cleaning a washer

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support AutomaticWasher.org:

cehalstead

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Messages
201
Location
Charleston, WV
Does anyone have the "recipe" for using dishwasher detergent to clean out a clothes washer? Do you use enzyme detergent or not? How often should it be done? Thanks in advance....
 
Better to use 1/2 to 1 cup of baking soda to 2 cups or 4 cups of white vinegar.

What you want to remove is soap/detergent residue (alkaline), grease/oil buildup, lint, hard water deposits and other gunk,along with freshen the washer. All of these can be handled quite well by the above chemical cocktail.

Launderess
 
Laundress..... could you elaborate on that... do you just dump these things in... full load? 1/2 load? let it sit? Thanks., mine could use a good scrubbing!! Thanks , Jim
 
No laundry, normal cycle: just add the baking soda as the washer is filling (tap hot water is fine)and then the vinegar.
IIRC for top loaders one sets the machine to the highest water level. Soaking is not necessary, but may have to repeat if washer does not smell "clean" enough.

Another method is to skip the baking soda and just use 2-4 cups of white vinegar. Vingear being a mild acid will remove mineral deposits and does help with mold/mildew control, but not sure how effective it is with grease and oils, that is where the baking soda excels.

L.
 
Yes, it should be, that is why one adds the baking soda first then vinegar. If things get to "exciting" when the vinegar hits the water, then you know enough is in there.

From what I understand it is that "foaming" action one wants as it helps loosen the grotty gunk clinging to surfaces. Much like the baking soda/peroxide toothpastes foam to get at hard to reach areas in the mouth.

So far no explosions on our end, but please exercise caution. One can use just plain vinegar to remove deposits.

L.
 
We just got finished trying this tonight

Our Whirlpool has been smelling of mildew for the past year or so, we think it's because the washer/dryer are in a closet in the kitchen and a not a lot of air circulates in there.
We tried the Cascade Complete treatment, and it improved things for about a week before the smell came back again.
I discovered that there was some mold growing inside the washing machine cabinet, on the inside surfaces of the cabnet cover. Today we pulled off the cover and wiped everything down with a mild bleach solution and then after about 20 minutes wiped everything off with a water damp cloth and dried everything dry.
We still had a mild mold smell, but greatly reduced from before.
Now when we did this Baking Soda, vinegar trick, there was some fizzing, but not enough to worry about. The water did turn a translucent green/blue. When that spun out the rinse water was the normal perfectly clear color. The machine does smell a lot better, I couldn't smell any of the "off" odor it had before.
The real test will be what the machine smells like in the morning. We have been leaving the washer lid up for the past several months and the laundry closet doors open.
The reason we are thinking it is the washer/dryer placement is that in our last house (much bigger!) we had a very nice sized laundry room with lots of air circulation around the machines and in this house the machines are tightly crammed in this closet. This "smell" problem didn't start until we were here for about two years.
 
Dood, hate to gross you out, but that translucent colour was from killed off mould/germs.

When my Pfaff ironer arrived (an eBay find) the roller cover and padding reeked of mold/mildew and the odor. As the unit has a boiler for steam figured the previous owner never allowed the roller to "air dry" before putting the unit away.

Removed the cover and padding and soaked in a mild disenfectant/fungicide solution (had no vinegar in the house, which is not like me at all). the water at once began to turn a strange pink colour and the mold inside the padding began to vanish/lessen. Gross, just gross.

L.
 
thanks

Thanks for the quick responses to my question. Will give the vinegar and soda solution a try this morning,if the electric holds out....beginnings of a major winter storm here, and I live in a rural area with frequent power outages...
I might need to take the top cover off and give the guts a good cleaning too. Don't know how long the "new" 612 had been in storage, but it sure does have a nasty smell. Reached up under the tub lip the other day and my hand came back quite dirty, so I know there is something growing in there...
 
Laundress:

Thanks a lot for this advice. It's now the next morning and the washer doesn't have any smell to it whatsoever! You can really stick your head down in the tub and not smell anything.
Your method really works!
The strange thing is that while our washer had that mildewy odor, the clothes never picked it up.
I guess to keep things in order I should probably do this every 30 days or so.
 
Thanks Laundress!

I haven't been around much but poked my head in last night and read this on cleaning out the washer. I have a FL Neptune and it always stinks. I complained before and people told me to leave the door open after a wash and to unplug the washer until I use it again. Nothing worked except the vinegar and baking soda!!

You are the QUEEN OF CLEAN! :)

Thanks so much-you made my weekend.

Heather
 
I never have to clean my washer. But every week I do a load of whites at sanitizing temperature (+/- 200°F). Afterwards my washer is clean!! And after a load I never shut the door, but I leave it open zo the washer can dry inside. Every month I put 1 cup of vinegar and let the washer complete a super fast hot water wash. So the scale is eliminated. My mam thought my so and after 30 years I'm still using her washer.
 
I do a load with bleach every couple of weeks, and leave the machine open between loads so it dries out thoroughly; no smells and no sign of nasties growing. An occasional scrub of the washtub easily removes the detergent buildup at the high water mark.

