Ewww my washing machine STINKS :(

Farway

awesome2 wrote: »

HI
Thanks again for the tips I tried a cup full of white vinegar and a cup od soda crystals mixed in a jug and poured in to the drawer. Put the machine on a 90 deg wash and yippee no smell. Have doen a few more washes since so keeping my fingers croosed. Will definately do this once a month to keep on top of it though:o:p

Just use value brown [malt vinegar], this is MSE after all, and no, it will not smell like a chip shop

Squeezie

I had this problem and found that leaving the door open after a wash helped loads.

Also, I was using soap nuts which are great for the washing but not so good at cleaning the machine! I bought some Ace bleach and use this on the odd wash (usually a white wash or towel wash) and that seems to help too.

awesome2_2

Farway wrote: »

Just use value brown [malt vinegar], this is MSE after all, and no, it will not smell like a chip shop

OOOh how annoying the white vinegar cost me a fiortune was undecided in Morrisons whether it would work the same then rremembered good old Kim and Aggie always used white so went for that. Could of saved myself £1 :eek:

Emstick14

The last few washes that I have done, I noticed that the clothes once dried were just not smelling fresh at all, infact they smelt dirtier than when they went in. I should mention that I do maintenance washes quite frequently and always leave the door open to air it off.

I used a Dr Beckham thing today, which said to wipe around the seal, OMG I was amazed at how much black stuff there was. Anyway, even after using this it is still disgusting, so my question is "will a bit of bleach rot the rubber?" I was thinking of giving it a scrub with a toothbrush and then doing another service wash??

Answers on a postcard please:)

happy35

is the washer actually washing properly?

I noticed this with mine, called someone out to look at it and there was a problem with the circuit board - hope it is not this as it was too expensive to make it worth repairing

VJsmum

try putting it on empty very hot with a cup or two of white vinegar in it.

Or bicarbonate of soda

kremmen

VJsmum wrote: »

try putting it on empty very hot with a cup or two of white vinegar in it.

Or bicarbonate of soda

+1 on this. There was a program on TV a short while ago hilighting a problem with some new washing machines that cant do a hot wash and thus you can't be rid of the mould.:(

Paul

ps..have you cleaned the filter ( If it has one)

Rainy-Days

This question was asked a couple od days ago so I have copied and pasted the answer here for you:-

Okay what you need to do is first take a mug of washing soda crystals and put that in the main drawer of your machine. Put your setting to 95 degrees which is the hottest and longest wash cycle and run that through on empty.

Then when that has finished take half a pint of white vinegar and put that directly into the drum (not the drawer) again run it on the hottest longest wash 95 degrees.

The first action cleans through the pipes, the soap scum and all the debris. The vinegar not only flushes through the remainder of the pipes but it also removes limescale. The action of it being on the hottest wash kills the bacteria.

If you live in a hard water area such as the south east you need to be doing this every couple of months or so.

GreyQueen

Lots of good tips here already and I have noted some for my future use (thanks rainy-days!).

When my washer had been installed for 4 years (only used twice a week on average) it failed to pump out but the filter was as clean as a whistle. Some investigations revealed the cause.

You know how most washers have their waste pipe attached to a side spur in the pipe under the kitchen sink? Well, when I took mine off, I dicovered that the spur was completely blocked with what looked like greyish-white putty and there was a partially blockage of the same in the first few inches of the waste pipe.

It absolutely reeked. Can only think it was a mixture of compacted washing powder and possibly some limescale. I cleared it out with an old knitting needle and scrubbed it clean with an old toothbrush and some nasty niffs which I'd attributed to bubbles of air coming up thru the U-bend disappeared.

Smelly washers can also be caused by mould in the inlet pipes and it is possible to replace the pipes and sort this out.

Our family washing machine mechanic reckons that you should run them empty on max heat every now and again and he disses C*lgon as unneccessary even although we are in a notoriously hard water area; soda crystals do the job just fine. He also said that laundry liquids really clag up washers and he would always recommend powders. HTH.

Rainy-Days

You are absolutely right GreyQueen, Calgon is expensive and it really doesn't do the job for the cost outlay. My Aunt who lives in London buys Tesco's own brand of limescale tablets and it does the job at afraction of the cost, but she cleans through her machine once a month using just vinegar because of the hardwater.

I keep on hearing and reading that liquids and gels are a big problem for washing machines. I primarily use powder, but for some of my delicates I use a liquid and I also use liquid on my towels because I think it brings them up softer - I don't know maybe it doesn't but in my head I think it does

Anyway, colleagues have had to have engineers out to get rid of balls of gel like gunk removed from their pipes and were told all the same - use powder! The problem is powder, which you have better control over, is being sidelined all the time in favour of tablets and gels and it really grates because for the really big boxes, which is the most economical, I got them from Netto but now they have gone I have to keep my eyes peeled! Costco is too far away from us so the cost of travelling really wouldn't give us any cost saving at all.