Washing machine working ok?

dekaspace

I made a thread before about it having some clothes with white powder on after so I cut down the amount I used to a half cupful.

But around same time as I noticed the white powder on the clothes I noticed clothes were fading at first a 1 month old pair of jeans, but also some black t shirts that were getting colours washed out (and one of the t shirts was 6 years old and had no colour loss until now)

Also a 1 year old pair of jeans that again had no colour loss until the same time as my t shirts were losing colour, I then got another new pair of jeans that faded a little after 2 or 3 washes. I know jeans fade but it seems so fast.

And also about the smell, on my machine it doesn't matter if I use powder or powder and fabric conditioner the smell is so faint afterwards, yet I took the clothes to a relatives for a few weeks and used the same stuff and even a tiny drop of powder made the clothes smell very fresh, and with fabric conditioner I could wear them for days and still smell just out of the wash, then again they have a good brand and recent machine and mine is at least 10 years old and Beko.

The only thing I think it could be is I did change my settings (but 2 or 3 months beforehand) to the warmest wash rather than the mid warmth wash but at same time it shouldn't make clothes fade the way they do should they.

Also the t shirt that is years old started getting little holes in it but my other clothes are ok.

Cisco001

What washing powder you are using?
If dissolving powder is a problem, how about using liquid?

Personally using colour laundry liquid for dark/ coloured clothes; powder for white/ light coloured clothes.
i think washing power usually contain bleaching agent.

Regarding the smell, did you 'wash' your washing machine?
What I meant is use vinegar or soda powder and turn on 90 degree programme every so often to 'clean' you machine.

Edit; Forgot to say, generally speaking, the hotter temp you set, the faster colour fading.

dekaspace

Well since I use less now its not leaving the marks on but it is fading very fast.

The machine itself doesn't smell, its more the clothes don't smell if that makes sense, so they smell clean but not scented but the same powder and fabric conditioner on a newer machine makes them have a strong nice scent.

The colour fading though is more why did a t shirt years old only start fading recently and I have lived in about 9 properties in time I owned it and this is only time its faded, and a new t shirt worn twice faded almost straight away, as did 2 pairs of jeans but used the same cycle as I was using for about 2/3 months before with no problems.

I do notice in my machine though the fabric conditioner tray is always full of water, and my water from taps is slightly cloudy and when washing comes out of machine its more dry than wet.

rach_k

Older machines are generally less water efficient than newer ones, meaning they rinse things far better. The newer machine you tried probably didn't manage to rinse the detergent and softener out very well, so the laundry retained more scent. I'd take proper rinsing any day (much better for absorbent fabrics like towels and probably kinder to your skin) but if you want more scent, try a different brand of detergent or softener as some are harder to rinse out than others, or try those scent bead things you add.

dekaspace

It's hard to tell really, I wear light underwear and a few of them were discoloured (not what you think lol, I used them to mop some spills one time and they werent yellowish) months later they were still yellowish in my machine but first time I used my relatives one they went back to white again.

Maybe my machine for the most part is too good? things are getting white easily.

Or another thought is my machine I put a lot of greasy things in quite often i.e tea towels which I have wiped a pan down after fryirng something so maybe the grease affects the smell more, that being said I didn't have any greasy things in machine this time and its still not smelling much.

tonyh66

dekaspace wrote: »

It's hard to tell really, I wear light underwear and a few of them were discoloured (not what you think lol, I used them to mop some spills one time and they werent yellowish) months later they were still yellowish in my machine but first time I used my relatives one they went back to white again.

Maybe my machine for the most part is too good? things are getting white easily.

Or another thought is my machine I put a lot of greasy things in quite often i.e tea towels which I have wiped a pan down after fryirng something so maybe the grease affects the smell more, that being said I didn't have any greasy things in machine this time and its still not smelling much.

you shouldn't be wiping down greasy pans with a tea towel try washing them instead. If you need to wipe grease use paper towel.

dekaspace

I don't literally wipe every piece of grease off, I rinse the pan first with hot water then a gentle scourer then I use a tea towel lying about to wipe it down as it looks clean but is sticky, most of the time it doesn't do much to a towel sometimes it looks greasy. and then I chuck it in machine ready for the next wash rather than use paper towels which seems wasteful.

Kynthia

Biological washing detergent and water being hotter would fade colours quicker. Still having powder residue on clothes would indicate three possibilities to me, putting too much detergent in the machine, the machine not using enough water or rinsing well, or you are over - filling the machine with clothes so things can't move around correctly.

I would also suggest doing a very hot wash (90 degrees or more) with no detergent and no clothes every few months to strip tge machine of residue and mould. Plus leave the door open for a few hours after each use to let the drum dry.

Callie22

I find that living in a hard-water area makes my clothes smell less fresh. If I go to visit my parents and use their machine my clothes smell so much nicer, we both have the same machine but they live in a soft water area and I sadly don't. I find that using a tablespoon-full of soda crystals in each wash really makes a difference, my clothes come out feeling 'nicer' and I can smell the washing power and conditioner much more strongly.

Ectophile

dekaspace wrote: »

I do notice in my machine though the fabric conditioner tray is always full of water, and my water from taps is slightly cloudy and when washing comes out of machine its more dry than wet.

Try taking the drawer out completely, and giving it a good clean.

Then switch to a runnier fabric softener. The thick, gloopy ones can fail to siphon out of the drawer properly. I've started using Ecover recently.

getmore4less

Sounds like the machine needs a good clean.

Drain clean the filters and all the drawers, hot empty cycle repeat the filter and drawer.

Modern detergents are ok at low temp but some fabrics benefit from hotter washes.

Greasy towels are asking for trouble.save old clothes sheets for rags if you want to cloth to clean up grease rather than disposables

Use the dishwasher to clean the pans after removing the worst.
Expect blocked drains if fat/oil is going down the sink.