smelly washing machine!

alison6692

Hello

for some reason my washing machine has a funny smell to it. I use a nice smelling fabric conditioner and my clothes used to smell all lovely. But now my washing machine has a funny odour to it and this means that so do my clothes.

Its about 18 months old.

I use calgon every so often to try and stop limescale build up.

Can anyone suggest anything?

Thanks

Love alison
x

criminal_smile

Have you tried cleaning the filter. Somemtimes if it blocks, then you get stale water collecting, and this will kill off even the strongest 'summer fresh' smells.

flea72

i had this with my machine and it was the seal that had perished - put on a new door seal, and the smell has gone

orainsear

Check the rubber seal round the door - give it a good wipe with a cloth especially in the deep grooves as water tends to lie here. I've noticed powder is particularly bad for causing problems, especially with the tray - pull the tray out - it will come out if you wiggle it a bit - some trays you need to depress a button or something similar for it to release. Clean the tray (especially underneath) and have a look in the hole where they tray was. This usually gets filthy. Check that the drain and filter are clear. If none of that works, try a wash (unloaded) with the temperature on the hottest setting. I have added a little bleach to this wash on occasions and it cleans very well. If you use bleach, make sure you do another quick wash with normal powder (unloaded) to flush the machine through.

Chris25

It might be bacteria in the small amount of water
at the bottom of the machine.:eek:

We had the same problem and the engineer said that because of easy-care fabrics, most people don't now do enough hot washes (60 degrees or more) to kill the bacteria. He said that if you usually wash at 40 degrees then once a month you should run the empty machine on as hot a temp as it will go. Don't put any powder or conditioner in.

I normally do my teatowels/cloths etc on 90 now as I don't like to run an empty machine.;)

telly-addict

A mild solution of Milton or other sterilising fluid can be used to clean the door seal, that's where the smell can come from. If it is an AEG machine, quite often the water just sits in the seal and has to be mopped up with a cloth. Leave the door open when you have finished to let the air get to it.

frostyspice

Make sure the outlet pipe is properly plumbed in to a pipe completely separate from your kitchen sink outlet. I've just moved from a house where the dirty washing-up water was getting in to the washing machine via its outlet pipe - only discovered this on disconnecting the machine after 18 months of wondering how to stop it smelling! I pulled the outlet pipe out and a whole load of tea sloshed out!

Ticklemouse

There have been quite a few questions like thes on the old style board. I think your main culprits have been mentioned above, but quite a few of the Old Stylers have found that if you use white vinegar instead of fabric conditioner it 1)keeps your machine clean and fresh and 2) keeps your clothes clean and fresh. You can add a few drops of essential oils to the vinegar for your fave smell and any vinegar smell disappears when drying, honestly

Try putting vinegar in the machine and do an empty hot wash - you don't have any bleach to rinse out then. Also, it's not destructive to the environment most of the commercial chemical cleaners are. Take a look at Old Style and try working your way through the tips - they can be accessed via Squeaky's stickied thread at the top of the page.

TBH I never use fabric conditioner now but remember that when I did, my machine used to get gunged up and smell sometimes.

alison6692

Thanks everyone. Very helpful as usual.
Don't you just love thinking that if you have a question you can pop on here and someone will help you out.
Great.
Cheers
xxx

Smiley_Mum

I've done the following since buying my machine several years ago and no problems with smells in the machine.

Make sure that you leave the door of the macine slightly ajar between washes so that air can circulate around the inside of the machine while not in use.

Clean the filter regularly.

Clean the drawer regularly and any gunk from the drawer section of the machine.

Clean around the rubber seal and check for any debris after each wash.

The top temp I run is 60. The manual for the machine recommends running a maintenance wash if you run low temp washes all the time to rinse out any build up of powders etc. So I run a maintenance wash once a month, empty drum at top temp, normal measure of powder etc.

Never had any problems with smells from my machine and I bought the machine new over 4 years ago.

exponent

Smelly Washer Cleaner is a completely organic powder that is used to clear fungus from any clothes washer. It works by disallowing cohesive properties between organic and synthetic compounds. The cleaner is used by adding a small amount (1 tablespoon normally suffices) to a hot setting in your washer and allowing it to complete the cycle.
In order to remove fungus spores from towels and clothing use just one teaspoon of cleaner instead of detergent. Rinse and dry as normal.
This product is super simple and works great!
Smelly Washer