I suspect that mold problems are worse in humid climates since water that's in out-of-the-way areas will take longer to evaporate. In which case running a regular fan in the laundry room could be helpful to get some air movement (and many folks here have vintage fans to use for the purpose).

It surprises me to no end, that people don't get weird infections from wearing clothes that have been washed in moldy machines. Like, eww! Or perhaps the stuff that grows in there is adapted to the human ecology, like the "good bacteria" that are found in moderate amounts in clean kitchens?
 
smelly machine

I normally don't have a problem with smelly washers, but having just purchased the 612, I discovered that it has a dirty smell when the lid is left down. Who knows how long it may have been in storage, so I want to clean it out well. I always leave the lid up and have never had a mold problem with machines I have bought new.
 
One can also add an extra gallon of water by bucket or jug so the level is higher than the regular full level of the machine, to help insure any soil/grunge at the water line is covered.

Laundress, what temperature for tap-hot do you recommend for this cleaning procedure?

I'm wondering if F&P EcoActive spray would be effective for cleaning the outer tub and sides of the basket, without needing a full fill? 140°F for EcoActive, then a lower temp (maybe 115°F) for a deep wash fill? Hmmmm. I could also do an EcoActive recirculation during a medium/low or medium level agitated wash by activating the recirculation valve and pump via diagnostic mode.
 
Designgeek:

We periodically used hot water and a bleach solution in this washer, and it still developed this moldy smell. It's gone now, but I think we'll still have to use the baking soda and vinegar solution periodically.
What's weird is that we have had these machines since 1993, and we never had this problem, until we moved into this house in 2002. In fact, they still had the "new machine" smell right up til we moved. So it HAS to be something with this house or area where the machines are located.
 
Whirlcool, it could be the water in your new area, but again as you say it could also the keeping the machines in a cupboard.

DaDoes,

Don't honestly know if "spray" washing/rinsing would work, spray household surfaces with a vinegar mixture to clean/control mold all the time and that seems to work though.

All one really needs is water hot enough to loosen and carry away the grime. Whatever coming out of your hot water heater is fine. Hot to boiling water will help kill off the nasties though, so many with washers that have heaters set the machine to 140F to 180F, or even boiling. Am not too thrilled with the idea of boiling water and mild acids (vinegar) so only use tap water.

The vinegar and baking soda works very well in particular for high end European washing machines like Miele's that have strong restrictions on using chlorine bleach.

Lysol (in the brown bottle).

Only tried that once and am here to tell that was the only time will ever launder anything in Lysol. Damn stuff left the laundry and washing machine reeking for ages, and the scent never really quite left the washer. Rubber and plastic parts in particular seemed to have an affinity for the Lysol scent.

Years ago Lysol used to sell a product called "laundry sanitiser". Never bothered to see what was in it and how it worked; sadly the product has long since been discontinued.

Problem with mould in washers is more pronounced in front loaders, and especially those in certian parts of the UK and Europe due to the quality of water. Mould and mildew need moist,warm places to thrive, and a shut up front loader provides the perfect incubator for mold. More so if the unit is not run daily and or washing is done mostly in warmish to cold water.

Undissloved detergent, detergent residue, human skin residue, soils residue, fabric softener residue and so on all provide great food for mould/mildew. If anyone really wishes to be grossed out, take a look at the "outside" of a front loader's drum and rubber boot. This is the side between the inner tub and outer tub. There one can see ages of gunk,mould, hair and god only knows what plastered to the side of the drum.

L.
 
Laundress, I have a tankless water heater, can set it to any temp between 50°F and 140°F. I bought a large box of baking soda this evening, and a 1/2 gal of vinegar (I also have a gallon somewhere that's partially used). Plan on doing 140°F for an EcoActive wash, then maybe 115°F for a medium-level agitated wash with the tricked-out recirculation and some soaking ... see what are the results. I happened to pull the agitator recently when measuring the basket diameter for reporting in another thread, and there was a bit of grunge under the skirt. Also some lint stuck on a rough spot left from the manuf process ... so it seems that F&P's so-called self-cleaning lint system may be somewhat effective.

You think this baking soda + vinegar is more effective than an enzyme dishwasher detergent treatment? Or Lime-a-way?
 
Cascade Complete and other dishwasher detergents are highly alkaline. Not sure if that does any thing and the enzymes contained in dishwasher detergent probably do not have too great effect in removing detergent residue, mold, et all inside a washing machine.

If automatic dishwasher detergents containing enzymes did a good job on mold and other gunk, the market for "dishwasher cleaners" would dry up, so far it hasn't.

White vinegar has been used for ages to kill/control mold and it is very effective. Baking soda has also been used for ages in removing grease/oil, muck and deodorising . In combination the two provide a really effective means of cleaning automatic dishwashers and washing machines without causing damage. Modern washing machines, especially high end/European front loaders contain very sensitive plastic and rubber parts. LCB and highly alkaline substances can harm these parts.

L.
 
Lauderess, what to do about the prevalence of icky-stuff on the inside of the outer tub on FLs? The very thought of all that crap in there is enough to give me a scare. And does the same thing happen to commercial machines in laundromats?

