Soapy smell

Cocorita

Hi all!

I'm renting a flat that have the washig machine is a cupboard, and since day 1 the smell in the cupboard was terrible (like submerging your nose into the laundry soap bottle). The clothes smell strongly to soap as well, even if I don't use soap at all! (I tried using the soap nuts that smell more like vinegar, putting vinegar instead of softener, etc).
The whole house smells like soap some days, is infuriating.
Now, plot twist: the old washing machine the flat had broke, and teh landlord replaced it for anotehr one, new, and the smell is still there!. I tried with vinegar and sodium bicarbonate to see if the drain was smelly, I tried with bleach and boiling water, I tried with EVERYTHING you can do, and still there is a smell coming from my clothes. I even disasembled the drain, cleaned it and assembled it again, and no luck.

Also, I noticed that the machine door gasket is always covered in black lint. I don't have pets and that happens even with whites washing cycles.

My landlord is helpul, but at lost. They sent a plumber to do another job and the plumber was able to smell the stench, but had no clue what it might do.
Is driving me crazy!!

Help??

Paula_Smith

After using the machine do you close the door or leave it open? If you leave it open the machine can dry off internally which reduces the chance of mould growing.

I would give it a vinegar/baking soda clean and get rid of the lint on the door - do it a couple of times.
https://www.thekitchn.com/natural-washing-machine-cleaner-vinegar-22924103

How much washing powder and fabric conditioner do you use? If you use what is recommended on the packet you are probably using too much - they want you to buy more stuff from them. I tend to use about half as much as is recommended and my clothes always seem clean.

rach_k

Does the cupboard smell with the washing machine removed? Maybe somebody spilled a bottle of detergent and it's soaked into the floor and that's what you smell in the cupboard.

If the drains are clean, I don't think it's likely that you'd have two faulty machines with the fault being excessive detergent smell! It's more likely that you're over-dosing the detergent, maybe combined with a previous smell from spilled detergent or similar. Once you start sniffing around for things, you can sometimes attribute other things to the same problem when it's not. It's also possible that the previous tenant used too much detergent too - do you have soft water? Is it a smaller capacity machine (how many KG does it wash?)? Is it a really efficient one / low water consumption?

Lint happens. So does mould if you don't allow the machine to air dry properly.

Cocorita

There is no spillage. The carpet was changed before I moved in, and I had a look when the old machine was removed.
I tried not using soap AT ALL and the clothes smeel the same. And I never use a lot of soap anyway.
I tried with vinegar, with bicarbonate, with literally EVERYTHING.
Plus, the machine cannot have mould, because is new. And yes, I dry it after using it and leave the door open.

Also, the smell is not constant.
Some days is not there at all. Some days is terribly strong, even if I didn't used the washing machine.
It's driving me insane.

The funny part is, that the cupboard is in the bedroom. The smell is super strong in the cupboard, but not in the bedroom. BUT I can smell it pretty strongly in the hall and in a bedroom that is far from the cupboard.

GDB2222

Have you seen in the flat above yours?

Cocorita

The washing machine cupbard smelled since day 1. But the rest of the flat was safe.
Then the people upstairs started renovating their bathroom, and the smell started to happen everywhere.
I went to have a chat with the guy upstairs, but he was quite rude and said it was not his flat.
And there is no signal of water or anything coming from it in my ceiling.

Since the smell in the rest of my flat is totally random, there is no chance I can get the landlord to come in a day where is smelly (the landlord is from another town). And when the landlord sent a washing machine repair guy for teh first one, he said he could smell the soap in the washing machine cupboard, but, quote: "Given the horrible things I usually smell, a bit of soapy smell doesn't bother me".

The plumber that came to do another repairs, said he could smell the soapy stuff everywhere in teh hall, but he had no idea why it's happening.

So for me there are two possibilities:
1 - the smell is coming from the washing machine waste pipe and is spilling somwhere along the exit path under the floor, in the hall and the 2nd. bedroom (which is street facing).
2 - the washing machine smell happens god knows why (maybe the angle of the waste pipe is not the right one?) but the rest of the house smell is coming from upstairs.

What I noticed the other day, is that if I move the washing machine, it makes a sound, like it has water inside it? I'm not sure if it's normal or not, tbh.
Edit about this, it seems like the sloshing sound is normal and is part of the balance system of the machine.

kazwookie

Is there an outside down vent pipe of some sort?

Cocorita

cannot say. How would it look like? It's a tenement.