Washing machine stinks.

[Rusty Old-Banger]

Anyone here had a stinky machine? Musty/mould smell - we recently went away for a week and when we got back the whole house smelled like some sort of Calcutta gym - which we very quickly traced to the machine.

In greatest Washing Machine Repairman style, I've taken the door seal and sump hose off and put them in bleach overnight, they came up like new. I've had the outlet pump out and cleaned that to within an inch of it's life (it wasn't that bad). I've cleaned as much of the drain hose as I can reach with a drain spring/snake and pouring boiling water in to the machine backwards (filling it via the drain) - loads of stuff came out. I've taken the drawer out and dismantled that, and it's now sparkly clean. Fill hoses are immaculate. I've put a sachet of cleaner in to it. All that, and it still smells. I can't think what else to clean - apart from putting a couple of litres of bleach in to it and running it hot to try and clean between the inner and outer drums. (I can't separate the drum/spider).

Any thoughts? I'd rather not go and shell out however many hundreds on a new machine, I've recently replaced the belt and motor brushes, and back in the spring I got the T-cut and DA (really) out on the case so although it's a 15 year old Bosch, it looks like new, and has been the most reliable appliance I've ever had, so would like to keep it if possible. We use it maybe 3 times a day (big family) and I expect newer stuff is getting less maintainable year on year.

Anyone had similar? What did you do to solve it?

[butchstewie]

A sachet isn't going to magically shift 15 years of crap.

Have you tried running a lot of hot cycles (the hottest and longest you can) with a proper biological washing powder?

Also leave the door and powder compartment open between use.

[Doesitdrive]

Do you shut the door to it when not in use?

If you do, don't.

[PT1984]

We get this even on a relatively new machine. I regularly drain the water out the bottom hose, run a mega hot wash every month as we normally wash at 30c, and always pull out the draw and wipe the door and seal after use. Doors open and drawer out if not in use. My wife does none of the above!

[TheLurker]

I find running a cleaning cycle with a healthy dash of bleach in gets rid of most of it. And as others have said, leaving the door and draw open helps massively to stop it in the first place.

[butchstewie]

Might be worth a watch too.

[shtu]

Take the detergent drawer out and clean the space it fits into. There's often a load of mould and gunk in there.

Otherwise, regular boil washes with some soda crystals added.

[JoshSm]

Don't use bleach, you can end up destroying all sorts of rubber parts.

Run it on a hot wash, add some oxygen bleach powder and some cloths to help agitate it all..



Oxy powder tends to help strip out any soap residues, citric acid is usually the best if it needs descaling (generally compatible with the seals too) and is what most of the cleaners use.

Edited by JoshSm on Monday 7th September 17:24

[heisthegaffer]

I use soda chrystals too on a hot wash to clean the element

[cliffords]

Daughters washing machine absolutely stinks . She has two boys under 5. Ours is not smelly. I think it's a direct correlation of how stinky your pants are .

[butchstewie]

Sad sack that I am I did quite a bit of homework on how to keep a washing machine in "as new" condition when I last replaced mine.

Short answer is use powder regularly and run regular hot washes with powder.

Those short low temperature cycles on 30 degrees and tabs or liquid are just bad news.

And leave the drawer and door open between cycles.

[Rusty Old-Banger]

Thanks guys, some good tips there - and that YT video will get a watch later. We don't do many hot washes to be fair. And I'm a bit OCD in closing the door whenever I see it open, that's probably one of the bigger problems - I will refrain!

cliffords said:

Daughters washing machine absolutely stinks . She has two boys under 5. Ours is not smelly. I think it's a direct correlation of how stinky your pants are .

This made me lol, with a couple of teenagers and a 4 year old, that could be a valid point too

[Simon_GH]

Remove the soap drawer and clean with an old toothbrush - it’s amazing what they collect.

As an earlier poster said, open the drawer and door when not in use.

[untakenname]

I always wash clothes at 40c and towels at 60c and have never had any issues, I'm sure a lot of the smells are due to washing at too low a temperature.

[kambites]

Ours was doing this and a cleaning cycle (our machine has a specific drum cleaning cycle which runs at 90 degrees) with a sachet of washing machine cleaner seems to have sorted it out.

[abzmike]

I've started putting a dash of conditioner in, which helps - Most of our washes are at 30, so may start giving it an occasional go at 60.

[Dogwatch]

We had a new trunking fitted between door and tub which wiped out my 30 degree wash savings in one go. Gone back to 40 degree which has helped, after a 60 degree wash with cleaner.

I recently found that the smell was starting to come back so removed the filter plug which had years of scale on the inside. Intensive work with Kilrock descaler and some sharp pointy things removed the scale, and the smell.

Learning curve: Test the water tightness of the replaced filter plug by gradually adding water from a jug rather than jumping to a wash setting. A single missed piece of loosened scale and the filter plug will leak all over the floor until the drum is empty…

[x type]

Remove the soap drawer and clean with an old toothbrush - it’s amazing what they collect.

While the drawer is out use the toothbrush to clean above the drawer where the water is dispensed lots of small holes there which can get black and smelly

[B'stard Child]

butchstewie said:

Might be worth a watch too.

Useful Video - thanks for sharing

Don't have a problem with limescale as our WMC runs on softened water but I've noticed our monthly hot wash is becoming less effective from a slightly stale smell perspective so I think I'll be trying the dishwasher tab trick along with increased water volume and a "heat soak pause" after the heat up phase

[JoshSm]

Dishwasher tabs are a silly idea too - they're usually strong stuff and washing machines use materials that aren't specced to cope with them.

Hydrogen peroxide powder and citric acid are usually plenty and the machine will cope happily.