GE GFW450 SSm1WW Front loader-stinky clothes complaint

[elksk]

I have a real germaphobe tenant who has supposedly had diagnosed brain damage from a house with mold in the past.... the Washer machine was only used for 5 months before she moved in 4 years ago. She is convinced its the door gasket. The gasket looks clean and no smell to me. I did smell a t=shirt and it didn't smell good but she refuses to use scented or strong detergents like Tide... she only uses this unscented weird detergents.. . she isn't complaining about a mold smell but just a funky smell on her and sons clothes. She isn't the cleanest housekeeper IMHO. She called GE service 6 months ago and they told her it may need a new gasket. I gave her some of those Affresh cleaner tablets and the issue kinda went away for 6 months.. but she is complaining again.
I am a handyman and could do the door seal and actually had one delivered 6 months ago with the spring tool but sent it back after a week with no complaints.
I am considering buying an newer GE model with the microban and Ultra fresh vent system and odor block. I would need to make sure the dryer can stack on this new unit... the drtyer is a GFD456SSM0WW. how do I find compatible washer for it to sit on? I waited online with GE and had to press 2 every 30 seconds for 20 minutes or I think they would have hung up. The lady down south was nice but they dont have a stackable compatibility list.
I would ask the tenant to pay anything over 400-500$ I am an honest seller and how do you sell a washer that makes your clothes stink. I'm Tempted to put her unit in my laundry toom and use some real detergent. and replace the crappy newer washer with no agitator that I replaced my old Gem of a tank GE from 9'; that had the thunking gearbox that was my reason to come here in the first place a couple years ago. Gave that unit to a friend in a cement floor apartment and he loves it... we found a matching dryer for him and the old old repair guy at the store repair center asked him "how long are you going to live?" when I asked him how long this thunking machine will last.
I open to any suggested solutions....

 

[petek]

Most likely it's one of two things but likely a combo of both.. She's using a piss poor detergent and overloading the machine.

 

[steved]

Cold water washing

Always seems to go along with crappy detergent users.

 

[me]

The smell is likely caused by bacteria growing in detergent and fabric softener residue that has built up on the outside of the drum and inside of the tub. Is she still regularly doing a hot cleaning cycle using Afresh? It ought to take care of it as it is primarily oxygen bleach. Adding oxygen bleach when doing a hot white wash would also likely help, if using liquid detergent. Using excessive amounts of detergent and softener, and only using quick cycles would also contribute to the problem.

We've been using front loaders for decades here in the UK, and smells only really became a problem when liquid detergents became popular and people started doing far less 60°C+ washes. Our powder detergents, apart from the colours ones contain oxygen bleach which kills bacteria and keeps the machine clean inside as well as being great at removing stains. The premium powders also contain TAED, which allows the oxygen bleach to work well at lower temperatures, oxygen beach on its own isn't very effective much below 40°C. Leaving the door and draw open between washes will help to prevent mould.

I would also remove the soap dispenser draw and use a torch to check for mould growing at the back of the dispenser compartment.

 

[petek]

torch = flashlight..

 

[DADoES]

 
1) Avoid cold water washing.  Warm on the designated Normal cycle nowadays is barely more than cold.  Hot is the new warm.

2) This machine has an on-board heater for the steam option and Sanitize cycle.  Use it on a regular basis for cotton whites, towels, kitchen linens.

3) If she refuses to use HOT water for washing a load then run the Sanitize cycle with no clothes and a small dose of detergent and 1/3 cup of chlorine bleach every two weeks.

4) If she often uses the Quick cycle ... advise her it's intended to REFRESH a very small load (1 to 3 items) ... not to WASH a FULL load.

5) Quit with the cheap detergents.  Don't overdose on detergent but also don't skimp on it.  Moderate sudsing isn't the dire situation people believe it to be so.

6) Leave the door and dispenser tray ajar between uses.  Hang a towel over the door if necessary to insure it doesn't fully close.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Dadoes

Dadoes is 100% accurate. Low temp washing, too much detergent, keeping the door closed, etc.
I don’t feel buying a new machine is a good solution if the problem will reoccur.
I have had good results with citric acid and clean washer cycles for buildup. Though, bleach would be better for mold/mildew.

