leave the bleach on too long, no more than 30 seconds should be sufficient. Rinse thoroughly with water and towel dry and then polish with some Lemon Pledge. You may have to repeat the treatment but I doubt it.


 


This particular kind of white mold affected GE pink canister and Roll-Easy attachments, for some reason.
 
I will give bleach a try and cannot wait to see how it does as it sounds like very little elbow grease will be required. I have found the white mold on vintage kirby hoses and some other brands of attachments too (but dont know the brand names as I will be trying to figure those out once I get the attachments clean).

Thank you for this suggestion!
 
Re Hoses

I clean my hoses in the dishwasher and add about 1/2 cup Clorox. don't do this if the hose has aluminum ends like a Hoover. they will discolor. do not use heated drying.all vinyl hoses will clean up great !
 
cleaning GE attachments

On some as a first step I have been able to gently scrape and have a layer of dirt and mold flake off leaving clean plastic underneath.
 
It did not take any elbow grease to remove - but I used a green Scotch Brite pad to wipe off the mold/bleach.

Ohhh, would I be in trouble if I used the dishwasher to clean parts!

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I have several GE machines and this gross mold is a too familiar. It also forms on some of the hardware on the Roll-Easy, like the bag chamber latch mechanism, and on the exhaust port cover on the pink Roll-Around. I'd be interested to find out exactly what kind of mold it is, and why it grows specifically on these 50s GE-made Lexan parts.

Like you've already discovered, bleach is your friend. I've found it useful to soak difficult cases in a bucket of hot water mixed with ample bleach. It then turns to slime and wipes off. You may need to flake some of the heavy deposits off after soaking to get them completely spotless. You also may want to take apart that pink floor tool, as there will be mold inside as well.
 
GE attachments

BIG improvement!Especially on the corner in picture 8 if you hold a blade at right angle much more can be gently scraped off.As above taking apart is helpful.
GE 50s Trivia--The floor bristles on the Roll-Around and Roll-Easy were part of the color styling!
 

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