FL WASHERS and BAD MOLD SMELLS; when did you 1st hear about this issue?

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

Help Support AutomaticWasher.org:

3

3beltwesty

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Messages
1,057
Here my family has used FL washers since 1947.

*******The first time I heard of "MOLD Smells" with a FL washer was from a neighbor; whose newish late 1990's Maytag Neptune Fronter smelled so bad "that they had to hold their nose while walking through their laundry room". Their rear house's entrance by their garage has one walking through their laundry room every day.

At first I thought my neighbors concerns were a weird joke, ie like saying one has:

(1) Trailer hitch ball odors

(2) Mailbox odors

(3) toaster odors

(4) Clorox bottle odors

(5) Lightbulb odors

(6) windshield wiper odors

When I visted their house back roughly 1998 ish; it did have a strong moldly smell in the laundry room. I was SHOCKED that the mighty Superbrand MAYTAG screwed up so bad; ie made a washer that was far worse than a 1941 westy; with a "PUKING STINK" stink as my neighbor called it . ie the golden boys at Maytag failed to study 50 + year old designs that did not stink.

My own experience with about 1/2 century of usages with the 1947 and 1976 Westinghouse front loaders; I never heard of this MOLDY SMELL issue before the neighbors issue with their Maytag Neptune. And since 1971 this is in an area that rains 65 inches of rain a year; and is real humid. With the 1947 washer powdered ALL was used; or Dreft Powder by my mom when us kids were in diapers. The 1976 westy used used mostly with All powder; but from about the last 7 years All in liquid was used.

With both the 1947 and 1976 machines; we never removed water from boot; or even used bleach to clean the boot either. We also did not worry about trailer hitch ball odor either!

About the only thing we did us typically left the door open; to make the boot last longer ie no set in the rubber.

I wonder about this "NEW TO ME" mold smell issue;

ie was the American FL washer of the 1990's was the start of this new problem; or did some other countries have issues with some washer models back in the 1980's and before?
 
Our 1947 westy was in the mid 1960's down in the damp basement in Indiana, and I never heard then of FL washer smell issues.

Most of the washing we have done is with cold water too; and the last 7 years was with liquids thus these 2 things others mention as "issues" did not make the 1976 machine stink in recent usage.
 
I heard about this problem back around 1999 when I was looking into getting a front loader.

I wound up getting a Neptune 7500 set (gas dryer).

Guess what?

It has NEVER had a mold odor problem.

I think that is due to several reasons: I run at least one hot wash load a week. The rest are warm. Seldom do I do a cold only wash.

I use STPP in most of the loads. This is a wonder chemical that virtually eliminates mineral deposits inside the washer, and it also helps gets laundry very clean.

The 7500 version of the Neptune also incorporated a special routine in one of the rinses that does a high speed tumble to help flush out any debris that might be clinging to the inside of the outer tub. It seems to work.

The only place I've had mold on this washer is a slight amount in the detergent compartment. This only started appearing after I switched to an "environmentally friendly" fabric softener. The same thing happens to a Miele 1918 that I run on cold water only in an unheated space. (The Neptune is inside the heated home). It's not a problem in either washer - easy enough to wipe clean. And again, no mold issues elsewhere in these washers. I do leave the Miele washer(s) with their doors open and the detergent drawers pulled out a bit. I don't do that with the Neptune - the front door and the detergent compartment lid both are kept closed when it's not in use.

I suspect the people who had mold issues with the Neptune did the following mold friendly things:

1) Used cold water only washes
2) Used too much fabric softener
3) Didn't use enough detergent
4) Used a liquid detergent only
5) Ran the shortest possible cycle with the minimum number of rinses
6) Never used an effective laundry booster like STPP
 
neptune odors

when i got my 1999 mah3000 neptune,in non-working condition for$25,it did
have a few mold spots on the boot and "dirty sneaker odor"After getting the
machine working,scrubbing off the mold spots,the odor has gone away...
no mold or odor problems with my splendide either.
BTW after the repairs,the neptune has been a great washer-just works great
and sounds cool too-just love the"UFO"sound of the motor during spin runup
Some people just do not know how to use a washer properly-i have found
toploads that reeked too and been around people that just reek of laundry
detergent LOL.
 
