Fish smell in dishwasher and washing machine (both have separate drains)

moonjooce

Our dishwasher stinks and has done for a while (18 months). We regularly clean it and the filter etc. It feeds into the sink drain but it's worth noting the sink rarely smells. It smells like dirty pond water /fishy. Recently it now makes the kitchen smell if we leave it open to air it. It's worth noting that this isn't always after every wash, some washes are fine. Our washing machine in the garage has now started doing the same occasionally. Random loads of washing come out fishy, but not all. The washing machine and dishwasher have separate wastes so they are not connected. The only thing that links them is the water in pipe. This is driving us spare with rewashing things. Does anyone know what may be causing it? We have cleaned filters, cleaned machines, you name it. And the fact its not every wash is bizarre - I'd say 70% of dishwasher loads smell fishy and maybe 10% of washing machine loads.

Anyone any inkling as to what may be causing it? 

cornishchick

cant answer for the what the smell is, but whatever is causing it from the main drain my not smell in the sink due to the bend,
 the next thing to look at maybe where is the water coming from? is it coming from a tank that may be contaminated in some way ? 

MovingForwards

If it smells like pond water that means there is stagnant water somewhere that isn't draining out.

moonjooce

Could there be stagnant water? We run the dishwasher twice a day and the washing machine twice a day too so it should be well "flushed" so to speak. 

MovingForwards

All it will take is a place for water to stand without getting flushed through, then it will become stagnant is smell.

Another thing could be the seals as water gathers and mould / mildew grows. If it's this you have to physically clean the seals, every fold in them to remove it.

moonjooce

Unlikely to be seals as the washing machine is less than a month old. Will have to try and get the dishwasher out (that's worse) and see. It's built in so not too easy to get out... 

Emmia

Are you running either / both on Eco or low temperature programmes? Does the smell persist if you run an (empty) wash at a high temperature?

Edit: I occasionally find that gym kit in particular has a "smell" after washing but this can be resolved by adding bicarbonate of soda in the powder drawer of the washing machine (along with the usual detergent pod), and doing it at 40 degrees.  I also occasionally run an empty hot wash at the highest temperature the machine will do.  

short_bird

If it is only a month old, has it been installed correctly or is there a problem with the machine itself, something not fitted right?