Do you need to do a hot wash sometimes?

Herbyme

A while back I found my washing machine was developing a nasty problem inside the rubber parts, a kind of grey gunk was building up. I seem to remember the solution was the occasional very hot wash with soda crystals. There’s a lot of advice around at the moment to wash at low temperatures, do you need to do a hot wash sometimes to keep the inside of the machine clean? 

koalakoala

Yes you do

victor2

Our new washing machine, purchased last year, has a "drum clean" cycle, which it tells you to do every 40 washes. Basically it is a hot wash.

MalMonroe

I don't do that either because, like comperinha above, I always leave the door open when the machine isn't in use. It also helps if you wipe around the rubber parts after a wash.

On my washer, the very hot washes take about two hours to complete and I don't want to waste either water or electricity. And certainly not in these times of water shortage and energy crises. 

KxMx

I leave the door open after use and soak up any water in the rubber seal with a cloth. 
However there are other places gunk can build up internally that you can't access to clean. 
I live in a very hard water area and follow my water companies advice to do a hot wash while empty once every 3 months. 
I use bio powder especially for this, my normal product is non-bio gel pods.

JohnB47

We do our towels and kitchen towels at 60 degrees, other clothes at 30 or 40. Like others mentioned, a good wipe around the rubber seal after each wash keeps it clean.

And not just the part of the seal you can see - pull the bottom part forward and get that cloth/sponge right in and around the creased part of the seal.

We never used to do this until we got a new machine a few years ago. The new machines seal is like new.

macman

Leaving the door open is a good idea, but it doesn't remove the soap scum and limescale from inside the machine, which is where the damage is done: you need a hot cycle to do that every so often.

Debran

I agree with macman (previous post).  I always leave the door open but my machine instructions advise a periodic wash with powder at the highest setting. 

Please give some thought to the inner parts of the machine that you cannot see or you may be storing up trouble.

Apodemus

Funny this came up today, as I was planning on doing my routine hot-wash-with-vinegar on both the washing machine and dishwasher this week!  

getmore4less

Too much detergent is a contribution to manky machines.

Dirty clothes means those from someone that worked in a mine.

Most people don't have dirty clothes just use bio on a long coldish wash and let the enzines do their job

greensalad

My washing machine repair man told me you should. I do bedsheets and towels on a 90 degree wash anyway so that solved that. He said no need for a drum clean wash if you're doing that regularly. Also he said to do that wash with powder instead to clear out as I normally use gel.