Here with our 1976 westy it mostly used cold washes.

Thus we never did a "hot wash once a week".

Plus in its later years we used liquid detergent for the last 7 to 10 years and never had any issues.

That is why my take is the newer washers are somehow less robust or collect water, since we never had these issues for 50 years with older FL washers.

There has to be some fundamental design flaws that some new American washer's have in their design.

Ie we older FL washer users never had any mold issues for 1/2 century; and we used liquids, cold water and did really nothing special except most of the time leaving the doors open.
 
My neighbors Neptune still smelled after washes with bleach in hot cycles. They used Tide in powder and not liquids. The machine went through the replacement of boots; many wax motors and driver boards. It later went into a landfill. Maytag paid them off with a 400 or 500 buck discount on a new washer; but it HAD to be NOT a Front loader. Today they still use their Maytag toploader with no mold issues; after the old Neptune went to the crusher.
 
I can't remember when my first encounter with a FL mold issue was (maybe 1993 in a Whirlpool that held a lot of water and was rarely used) but can remember first TL encounter. It was 1997 and a new Maytag Neptune. The owners made soap, washed in cold and used the "infinite water" feature to make the tub as full as possible.

The machine was less than three months old. The owners blamed the "new technology" and did all their laundry at the laundromat where they used Tide and hot water because "after all we are paying for it anyway."

I purchased the machine, cleaned it out with a pressure washer and bleach and it was a daily driver till November 2010. Best $100 bucks (bleach included) I ever spent.
 
Never heard about mold odour before joining this forum!

And in real life it never happened to me nor to anybody I know.
But I'm sure my former flatmate would have been a good candidate in developing it!
Washing everything all together and overdosing detergent and softener in cold water!
He never used more than 40°C washes!
 
Before purchasing a Duet HT pair back in 2007, I did a lot of research on line and that's where I first saw complaints of odor problems with FL machines.  I had no problems with mine, but I did make sure to wipe out the boot and leave the door ajar after use.

 

I agree, though, that something is different about modern FL machines because the 1950 Laundromat I had as my daily driver some 30 years ago never developed a smell and I would routinely close and latch the door after use.

 

I don't dare close the door all the way on my Affinity.  Sometimes I can detect a smell developing after finding my partner has pushed the door all the way closed.
 
Washing machine cleaners hawked in the usa.

Here in the USA at some local stores that sell FL washers, each new washer on display has sometimes one mini box/bag of the latest miracle product to keep one's FL washers clean.

At retailers that sell laundry soaps and bleaches; Clorox has this tiny jug of bleach that one can buy to remove front load washer odors. Tide even sells a washing machine cleaner too. ie products one buys to clean ones 1995 + and newer frontloader.

These new products are sold to use monthly; "to keep ones washer clean".

I never heard of any products like this; until the USA rediscovered the front loader 15 years ago.

http://www.clorox.com/products/clorox-washing-machine-cleaner/how-to/
 
My sister and I both have Maytag Neptunes (2004). Mine does not smell like mold,never has. Hers does. The difference? Fabric Softener. I do not use fabric softener in my washer. She uses a ton of fabric softener. There is a bunch of fabric softener residue in her dispencer with mold growing in it. It is so THICK I can scoop it out with my finger. That is just the stuff I can see in the dispencer. I'm sure the outer tub is really bad and moldy. No washing machine cleaner will get rid of it. The machine has to be taken apart and SCRUBED clean of the residue.

 

Jim
 
My mom use to use fabric softeners sometimes with the 1947 and 1976 machine that replaced it; and I still never any issues with fabric softeners with older machines
 
The fabric softener my mom used was Ultra Downy Sunrinse Fresh Fabric Softener in Liquid form by Procter and Gamble. This is with the 1976 FL machine. I still have many many jugs left from the 1990's that were bought on sale. I do not use it much. My mom when alive used it radically more than I do. .
 