Seems to me the best protection against that stuff is a solid tub, or something like the Staber where you can probably reach into the gap between inner & outer with a cleaning brush. Or on perforated-tub TLs, lift the entire top of the machine occasionally to give it a scrubbing.

Or does the foaming vinegar & baking soda treatment take that stuff out?

And also, does stuff like that build up under agitators on TLs, or under pulsators on the machines that have them?

-----

gross-out alert, don't read below here if you're especially squeamish...

.
.
.
.
.
.
okay you were warned...

On THS, someone posted a topic on disgusting laundry habits.

The worst of the batch was the case of the apartment-dweller who waited for the washer and when the person who did the last load didn't show up, he removed the last load himself.. to discover it was, how shall we say this, full of the obvious signs of incompletely washed out human poo-poo, which had also gotten into and plugged up many of the holes in the inner tub.

Needless to say, he & his pal made a hasty retreat to the nearest laundromat, only to return to discover the guy who owned the poopy load had run them through the dryer with similar results (dried-up bits of poo clogging up the lint filter).

So, how would one go about cleaning & sanitizing after something like *that*..? And what's the risk in public laundromats? (IMHO, the guy with the poopy load should have been reported to property management as a manifest health hazard.)
 
LifeCycle: Tub Clean

Hot Water
Traditional Wash
High Water Level
Slow Spin
Normal Soil Level
Soak
Firm Wash

Water heater set at 140°F. 1.5 GPM flow rate (have the hot tap turned down a bit, otherwise it's ~2.2 GPM). Heater demand ran between 72% and 67%, which would be between 20,736 watts and 19,296 watts. That sounds outrageous, but if the total fill took 15 mins it would cost about $0.46 ... and it was less than 15 mins. :-) A *very brief* EcoActive wash ran. I tossed in four cups vinegar, one cup baking soda. Just a touch of foaming occurred. Fill for deep wash. Agitated for 6 to 10 mins, not sure. Initial cycle time was either 163 mins or 167 mins. When the soak phase started, remaining time was 157 mins. Standard 2-hr soak with seven agitation strokes every minute. Went to bed, didn't hang around to watch what it did for rinsing.

Interesting that diagnostic mode reported a mixing chamber temp of 60°C (140°F), with a "target" temp of 69°C (156°F). So apparently, IWL12 controls hot to a maximum of 69°C.
 
I remember that I had this stinky problem on a Kenmore washer that I had. It was one of the first series of DD washers that had the tub holes near that base of the basket. The gunk would be above the holes and when phosphated detergents were no longer available the washer began to stink. I took the washer apart and scraped out the gunk in the outer tub. I was glad that the tub was semi clear so I could see the buildup and where it was.
After I cleaned it and put the washer back together I didnt have a problem with it for about a year. I found out after that Whirlpool washbaskets would have the full wall tub holes to eliminate the stink problem. I guess they knew that people had this problem and fixed it.
Mike
 
European washers are generally not a problem. Ours certainly doesn't get smelly. The main thing to avoid is doing cold washes all the time. If you never wash at above 40C you should occasionally do a "maintenence wash" as per the instructions that come with most machines.

Just put in detergent, do not add clothes. Set the machine to 95C and let it slosh scalding water around for a while. The hot water and normal laundry detergent will break down any gunk deposited in the machine. The high tempratures will also kill any organisms growing in there stone dead.

By the end of the cycle you've a completely clean machine smelling of the detergent / softener of your choice.

The other problem with smells is not using sufficient detergent.

There's not a lot you can do if the machine's getting whiffy due to infrequent use. Unfortunately, any machine, top or front loading, has lots of places for water to sit e.g. the sump. if water stagnates it starts to whiff.

If your machine hasn't been used in a while, run an empty hot wash first.
 
For US-style Agitator top loaders you could try filling the machine deep with hot water and no clothes and adding laundry bleach or laundry sanitiser.

A pleasant smelling household disinfectant might also do the trick.
 
Lysol in the brown bottle

used to have another use back in the 40's. As a,uh ur feminine cleaning product.

Laundress you may be on to something here. In our last house we had city water, here we have well water. It's clean with no obnoxious odors to it, but none the less it's well water. If this is causing the mold problem in our machine, what can we do about it?
 
Pine-Sol: A childhood neighbor used to put 1/2 cup Pine-Sol in with each load. The clothes and washer (and laundry room and the house in general) reeked of the stuff. Out of---oh, I don't know, pure stupidity and a misguided sense of nostalgia, mabye---I decided to use some in a load of laundry a couple of years ago. Whooooo-WEE did that reek. I'd used it in a load of bath towels, and after I dried off using one of them, I smelled like Pine-Sol.

Pine-Sol went into the garbage.
 
Frigilux, do you work in nursing? My mother was a nurse and she always said that Pine-Sol "smelled like public toilets!". My sister who is also a nurse says "That's becuase you work in nursing"! Nursing or no, I do agree that Pine Sol is too strong.

Laundress, I remember that lysol sanitizer. The commercial showed a ghost coming out of a White Westinghouse washer shouting "GERMS!". I did like the way it smelled, why do these companies discontinue the products that smell nice? Nep
 
Back
Top