Washing is coming out smelling musty

Emmia

_Jem_ said:

dekaspace1 said:

Sorry to add my own experience, was about to open a new thread.

Got a new washing machine around March this year, seems to work great I noticed the water seems to trickle fill though which I assume is a efficency thing, and clothes are coming out with all stains removed and smell of the capsules I use.

However what I do now is as i'm a single person and just wear jeans and t shirts, my weekly wash is around 3 t shirts, 1 pair of jeans and shorts I wear indoors, and randomly I add things like tea towels or a bath towel in, they dry fine and smell okn and even then I only wash my jeans about once every 2 weeks

But when I do a quick wash which takes 15 minutes inc spin which is 20 degrees and a 400 setting on spin which I do about every 2 weeks it doesn't matter if its a t shirt or jeans (which is more understandable) by morning they are still damp and stink, which makes no sense to me as I used to soak and hand wash t shirts and jeans and despite them being soaked though the t shirts at least would be dry by the morning and even if it took a day to dry the jeans they didn't smell badly of damp.

I'm thinking of doing a faster spin but I don't see how that is the main problem if hand washing things and hanging them up they don't smell damp!

That wash is too quick I would say, but like others have said leaving clothes damp will make clothes smell. The fastest spin is probably the best, mine is a 1400 and what I do when the wash has finished is to put it on spin again. What washing machine do you have? 

I'd agree with this. The quick wash is only really for lightly soiled items, or to refresh things. Jeans that have been worn for 2 weeks may look "clean"  but will have 2 weeks worth of sloughed off skin, sweat etc., embedded in the fabric. The quick wash may also not properly work the water and detergent through the clothes or rinse very thoroughly. 

Do you still get the whiffs with a normal length wash cycle? Have you tried doing this and following with an extra spin?

Alanp

The problem today are all these non bio liquids/powders when used at lower temperatures, if you can switch to a bio detergent even every third wash or so that can help, when the water drains from the m/c , there will be still water in some of the pipes, especially near the pump, this can breed bacteria, a good clean on a 90 deg wash with some sort of cleaner, ( home made or shop bought) will help, not sure if this is the case with the op, but it’s good practice to do this every so often

_Jem_

Alanp said:

The problem today are all these non bio liquids/powders when used at lower temperatures, if you can switch to a bio detergent even every third wash or so that can help, when the water drains from the m/c , there will be still water in some of the pipes, especially near the pump, this can breed bacteria, a good clean on a 90 deg wash with some sort of cleaner, ( home made or shop bought) will help, not sure if this is the case with the op, but it’s good practice to do this every so often

Totally agree low temperature washes are great for saving pennies but in all doesn't do the washing machine any good.

With my problem I think it's down to the material rather than the machine smelling. 

_Jem_

Just thought I would give you all a little update: 

I did a load of washing but without underwear well actually I put in a couple of underwear because those one don't get the smell, So far what I have found out the washing came out smell free but within 10 minutes the trousers started to have that smell around the waist band, but the smell wasn't as strong, and normally as soon as I open the washing machine door I can smell the musty smell but not this time. So at the weekend I'm just going to do one big load of underwear and add half a cup of vinegar in the wash with powder and half cup of vinegar in the fabric softener draw and put it on the hottest wash. Might be a bit of a overkill with the vinegar 😬

If the Hot water plus vinegar doesn't solve the problem then I'm going to have to buy some extra washing aid as suggested. 

GDB2222

We wash our machine out once a month, using soda crystals. No clothes in. On hottest cycle. Plus we remove the detergent drawer, and wash that, PLUS we wash the space where the detergent drawer fits. 

Have you checked the filter recently?  You could have something nasty trapped inside.

_Jem_

GDB2222 said:

We wash our machine out once a month, using soda crystals. No clothes in. On hottest cycle. Plus we remove the detergent drawer, and wash that, PLUS we wash the space where the detergent drawer fits. 

Have you checked the filter recently?  You could have something nasty trapped inside.

Yes the washing machine is clean and smell free. Soda crystals do a great job at cleaning the washing machine, I couldn't believe how much crap the soda crystals dislodged on a previous washing machine. 

Section62

_Jem_ said:

...the trousers started to have that smell around the waist band, but the smell wasn't as strong...

Are they elasticated?  There seems to be a common theme of items possibly with elastic in them - underwear and sportswear - and parts of the clothing (e.g. the waist band) where elastic is most likely to be.

I don't know about the chemistry, but I'd speculate it is possible vinegar or something is reacting or being absorbed by the 'elastic' in those items leading to the smell.

IIRC elastomers are part of organic chemistry, so it is plausible that some reaction with (e.g.) acetic acid is happening resulting in a strange-smelling organic chemical product. (I think, but could be very wrong)

_Jem_

Section62 said:

_Jem_ said:

...the trousers started to have that smell around the waist band, but the smell wasn't as strong...

Are they elasticated?  There seems to be a common theme of items possibly with elastic in them - underwear and sportswear - and parts of the clothing (e.g. the waist band) where elastic is most likely to be.

I don't know about the chemistry, but I'd speculate it is possible vinegar or something is reacting or being absorbed by the 'elastic' in those items leading to the smell.

IIRC elastomers are part of organic chemistry, so it is plausible that some reaction with (e.g.) acetic acid is happening resulting in a strange-smelling organic chemical product. (I think, but could be very wrong)

Yes the trousers have elastic same as underwear, funny you saying about vinegar as I was thinking maybe it's the vinegar, but then I was thinking the other underwear that has elastic doesn't get that smell. Funny thing is the trousers now is loosing that musty smell as I'm hanging them up to dry rather than leaving them on the clothes horse to dry, but the undewear I have left out for days but it still holds that smell. 

GDB2222

Could I suggest that you wash a clean cotton towel on its own, and see how that comes out. It might give you some insight into what's going on.

_Jem_

GDB2222 said:

Could I suggest that you wash a clean cotton towel on its own, and see how that comes out. It might give you some insight into what's going on.

The washing is fine with other clothes ie bed sheets towels, even washed my car wash mitt and drying towel. 👍