I didn't first hear about it, I first smelled it!

My cousin bought a 1999 Maytag Neptune set. About 6 months later the thing smelled like an open sewer or a grease trap. Eventually (not long) after the machine started stinking the entire house started to stink. They had Maytag out time and time again but the smell would go away and then come back.

I don't know what temps they used to wash clothes with or what type of detergents.
They eventually ended up with a WP TL machine and are happy.
 
First Heard of Mold, Etc, On This Site

also one other, a commercial page called TheHomeSite or somesuch, back in 2005 when I was looking for a FL machine to replace my 27 year old JC Penney (GE/Hotpoint) top loader. I had no particular knowledge of front-loaders at that point, just thought it'd be cool. I thought I would buy another GE because of how well mine had lasted.

I found out pretty quick that it was ten years too late to get a good quality GE machine of any kind, and also that the GE front loader was a rebadged Frigidaire, and was offered by Fridigaire and Kenmore at lower prices. (the "fridGEmore)"

This was back in the middle of the hooraw about Maytag Neptune machines, and everybody had a lot to say. Also, the cracking tub spider and the $400 tub bearings of the fridGEmore was evident at that time as well.

I bought the next generation fridGEmore (big square door with round window) from Sears as a Kenmore model along with the dryer that matched it. I have been paranoid ever since about mold and stuff like that, so I leave the washer door wide open when not in use, and remove the detergent tray entirely. I use only powder detergents and only white vinegar as a fabric softener. I sop up water that is left in the boot after the last load. I don't use chlorine bleach more than twice in a month. (all these things I learned here, and at the other place) And so far it works. There is no odor. There are no roaring sounds when spinning. It's able to spin eventually every time.

I hope that by the time the washer wears out, I won't be doing laundry any more.
We'll see.
 
Re materials on older machines.

Thanks for the link.

Here the old 1947 and 1976 machines had steel tubs and steel spin baskets each is covered with porcelain. The 1976 that I still have has a piece of plastic in the tub's sump about 5x7 x 1/8 inches that looks like polypropylene; the pump body is maybe the same. The two spin basket blue fins are maybe nylon. The deflector shield might be nylon or pp. About the only non steel covered porcelain parts are the pump's rubber impeller and the tub to tub front rubber gasket. There is no aluminum at all to corrode, but one has steel that can rust; if the porcelain fails.
 
In 2004 when I got my Duet washer, I hadn't heard of this forum or researched anything about them. It was spur of the moment. I didn't read the instructions and I remember being shocked with the small amount of water it used........

Common sense told me to leave the door cracked........From day one I always have, before ever having read anything about mold problems or anything...There is no mold or odor in my machine at all. I always wash in warm or hot though and I use LCB with the whites.......

If you're in the dark and shine a flashlight straight down in the washer you can see the outer tub and the heating element. It looks spic n span.

I sometimes use liquid fabric softener but not that much. I don't see any build up at all.
 
So since older Porcelain steel American Front Load machines had *ZERO* mold smells for 1/2 century; what makes a new 1990+ American Front Loader so smelly?

In the photos above; the outer tub of that newer type Front loader looks like plastic.

Thus I wonder again why for 1/2 century Americans did not have to "To truely get rid of it the machine has to be taken apart and scrubbed.".

If somebody tomorrow has trailer hitch ball odor, or mailbox odor, or toaster odor the logical question comes up of why theses were "not issues at all" with older designs.

This is why this new problem is so interesting to me. We never had the problem or even heard of it for 1/2 century; then some new mid 1990's Front Loaders smell like an open sewer to some.

In order to fix an issue one has to admit there is one. Some newer American front loaders have had smell and mold issues; when the prior 1/2 century of older designs had ZERO issues.

The new ones that get mold smells have some type of design issues; ie maybe due to more plastics, aluminum that corrodes, water that collects in boots,

This is really classical "redesign failure" by golden lads. They look at an old design and improve it in some ways; but flop/failure to understand subtle design features. ie an American Front loader from 1942 did not require all the cleaning and care like some of today's modern units. If this was a car, maybe a 2012 car would have glove box odors and a 1942 would not! ie a 70 year old machine did not have these issues; and today the newer design has issues that did not ever exist
 
2004, on the internet

In 2004, I owned a TL GE, but some friends had sold their home with the washer/dryer as part of the deal, and needed to select a laundry pair for their new home. In their eyes, I was a bit of an expert on appliances, having updated my kitchen appliances in 2001, and they used my advice to select appliance for the kitchen they were renovating (completely gutted the kitchen) in the new home. Duets had been introduced recently, but the market leader were the Maytag Neptunes. Online, I learned about the issues with mold and the wax motors, and that there was a class action lawsuit from early buyers. However, it also seemed that Maytag had rectified these issues by 2004. Fast forward to today, their nearly seven year old pair still works great, has never been serviced. They do keep the door open when not using the washer, and they wipe the gasket dry at the end of the day.

I did not own a FL until March 2006. However, I benefited from numerous trips to Europe, where I usually was a guest in friends' homes. I noticed that everyone left their washer doors open when not in use, and adopted that aspect of appliance care from Day One of ownership of my own FL.

I did use liquid detergents for the first year or so, though I used a dispenser ball and avoided the dispenser drawer. After this initial supply was used up, I switched to HE powders and have continued to do this for the past three years or so. I run at least one Hot load per week and never wash in Cold, partly because my FL lacks ATC (and ambient cold water line temp is "too cold"). Most of my loads are on Warm, but I use Hot for towels and underwear/t-shirts.

My washer sits in a garage which can exceed 90 F in summer, but I've never had mold odors. The door is ajar at all times when not in use, and I always wipe the gasket dry at the end of the last load of the day. I suspect many of the problems people have with FLs (mold, vibration, poor cleaning action) are due to their inexperience with FLs, it's as if they just learned to drive a car for the first time.
 
@3beltwesty

I vaguely remember as a child seeing slant front washers (most likely, Westinghouses) in a few neighbors' laundry areas when playing with friends at their houses. This would be circa 1960-61 before I started school. I don't remember if the owners left their doors ajar when the machine was not in use. I agree with you that the switch to plastic outer tubs by some brands is part of the problem. However, none of my friends in Europe (with everything from discount brands all the way to Miele) ever closes the door of their washers when not in use. This seems to be near-universal practice in Europe.

Another issue with doors may be safety-related in families with small kids. If the laundry area cannot be secured, the machine really isn't safe around little kids. My FL has a safety-lock override, where you cannot operate the machine without pushing the correct button sequence, but that won't stop kids from trying to open the door and explore inside. There is still a chance of a kid climbing inside, a sibling closing the door, and the kid suffocating if not strong enough to kick the door open. I have friends in Philly who eventually bought a Frig 2940 and LOVE it, but their upstairs laundry room has a locking door, so mom can keep the kids out when she is not using the room. Some homes feature laundry areas in an alcove or closet off the kitchen (convenient for multitaskers) but not safe if there are small kids in the house since access to the machines cannot be restricted.
 
About the shining the flashlight in the tub with the room dark; that wasn't my idea......I actually read someone suggested doing that to check the heating element. I can't remember where I read it......But you have to do it a certain way or you can't see it......

U have to point the flashlight straight down and hold it down onto the washer drum so that there is no reflection and you can see the element and the outer tub. It also helps if the room is totally dark as well.
 

Similar threads

E
GE GFW450 SSm1WW Front loader-stinky clothes complaint
2
Replies
42
Views
2K
elksk
E
mysteryclock
New Washer Day this Thursday!
2
Replies
33
Views
1K
combo52
combo52
N
LG Front-Load Washer Rant
Replies
9
Views
735
turbowash
T
N
Maytag Atlantis-Neptune and Kenmore HE5T 2 years later
Replies
0
Views
157
norgechef
N
ilovewindex
Military Base Housing.. Did any one else grow up around it? Do you remember...
Replies
7
Views
202
passatdoc
P

Latest posts

Sponsored
UnlistMe
Back
Top