GE UltraFresh Vent System actually works!

[niclonnic]

I've had our GE GFW655SSVWW front-load washer, along with its matching dryer, for 4 months now; my family has been nothing but impressed with the set. Everything we throw in there comes out amazing clean.

I'm here to discuss its hallmark feature, the "UltraFresh Vent System." This feature works by periodically spinning the drum while simultaneously drawing in ambient air through a vent built into the top of the door. It allows us to keep the door closed when the washer is not in use. The downside is that a venting cycle lasts 8 hours. So I've determined that it's best to run this feature when we are done doing laundry for the day.

The washer also has Microban protection throughout the machine, including the gasket, detergent drawer and drain hose. This further prevents mold and odors.

I have been using this feature every time the washer has completed its cycle(s) for a laundry day. It has been working exactly as advertised. Every part of the interior, including the drum, gasket and door glass, end up bone-dry and smelling fresh. Unlike the LG at my old house, the GE doesn't smell funky on the inside after a while. Even after wiping down the door glass and gasket with a dry towel, along with keeping the door ajar with the magnetic door plunger, the LG still smelled a bit musty inside. But our laundry still came out clean.

However, it is worth noting that the detergent drawer with SmartDispense does NOT have any kind of venting feature. So I have to pull the thing out, dump the residual water onto a towel, and set it right-side up to allow both the drawer and its housing to get some air.

With the aformentioned venting feature, this GE FL ended up being a very smart purchase. GE's motto for this is "shut the door on front-loader odor." Here are pics as proof. The traces of dog hair are normal; it's hard to get it all out of the machine.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I always love hearing good reports on washers... Yes it's only 4 months old but so far, so good.. That's a good sign. I feel like sometimes if something is wrong with the machine it would show up by now...

I'm SOOOO GLAD you're taking that dispenser out and dumping the water and letting it dry... I guess you saw that video I posted.. I'm not 100% sure, but I "THINK" that will help...

It runs for 8 hours? I have to wonder if that will shorten the life of the unit? Hopefully not... since there's nothing in there at all weighing it down..

Speaking of weighing down... I would never overload a machine... I think that's where a lot of machines run into trouble. I think about 75% full of dry clothes is perfect.

 

[trappn]

What's That Smell?

We really enjoy the way our LG operates & cleans. After about a year, though, the detergent dispensing drawer developed bad breath. There is no evidence of mold anywhere. Noticed that returned washers at Best Buy smell exactly the same way.

Beginning to suspect the odor has as much to do with the plastic components as anything else. Trust me, we have taken every precaution to minimize this.

At this point, we would be happy to switch to the GE if we knew that smell would go away. Thanks.

 

[panasonicvac]

My LG hasn't had a bad smell in the dispenser, and I don't even take the drawer out to dry. I guess I've been using bleach so much where it probably prevented it. In addition, My LG doesn't smell inside the drum. I use a magnetic door prop that helps air it out.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I literally take mine out, dump water becuase there's always some left in there...occasionally taking it apart and washing it... which is easy.. but more importantly... the housing... it gets plenty of air but I will ocassionally get a cleaning toothbrush and peroxide or bleach (not both) and just scrub the water holes, and wipe out the housing... Seems to be working... As I do it I think to myself that most ppl will NEVER do this... and it's so EASY and only something you have to periodically do. Even if I had a top load washer things can get smelly.. it's not just front loaders. I think what makes it even worse is if the washer is in a humid environment...

Take my friend who lives across town... In the hot humid summer, if I visit her, even though her AC is on, she keeps it on 78 degrees or something like that - and although it feels better than the 95 degrees outside, after being in there a while I can totally tell... so I think an environment like that would be more prone to issues (as an example)... or say, a house that doesn't have AC or a way to control the humidity. One summer I experimented leaving my AC on 75.. that was as WARM as I could stand it...guess what happened? The big stand up tile shower started to grow black mold..and I had never experienced that keeping the AC around 72/73.. It was at that point I said, "screw this"

My grandma didn't have AC in her house. Of course we lived in the mountains in western NC so it would get hot in the summer, but nothing like it does outside of the mountains..I honestly don't know how I survived not having AC...even there... If I lived there now, I would totally have it... anyway my point is... her hand towels would literally get a mildew smell within a couple of days. She would say "those towels are soured I'm going to have to change them"... Amazingly tho her washer never smelled..

 

[niclonnic]

mark_wpduet

Yes, I watched the video you posted on my last thread about this washer. I actually had a minor issue about 2 months ago, where I saw excess suds during the final spin of a towel wash. I tried rinsing them again, but was baffled as to why detergent was making its way into the drum DURING A RINSE CYCLE.

So I took the drawer over to my bathtub, very carefully removed the top blue part and figured out the issue. There was no black mold, but residual detergent had built up in the upper crevices of the drawer, causing some detergent to get mixed in with the cold rinse water. I dumped the remaining detergent back into the bottle (All Free & Clear) and thoroughly rinsed out the drawer with hot shower water. I then let these pieces air dry. Afterward, I put everything back together, refilled the SmartDispense tank and now the rinse water is coming in fully clean.

For that issue, removing the dispenser and letting it dry definitely helps. Not only is there residual water in the individual dispensers, but condensation builds up on top.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Wow... so you were able to take the blue piece off completely? If so, that's great that at least you know how to do that...

It never occurred to me that that can happen with auto dispense... I didn't even think of that until you JUST MENTIONED it..

Glad you got it sorted out.

 

[carolina128]

How loud is the venting cycle? Is it audible a few feet away? I’ve always been curious about this venting system (and now Whirlpool has come out with a competing implementation), but no one ever mentions if they’re noisy or not.

 

[niclonnic]

Carolina128

The venting cycle is somewhat loud; it's definitely audible even when I'm several feet away from the laundry room. The noise is like a "whoom, whoom, whoom..." If I'm in my bedroom, which is across the hallway from the upstairs laundry room, I can't hear the washer.

 

[carolina128]

Thanks for the info! That’s super disappointing. My laundry room is in the exact center of my single-level house, so I was hoping it was barely audible.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

whirlpool version

How does the Whirlpool version do the same as GE?

 

[mark_wpduet]

I would have guessed it would be totally silent... but I guess a fan is involved... Oh well. I mean, when front load washers tumble after the fills have finished, it's basically dead silent... just the clothes/water sloshing is all you can hear... No motor sounds at all. I would have figured it would be the same with the vent running.

 

[combo52]

GE ultra vent actually works

It certainly should there’s a small fan so it’s gonna make some sound, whirlpool has some models that have a small fan in their front loaders in the rear are those. I can’t really hear if sound is a problem. Get the US built machine instead of the Chinese one.

I don’t think this type of system is really necessary. My 20 year-old. Speed Queen has never been cleaned in anyway and still smells fresh as new just leaving the door a jar in the dispenser drawer half opened is all I’ve ever done to it.

Basically, if your machine gets stinky, I sure wouldn’t wanna be washing the clothing that you’ve washed in it because your clothing is gonna be full of bacteria. I’ve suggested in the past to check the cleanliness of your clothing by taking a clean hand towel or washcloth out of your linen closet make it damp put it in a Ziploc bag and put it back in the linen closet for a week if you’re clean washcloth or towel starts to stink it wasn’t very clean.

Whenever I wash towel, sheets, etc., I always use a little bit of chlorine bleach in the dispenser. I think that’s also kept my dispenser area from ever getting moldy or stinkythe quarter cup of chlorine bleach sitting in there until the bleach is dispensed, seems to kill anything in the dispenser cavity. If you don’t want to use chlorine bleach, then you should use the heater function for the wash to get the wash temperature up to about 150°. This will help a lot, my older Speed Queen has the heater feature however I doubt if it’s been used 10 times in 20 years it takes too long and uses too much electricity. It’s easier just to put a quarter cup of chlorine bleach in.

I’ve also only ever washed in hot water. A front motor uses so little water that you should use the hot setting no matter what you’re washing, and don’t be chin with detergent. I always set it for at least one extra rinse and it rinses beautifully. I even use fabric softener in most loads and it’s never been a problem.

 

[me]

I've also found leaving the door and draw open between washes prevents black mould. Although, I also use powder detergent that has sodium percarbonate that kills bacteria.

When I first got my Zanussi, I wasn't in the habit of leaving the draw open, just the door, and it developed a really bad mould problem right at the back of the detergent dispenser compartment. Just leaving the draw a couple of inches out cured it.

I've not had such a bad problem with the dispensers in previous machines, but this one is cold fill only, and cold water is ineffective at washing the softener stuck to the back of the draw compartment away. My previous machines also had more pressure behind the water jets that washed the detergent and conditioner down, and also had a vent either in the draw handle or out the back of the machine (although that one caused mould behind the machine on the cold brick wall!).

I do however get limescale and very likely zeolite from the detergent powder building up in the folds of the door seal, which also gets little bits of lint embedded in it, which looks unsightly if you pull the seal back, so it still needs an occasional descale.

 

[mark_wpduet]

I think you're right about the little bit of bleach sitting in the dispenser waiting to be dispensed helps.. but it doesn't TOTALLY help (at least in my case).. In my case, I USED to dump residual water and put the dispeser back and simply leaving it slightly opened. Well, that wasn't enough.. I would see "pink" areas starting to grow in the dispenser housing..So what I started doing is after I'm done doing laundry I take the dispenser completely out, dump the water, and just sit in the dispenser on top of the machine...at least for a couple of days then put it back...the dispenser housing looks normal now with no mold..

I'm not sure if the SQ is different but with my duet, when it's finished...you know those tiny little water holes at the top of the dispenser housing? Well, if you look at them it's like water drops just hanging there on the top because the machine was just used.. I wipe that off for good measure.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

FanFresh

A very highly underrated feature our Duet had. It would run for about 18 hours after a cycle. Very intermittent tumbles, maybe every 15 min, but the fan would really help with removing moisture from the drum and clothes after spinning. It was a great feature to run at night or when you knew you would not be able to change the load over for a few hours. The Duet either pulled or forced air from the detergent dispenser, IMHO, a better idea versus the door.

 

[logixx]

From 14 years ago