How to clean my hockey gear?

Question

Can i put my pads in the washer...if so which ones?

Can i put the pants in the washer?

Elbow pads?

Shin Pads?

And shoulder pads?

Most of all the pants?

How can i clean them?

Answer 1

A few times a year I take my husbands hockey gear and I put it in the bathtub with a couple of cap fulls of Pine Sol.  Then I soak them for a few hours.  Then rinse them out and set them outside on a towel on a sunny day.  It will take a several hours or more (depending on how hot it is outside) for the stuff to dry enough for you to bring it inside.  Bring it inside and keep it out of your hockey bag for at least a day.

That should really help the smell.  Pine Sol is a disinfectant so most of the germs will died as well.  In between this you can put your hockey stuff out on sunny days and use Fabreeze.  The sunlight will help kills some of the germs.

Answer 2

Between games, you should wipe them down with a wet paper towel first, then use Febreeze to spray on them to get rid of the odor.  Then let them dry (I don't recommend outside because leaves and stuff could get onto your pads and stick to them because they'll be wet).  You should be good to go!

I don't recommend putting them in the washing machine.  It could mess up the washer because they're so bulky.

In the offseason, you can put them in the bath tub and give them a real good wash or spray them with a hose.  Or buy one of those steam machines and steam clean it.

Answer 3

Febreeze it and leave it out to dry outside (on the porch, in your backyard, even in the garage or laundry room) but I have found that getting it sanitised works really well.

Answer 4

Check with a dry cleaner and see if they can clean it.  

If not, soft gear can go in a washing machine.  You may be able to take the padding out of your pants and just put the shell in.  You can probably hand wash the harder stuff like shin pads.