 

[combo52]

Glenn's reply number five is spot on as usual.

Using too much detergent will never cause a stinky washer detergent generally doesn't stink.

It could cause a machine to oversuds and leak or possibly even throw a fault code but in general it's better to air on the side of using more detergent than less unless you have perfectly soft water.

John L

 

[mrstickball]

Often times using oddball unscented detergents will build up residual soaps hidden in the machine away from the Microban components, and allow nasty stuff to build up. I bet the Affresh tabs took off a few layers of crud, but their lack of use + continual use of crappy detergents have brought it back.

Give her more tablets + run a tub cleaning cycle if the machine has it, and try to get her to move to Tide or another detergent with citric acid in it, or push her to use citric acid which is natural, but great at eating the muck up.Should go a long way to help her. Because I do not think replacing the gasket will solve whats behind it.

 

[qsd-dan]

I would emphasize on running a tub clean cycle at least once a month. All of Glenns suggestions are spot on but most people are stuck in their ways and refuse to change. In this case, tell her to run a tub clean cycle at least once a month, once a every 2 weeks if once every 4 weeks isn't keeping things fresh and clean.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

running bleach

And tell her she needs to run bleach through the machine whether empty or with whites with hot water.

 

[mark_wpduet]

It's so funny... they think they are right... stuck in their ways... and yet the result of their thinking they're right (won't listen to other suggestions) results in a foul smelling FL washer.. You would think they would stop and think "Maybe I should listen to what others are saying".. I mean, if I were stuck in my ways, I at least would want a suggestion on what I could do differently if things weren't working out.

I don't think it has anything to do with the detergent (other than possible dosage) I think it's the cold water washing, overloading, and there's never a hot underloaded hot wash to periodically keep the machine clean... it just builds up from constant bad washing..

I'm not sure about these GE's dispenser design... but the vent fresh dispenser designs are horrible...that blue microban rubber on the dispenser is actually encouraging mold growth because it traps moisture in the nooks and crannies of the dispenser.. I've seen a video of a person wondering why their clothes smelled bad... it wasn't the seal or the drum... it was hidden inside the dispenser itself. He took the dispenser apart (which was NOT easy) and it was filled with mold...and I'm not sure if it's preventable...I don't know if taking it out of the housing and letting it air dry would even help...just because of the way it's designed. In that case, that's what was causing his clothes to smell... the dispenser itself...

here's the video if you're interested in watching

 

[DADoES]

 
Soap and detergent are different substances with different properties.

Regard to "soap" build-up ... soap products can do so via scrud, which is residue formed from fats in the soap combined with minerals in hard water.

Detergents are less likely to directly have that problem.  More likely is accumulation of laundry soil resdue that doesn't sequester in the wash water and flush away due to insufficient dosing, accumuating on / adhering to the exterior of the drum, interior of the outer tub, and the tub boot.

Scrud can form with both soaps and detergents related to excess use of liquid fabric softener, and lack of HOT water to melt/dissolve the scrud.

 

[me]

reply #11

It's not solely cold washing, although I'm certain that would make the problem worse. A hot wash will dissolve and get rid of a lot of the detergent and softener residue and bacteria growing in it, but it takes maintaining 60°C or hotter for a few minutes to kill bacteria, without using additives like disinfectant or oxygen or chlorine bleach.

The one time we had a foul smelling washing machine, was my mum's machine, a top of line hotpoint microtronic, back in the early 90's. The main wash we used was a 50°C (122°C) synthetics wash, which was also for mixed fabrics. And never did any wash below 40°C and only rarely did a 60°C, or 90°C wash. We were using Radion liquid detergent (my fault!), which probably wasn't a great detergent. My mum cleaned the machine with chlorine bleach on a 90°C wash, went back to using a powder detergent, continued to use the same amount of softener and didn't change anything else and it never smelt bad again.

As for that microban dispenser, yuk, what were they thinking of! With that design it would probably still go mouldy even with leaving the draw open.

