Fleeces and woollens smelling 'washed'

mrs_sparrow

This is doing my brain in.....

Even when they have been washed and dried, our fleeces and wollens never smell 'just washed'.

I;ve just left my cardi to dry overnight after washing it, it smells as though I've been wearing it a week, and I've just taken my husbands fleece out of the drier and it smells like a cat has wee'd on it and has got to go back in. Have the same with my dressing gown.

Now I smell other clothes from the same load washed and dried and they are fine so it's not the load, the machine or the drier. I used Bold.

Is it just me that finds this. It's really annoying, I love the smell of just washed clothes.

gingin_2

I will wait with interest because exactly the same thing annoys me. Sometimes they come out smelling worse!

j.e.j.

hm, how odd.. I know when wool is wet it doesn't smell very nice, but usually once it's dried it's ok.

Is it pure wool you're washing or is it acrylic or man-made fibre?

lostinrates

If its fleece are you washing with fabric conditioner? This makes it stink IME. Unscented, non bio is what we use and what I find leaves them neutral smelling rather than bad smelling.

newcook

do you leave the drawer and the door open between washes so the air can circulate the machine?
apparently the smell is to do with mouldy water in the machine - the mould particles often stick to the wool where as they are washed away from cotton items.

Lunar_Eclipse

newcook wrote: »

do you leave the drawer and the door open between washes so the air can circulate the machine?
apparently the smell is to do with mouldy water in the machine - the mould particles often stick to the wool where as they are washed away from cotton items.

^^^ this.

I had a similar issue recently, so cleared out the very full 'fluff collector' (horrible damp smell) and ran an empty cycle. You could add some fresh lemon or other liquid to freshen it up during this cleansing wash too.

busiscoming2

Sometimes I find if things take too long to dry they smell horrible.

I know its not cost effective but putting the machine on a very hot wash with soda crystals regularly helps keeping it clean. I always put an old cloth in the bottom of the door rubber when a load has finished as I found it had a puddle that smelt.

Having said all that I have a jacket that always smells funny after washing but it seems to go once Ive worn it once.

Gordon_Hose

We don't have a garden and dry indoors. Not a problem in the summer as we can have all the windows open. In the winter everything takes to long to dry and ends up smelling. I hate it

go_cat

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

We don't have a garden and dry indoors. Not a problem in the summer as we can have all the windows open. In the winter everything takes to long to dry and ends up smelling. I hate it

I also hate winter or having to dry clothes inside and won't use my tumble dryer (very MSE ) but sometimes that's not cost effective as I often have to wash things twice due to the smell.

I find Lenor febreze conditioner the green one, is really good at not smelling funny

sassyblue

newcook wrote: »

do you leave the drawer and the door open between washes so the air can circulate the machine?
apparently the smell is to do with mouldy water in the machine - the mould particles often stick to the wool where as they are washed away from cotton items.

I second ^^^ this.

Also, make sure you do a wash on 60 or 90 degrees every now and then. My friend got rid of a 'smelly' washing machine only for the new one to do that same after a few months, she only washed on 30 or 40 degrees and it wasn't hot enough to wash away mould or whatever it was causing the smell.

I always use fabric conditioner too, although some people swear their clothes don't smell any different without using it....

Gordon_Hose

go_cat wrote: »

I also hate winter or having to dry clothes inside and won't use my tumble dryer (very MSE ) but sometimes that's not cost effective as I often have to wash things twice due to the smell.

I find Lenor febreze conditioner the green one, is really good at not smelling funny

Thanks for the tip. I'm quite funny about fabric softner I like Lenor Spring Awakenings and not a lot else. My OH bought comfort because it was on offer... I hate it!! :rotfl: