Washing is coming out smelling musty

coffeehound

_Jem_ said:

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.

A bit risky!  The heat can ruin elastic.  

IME rubber elastic goes slack and Lycra/elastane shrinks

_Jem_

coffeehound said:

_Jem_ said:

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.

A bit risky!  The heat can ruin elastic.  

IME rubber elastic goes slack and Lycra/elastane shrinks

I knew it was a but risky I thought if anything it will shrink didn't know about the elastic 😬, maybe then a 40 degree wash but put it on the itensive programme and still do the half a cup of vinegar. 

_Jem_

another_casualty said:

Wow! You have tried lots ,and it is still baffling . In my previous home, I had a washer /dryer which lasted over12 years.
In the last couple of years of its existence, there were the cabbage smells coming more frequently 🤮. 

I looked at various ( only stop gap) solutions including the filter. These included just washing no clothes at all and just putting white vinegar in.
Not sure if it’s worth contacting manufacturers and asking what they recommend. Probably nothing , but may be worth a try.

Hope you get a solution, and will carry on monitoring this thread ..

*Update*

Saturday I did a load of just the underwear, I turned them inside out added 4 tablespoons of white vinegar to the wash plus wash poweder, and 4 tablespoons in the fabric softener section, this time I put it on the Intensive 40c wash which is just over 3 hours.

What I first noticed when I opened the door was no smell at all and the drum felt warmer and so did the underwear, the waistband had a slight smell I suspect it was just a faint smell of the vinegar but you couldn't say that's a vinegar smell. As the day went on I kept on smelling the waistband and I wasn't getting any nasty musty smell, I left them out for 24 hours just to get them as fresh as I could. 

So it looks like putting it on the intensive wash did the trick, Maybe the vinegar helped to kill the smell. 

Now the test will be what happens when I mix them in the next wash with the trousers and go back to the normal 40c wash that takes just over a hour. 

_Jem_

😕 So it looks like it's the trousers that has this smell I have gone back to the normal wash method putting the trousers and underwear in, and the smell is back what must be happening is the smell is coming out of the trousers waistband and going onto the underwear waistband, when the trousers are dry the smell disappears but with the underwear the smell stays. So frustrating I can't do the trousers on a separate wash that would be silly, so I think I'm going to have to add something to the wash and hopefully that will help the trousers. 

Ditzy_Mitzy

Have you tried washing without vinegar?  

_Jem_

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Have you tried washing without vinegar?  

Yes I have tried that still the same outcome, I have now got some Dettol laundry sanitizer so I will try that over the weekend. 

Emmia

Have you thought about not using the 1hr programme - perhaps it is just not long enough to thoroughly clean?

_Jem_

Emmia said:

Have you thought about not using the 1hr programme - perhaps it is just not long enough to thoroughly clean?

I am thinking that too, it's a pain as it's just the trousers and certain underwear that the smell clings onto. 

another_casualty

I caught something on you tube the other day , regarding keeping the washing machine from being smelly . ( That's the thing with you tube ..random things you may like pop up )
Melissa maker I think it is , recommends baking soda and Tee Tree Oil . 

Worth checking out .

I have to get out more 😼...

KxMx

I use the mini 30 quick wash all the time with a non bio SMOL pod (can't use bio due to skin issues). 
Everything comes out clean & smelling good. 

Several times a year I run the hottest wash (90) with the machine empty and bio powder in the drum.
That is what an engineer advised me as it should throughly clean all the parts.