Brown spots on my clothes after washing...

Tel50+

I read an answer from missrlr about Wisteria and this is the cause for me. Just want to share it for al,l though I wasn't able to thank her. Wisteria Growers Beware. The sap stains your clothes. The stains are invisible until after washing. Then they are brown and permanent.

Squirrel16

Me too (brown rusty stains) , for some years. We are in a hard water area, and we do have very old pipework. But these problems didn't start for some time after we had moved here...
1). To sort out your stains, an old remedy + a newer one:
On a sunny day, peg your item(s) flat on an airer or similar. Mix a small amount of household salt with a little fresh lemon juice. (The salt continues to absorb the juice for some time so gets thicker. Experiment to get the best consistency! You need it thin enough to spread...)
With a (stainless steel) teaspoon spread/dot the mixture on the stain. You won't need much, and of course the lemon juice spreads out. ...have tried this with Jif plastic lemon juice, but doesn't work as well as the real thing.)
Leave in the direct sun for at least a couple of hours. Drip a bit more juice as the salt dries out.
Then carefully fold the item in on itself (to keep the salt contained) and take it somewhere you can remove the salt. Having done that put it into a bucket/bowl with a strong (hot) solution of biological powder and leave 24 hours. If stains don't budge, you haven't used enough biological - give another soak.
I then wash with a bio pre wash and my usual powder for the main wash.
Have never had problems with lemon bleaching too much...

Good luck! Now all I have to do is discover where the stains are coming from. Intermittent, about every 3 / 4weeks perhaps. Sometimes longer.

2) so if it's the bearings - and the machine is old (i.e. Made to last...) - why are the marks only appearing every now and again?
No suspicious noises, and a hot wash every couple of weeks plus a 'cleaning' wash about 2 months ago. And having been advised to use powder rather than liquid (Whitegoods blog/chat) I do - usually Fairy sometimes Arial, plus one cap Ecover conditioner. 40 degrees.
And if pipes - ditto - why not every wash?

Just hung out the 2nd load today - one item stained, coloured cotton mix long sleeved top, 3 areas: one thumb print sized, one pencil end sized and one smaller.
This was not as full a load as the last one, just what I would class as normal...and the first load was very full but not seriously squashed...

(Not Wisteria stains - this morning's first load had marks on a pair of knickers near the waist and, lightly, on a corner of guest duvet cover, only used once. No Wisteria near - unless guest pushed duvet out of window?!)

Have now read 3 different threads, which have tales of newly bought washing machines not solving the problem.

Help appreciated!