 

[me]

Doh! 122°f

Here's a video, I've posted before about using TAED and oxygen bleach to prevent bacteria build up and smells with low temperature washing.



I'm curious why American washing machines have "normal" warm" and "hot for temperatures and max, medium etc for spin speed, instead of
stating the actual washing temperatures and RPM, as ours do?

 

[DADoES]

 
U.S. washers have not been labeled with temperature points on the controls since forever, except early in the ATC era when some models had a choice of ATC and non-ATC temp settings and the ATC positions referenced the ATC target for Warm or Cold.

There's otherwise no way to control the flow to a target temperature, and no onboard heating, so no specific temperature could be attained.  Hot is tap-hot which varies per the household water heater.  Warm without ATC otherwise is a mix of tap-hot and tap-cold at whatever is the design flow-proportion of the inlet valve ... so not a specific temperature.

Some in the 1950s and 1960s had mechanical thermostatic valves and stated in the user instructions or sales literature that warm was 100°F or some such.  More deluxe models had 3-solenoid valves which provided a Medium temp of tap-hot plus a warm flow (of tap-hot + tap-cold) mixed in.  But that also depends on the household hot water supply.

 

[mark_wpduet]

That warwick chemical powder sounds to me like what used to be Clorox 2 powder (color safe bleach) in the USA....which I think is now only liquid... I haven't used Clorox 2 in forever... I wonder if this is the same thing in one of the versions of Oxiclean?

the method that has always worked for me is when I do laundry, I do the mixed colors first, then jeans...finally, the white load... so the final load of my laundry session uses a little LCB (whatever amount the dispenser holds) which isn't much at all but is enough... I've always felt like that white load cleans the machine... after that, I know I won't be doing laundry for a few days.. I take dispenser out, drain it, sit on top of machine, then wipe the seal with a wet microfiber cloth... sometimes I'll go inside the seal and wipe there too, then I wipe the glass off.

Aside from making sure not to overdo it with detergent/ FS and not overloading the machine... that's literally all I do

as for temperature. I've never measured what the temps are but the 2 cycles I use are heavy duty and whitest whites for white loads.. Both default to HOT and uses the built in heater for both.. The least temp I've ever used is warm...but never ever cold

 

[jamiel]

Seems frequently now, though, the "eco" or "natural" liquid laundry detergents seem to be potassium soaps which then leave mold/mildew forming scum all over. 

 

I'm intrigued by some of the "low waste" shops around which sell these types of detergents (one nearby claims to have a 5-enzyme cocktail in their laundry detergent) but then I remember I'm dealing with hard desert water and no matter the good hot water we've got here (washing machine adjacent to the WH) the scum is everpresent.  Needs to wait till we're back in Michigan with a softener.

 

[me]

#16

Here, TAED is used in some premium colour safe stain removers, notably some versions of Vanish: https://www.vanish.co.uk/products/stain-removers/oxi-action-stain-remover-powder/

The cheaper oxi-action bleaches have the sodium percarbonate, without the TAED.

It is also used in some off the better washing machine cleaners, such as Dr Beckmann Service-it Deep Clean Washing Machine Cleaner https://www.dr-beckmann.co.uk/produ...washing-machine-cleaner/#tab-wrapper-0-item-1

And our premium powders like Persil and Ariel.

Oxygen bleach with TAED in it also gets used for whitening old yellowed plastic computer cases and the like:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrobright

I use powder for most washes, usually mid range ones like Surf for cheapness, that have sodium percarbonate, without TAED. I use the 40°C synthetic cycle the most with mixed loads, and occasionally 40°C cotton. Rinse out the draw under the tap to get rid of the fabric conditioner residue and leave the door and draw partially open to prevent mould growth. I descale the machine once a year using citric acid on a 95°C cotton cycle, and that's the old cleaning it gets, and I only started doing that after about 4 years use, because the limescale seized up the coin trap and caused the element to fail. I had the machine apart when it was 10 years old, and the outside of the drum was clean and shiny and there was just light coating of limescale on the tub, so it definitely stays clean without needing cleaning cycles (my machine is so old it doesn't have a special cleaning cycle anyway).