How to Clean a Stubborn Dry Erase Whiteboard.

Have you ever tried to clean old dried “removable” ink off a dry erase whiteboard and were unsuccessful?

I have, and usually a soft dry tissue works best, even better than wet cleaning. You have to be sure not to apply too much pressure though, as tissue is paper, and paper is made of wood, and too much pressure will make fine scratches in your whiteboard surface and cause cleaning problems over time.

Well this time I had some blue dry erase ink that was being stubborn. The dry erase writing was dated May 2011, and the cleaning was attempted in August 2011 (see earlier post on procrastination).

I tried a dry tissue cleaning first, then a terry cloth dampened with plain tap water…nothing. By the time I was done I had went through a dozen (count them…12) chemicals before I got the stubborn “dry erase” ink off.

I clean a lot of different things for different reasons, so I have a lot of cleaning chemicals around. More than used in this test, but I stopped when something finally worked.

I didn’t think I was going to post this online until most of the cleaning was done, but when I started the whiteboard was full of dried blue writing like shown below that would not clean off.

I knew that I did not want to use an abrasive cleanser like Comet or Ajax, so I could avoid scratching the surface of the whiteboard.

Here is what I tried along the way:

Exfresh All Purpose Cleaner - This is a foaming lemon scented aerosol that I recently bought at a dollar store to try out. It’s ok, but for general equipment cleaning I like the next product better.

[result – didn’t work on this project]

PowerHouse Glass & Surface Cleaner - This is another dollar store product that I have used a lot, to clean a lot of different equipment (and glass). I mainly used this stuff until trying out the next product.

[result – didn’t work on this project]

EcoSense (aka Melaleuca) Sol-U-Mel Stain Remover (diluted) - I have some of this diluted in a spray bottle. It smells unique, sort of a citrus herbal (tea tree oil) smell. I like using it when I can because it’s “Eco-Friendly” (see more below)

[result – didn’t work on this project]

Goo Gone (With Citrus Power) - This stuff is another cleaning staple of mine, works GREAT on removing old stickers, decals and labels, but not here.

[result – didn’t work on this project]

Isopropyl Alcohol (70%) – I always have this stuff around, sometimes it works good, especially when “hospital style” cleanliness is needed (warning: see more info below).

[result – didn’t work on this project]

Hydrogen Peroxide (3% Solution) – I always have this stuff around too, not just for cleaning equipment. Entire books have been written on this stuff, especially the “food grade” variety (do your own thorough research please).

[result – didn’t work on this project]

By now I was getting frustrated, nothing was working, so I went to stuff I usually wouldn’t try on such a cleaning project.

LA’s Totally Awesome Soap Scum Cleaner & Tile Cleaner – Another dollar store buy, for cleaning the shower stall. What the heck, it was worth a shot.

[result – didn’t work on this project]

Distilled White Vinegar – Back to old school stuff, heck it works great on glass and cleaning out coffee makers every now and then, oh well.

[result – didn’t work on this project]

“Concentrated” Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner (probably diluted) – This was in a spray bottle here in a cabinet forgotten buy the previous tenant, it looked like it was possibly diluted. I have never bought this product as it used to be kind of pricey for me, but I understand it is very popular, or at least used to be (note below).

[result – didn’t work on this project]

“Chlorine” Bleach (probably diluted) – this was also in the cabinet mentioned above in an old Simple Green spray bottle marked “Bleach”. It smelled like bleach, and was most likely diluted. I am not a big fan of chlorine, bleach or otherwise (note below).

[result – didn’t work on this project]

By now all caution has gone out the window, the whiteboard was not getting much cleaner, the dried blue dry erase ink was still there.

Lime-A-Way Thick Gel Formula – I got this name brand product at the dollar store too. I considered it as a substitute for a competing product, as it is labeled for use on “Lime, Calcium, and Rust”. I have used the competitor, which works great when I have to remove those types of stains, and when nothing else works.

[result – didn’t work on this project]

All the chemicals were used with a lightly dampened terry cloth that I rinsed and wringed out well after each attempt.

Wondering what to try next I thought about trying some undiluted Sol-U-Mel Concentrate (that I usually mix with water in the spray bottle as it too is a little pricey for me, but it does go a long way) on a piece of tissue since I have used it that way for other stubborn stains.

To my delight it worked great with very little effort.

I then tried the undiluted Sol-U-Mel Concentrate on the metal portion across the top (as I did with some of the other chemicals) and it worked great there too, cleaned the set-in dark staining right off with little effort (the Simple Green spray did work here).

Sol-U-Mel is actually labeled as a “stain remover”, but I have used it diluted as a cleaner for all kinds of things, including cleaning a musty smelling refrigerator out when I got to this house. My son used it to get a “world ending” oil based stain out of his jeans, that he protested would never come out…it did.

The bottle reads as follows:

EcoSense Only From Melaleuca

Sol-U-Mel Stain Remover

Concentrate – Original Scent No. 292

Safer For Your Home

Highly Effective

Powered by Nature

Eco-Friendly

Better Value

Up to 192 fl oz

Then there is an eye irritant & flammable warning followed by “8 fl oz (237 mL)”.

And the winner is:

EcoSense (Melaleuca) Sol-U-Mel

I have to add that I was an Independent Distributor for the manufacturer of this product, which is why I have the product in the first place. I am not currently active as of this writing, so I feel confident that I am ok with making this post. I will always speak highly of the great products they offer, and am now planning to renew my distributorship soon.

Note: I will admit, it is possible that full strength Simple Green may have worked, as well as full strength bleach. I did not have any full strength (to my knowledge) Simple Green, and I did not want to use full strength bleach without protective gloves, as growing up I saw a couple of ladies at church have the skin peel off their hands while cleaning with bleach.

All in all, I am thankful I had the Sol-U-Mel on hand this time around.

In closing, it is my opinion that most cleaning can be usually done with the following SAFE and inexpensive products:

• Water (cold and hot), plain old H20.
• Lemon Juice (or lime), full strength and diluted in bucket or spray bottle
• White Vinegar, great on glass and in coffee makers (read up on it).
• Isopropyl Alcohol (oddly, may be the cause of illnesses. Google: “Dr. Hulda Clark”)
• Hydrogen Peroxide (3%), used it to clean scrapes, scratches and cuts since childhood.
• Baking Soda, when a mild abrasive is needed, or as refrigerator or carpet deodorizer.

Of course there are a slew of other products and/or chemicals that work well and aren’t too expensive like pine tar soap and pine cleaners, oil soap (for wood), ammonia (cheap, but dangerous vapors), etc. as well as many choices at the dollar stores.

If you have never been to a dollar store, try one at some point, you’ll be amazed at what they can sell for a dollar. Some of it is worth a buck, but most of it costs much more at other stores.

I recommend "99 Cents Only" and "Dollar Tree" (Dollar General) in the western United States.

In a pinch though, sometimes you got to loosen the purse strings to get something that actually works. Quite often higher priced products can stretch a lot farther which in the end makes them more economical.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and/or found it of some use.

Until Next Time,

Doc