Washing machine mystery - anyone advise?

cazs

Hi all,

I have a question about my washing machine.

I've moved into a new place which has an inbuilt Smeg washer dryer. Since using it, I seem to have managed to turn a lot of clothes light blue on 3 separate occasions noticeably white things and a pink check shirt.

I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I wash them on an energetic wash, at 40 degrees, then spin at maximum (1600 I think) then it's set to dry at 90 degrees for 2 hours.

At home where I used to live, I used the same settings,- 40 degree wash and max spin) apart from no drying as it was just a washing machine and was dried in the garden and not ever had a problem with colour running.

All the garments that have got colour run have been washed many times before and I've always mixed all types of washing together, colours and types without problem.

Therefore what I am trying to discover is why is my stuff turning blue all of a sudden.

Is it a different brand of washing machine? I thought it unlikely? Or is it because I dry it in the machine that causes the colour run? Is it the programme I set it for? Do I need to pick delicates if I mix colours on this machine?

Quite mystified so if anyone can advise, I'd be greatful.

I'd also be verrrrry greatful if anyone can tell me a good product to remove the colour run from the ruined garments?

Thanks so much

Myser

Dylon Colour Run Remover may work:

http://www.dylon.co.uk/product.php?alias=colour-run-removers

Available at John Lewis, Robert Dyas, Dunelm Mills etc.

It is possible there may be remanents of colour dye in the machine from when the previous user dyed clothes?

Try running a 90° wash with a handfull or two of Soda Crystals (available at all supermarkets) in the drum.

cazs

Thanks for the suggestion.

Before I ran the machine I ran it empty for the first time with just powder.

I have run it for loads where no colour has run so it must be something to do with what's going in there.

I wonder if it is the navy jeans but as I say washed many a time before...

cazs

Any other laundry veterans got any ideas as to what's causing the problem?

TimBuckTeeth

As the only difference seems to be the dryer it sounds like that the clothes are getting hotter than 40°C when drying and still damp and colour bleeding.
If you are washing at 40°C then the dryer temperature should be set low/delicate to avoid shrinking clothes.

Give the navy jeans a separate wash at 60°C to remove any more dye that is not well bound to the fabric, then give them an extra rinse and spin.
Then clean the filters for the washing machine drain and dryer.

matthorp

I always wash jeans seperately. They leak dye for ages - I have washable throws on my cream sofas which end up with a blue tinge after being sat on with well washed and worn jeans (much easier to wash than the sofa covers!).

I can't explain why this has only just started happening, but as someone else suggested, it may be that the machine is not running at quite the same temp as your previous one.

Personally, I would separate the wash into lights, darks and colours, but I know not everybody likes to do this. It may help though.

decsdad

We wash lights and darks seperately. Always been ok.

kaya

the only thing that springs to mind could be that the thermostat in the new machine is faulty so although it believes it is washing at 40% it is actually at a higher temperature, it is also a possibility that the machine is only connected to a hot fill (pipes connected wrongly) so when it thinks it is adding cold water it is actually adding hot direct from the boiler which could be up to about 70 deg , but its more likley that your jeans are just running or something, i cant see any way that using the dryer would make colours run

MaggieBaking

I had a problem with jeans once... I can remember the dye leaked into the next set of washing I did, and perhaps the set after that. I also had a washer/dryer and tried to dry the jeans. Some of the stuff was stained and I remember thinking, oh well - too late I'll dry it and see what it looks like... Everything came out much worse!!

I ran the hottest cycle with a couple of dish cloths in there, throwing in some things I thought might be suitable to give the machine a good clean through.

If you've had 10 washes were things are blue then I'm at a loss?

cazs

I think I am going to have to go down the separating lights and darks which will hopefully (we wil see) solve the problem. Though I am still very niggled that I don't know what is causing the problem.

However, not 100% sure what goes with what in doing the separation..

Eg. I have a bright pink t-shirt that's neither 'a light' or 'a dark' in my eye and not all my clothing would fit into those obvious 2 categories.

matthorp

Lights/darks/colours/jeans. Some washing machines have a mini load option if you only have a few bits.