How To Get Rid Of Smelly Towels

[whirlcool]

I saw this article from our local news station. Nothing new under the sun, but read the very last sentence, that's the kicker!

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/consumer&id=8966904

 

[appnut]

Ahh, where's Marvin when ya need him lol. 

 

[appnut]

Let's see, I wash all towels, bed linens, and whites in at least 130F or 155F; used powdered detergent; I use fabric softner; I don't use the clean cycle; leave the door and dispenser door ajar between uses; and I didn't have one smidgeon of "smell" in my Frigidaire nor my current WP front loaders.  Everything else gets washed in warm..  No cold water washing here!!

 

[danemodsandy]

Snort!

Uh-huh.

Extra washes with vinegar.

Extra cycles where nothing gets washed, to clean the machine out.

Yeah, like this really saves water. I also notice that the wheel is being re-invented with a recommendation to wash towels in hot water. Gah-ah-ah-lee - what they done gone think of next?

Snort!

 

[nmassman44]

Borax my dears, borax. It deodorizes, and softens water and its natural.

 

[jeffg]

Step 1: Don't use a front loading washer.

There is no step 2.

 

[danemodsandy]

JeffG:

I could not agree more!

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Smelly towels!

Never a problem in my 96 WP TL. Wash in Hot (140-150F) water with Tide and 2 rinses. But that is a machine that actually does a hot wash and full rinse. It also has real turnover and will last more than 6 months. More than I can say for most modern machines.
WK78

 

[whirlcool]

Note that the guy who was giving the recommendations for odor removal himself uses a washer that is 30 years old!

 

[michaelman2]

If you have to use a front loader..bulky cycle (my machine actually fills nicely on this cycle) and as mentioned above, Borax...leave door open after use, even on a top loader.

 

[alr2903]

We never had stinky towels...

It's kind of funny in a way.  Poor old Mom put 2 boys through high school, some years we had gym first period. Stinky gym clothes and towels that incubated in a locker the whole day, then the ride home on a school bus. The damp towel still smelled like LCB.  Of course she would give them another "treatment" that evening. I do not remember us having more than 2 sets of gym clothes at any one time, she washed everyday.  She also knew the value of putting gym bags in the sunshine and wind. I do remember some guys with rumpled gray gym clothes and half way laundered towels.  She ironed creases in our gym shorts.  alr

 

[arbilab]

A few drops of iodine--not enough to stain--kills pritmuch EVERYthing without attacking fabric like bleach does.

I dunno where some get their FL data, but mine is 15yo, doesn't stink and never did. I don't use any heroic measures to keep it so, just towel the boot when done. Wash temp ~100F, just enough to liquefy sebum (skin oil/wax).

 

[tolivac]

TV newspeople--"Experts" at everything---the 30yr old machine is a kicker-I have 30 yr old WP washers-no problem with stinky towels-and how 'bout the body the towel has wiped-was it clean? A dirty body can give stinky towels.

 

[stan]

Think

Stinky towels are sometimes caused from sorry habits!
like throwing damp towels into a hamper, on the floor, ect. Then not doing the wash till next week! Trust me I've seen people do it!
As mentioned up thread, SUN is good! Hang em outside where the fresh air, and ultraviolet rays can get at em !

 

[mark_wpduet]

This is why

I'm the only one that does laundry. I don't have these issues and I have a FL washer that's approaching 8 yrs old.

That said - I still wish they used more water

 

[frigilux]

A couple of things:

 

1) $450 to replace a gasket?!  Can that possibly be true?  

2) I've been washing towels in front-loaders since 1987 and have never experienced musty smell / buildup on gasket. 

3) Towels also get musty if they are hung in such a way that prevents efficient air-drying after use.[this post was last edited: 1/25/2013-03:29]

 

[DADoES]

 
<blockquote>1) $450 to replace a gasket?! Can that possibly be true?</blockquote> I imagine so ... but based on my (admittedly only a one-time) experience replacing the boot on my Duet refurb, it's absolutely outrageous.

 

[tomturbomatic]

A solution of the Lysol that comes in the brown plastic bottle inside the cardboard box would deodorize the towels faster. We need to have the utility companies and the guvament stop telling people to wash in cold water.

 

[golittlesport]

$450 to replace gasket?

Service calls have gotten expensive. My mom just had the motor replace in her 15 year old gas dryer for $400...the guy told her the motor was $200 and the labor was $200. That seems like a lot. I didn't say "you should have just gotten a new dryer," didn't want her to feel bad.

People do not know how to use appliances these days. I've had a front load washer for 13 years and have never had a mold or odor problem. I believe this all caused by user error.

 

[frigilux]

I rarely need appliance service, but I do know this: If a repairman in my little village tried to charge $450 to replace a gasket he'd be ridden out of town on a rail!

I say that mainly because there is a repairman at my house right now replacing the door gasket on my LG dishwasher. That's probably much easier than replacing the boot/gasket on a front-loader.
I now join the ranks of people with an LG dishwasher that's needed service within the first five years of its life. Mine is 4-1/2 years old. That means I'll be one of the people who have to check that little box next to the question on Consumer Reports' next survey.

 

[miele_ge]

no stinky towels (or anything else) here, thank you!

And we use a front loader...  120 degrees and Persil do the trick nicely for undies, bed linens and towels (kitchen towels get 190).

 

No heroic measures here other than only using powdered (Persil) detergent.  My mom also has a 7 year old FL, a basic GE (Frigidaire?),  and no smells.  I convinced her early on that she needed to use Persil and she listened.  She did stray a bit and bought a box of Cheer but is now asking me to order another box of Persil for her!

 

A good friend who also has a front loader uses that Melaluca (sp?) stuff and says all you need to do is add baking soda, etc and that "helps" prevent the smell.  Why not use a good detergent and proper temps and call it good?

 

My sister in law is the same way... complained about smells from her Duet.  Used cold or warm washes only, not much sorting, and way too much liquid detergent and fabric softener.  I suggested that she try Persil or at least a powder detergent and she just rolled her eyes.

 

 

 

[danemodsandy]

Yep!

"A dirty body can give stinky towels."

Yes, there are folks who feel that simply having gotten into the shower is plenty good enough.

You need to soap up all over, and you need to scrub in the body folds.

Especially that body fold.

 

[strongenough78]

I've never had a problem with stinky towels after washing them. When I'm able to use a friends machine for laundry, I always double rinse the towels then add a bit of softener in the last rinse and they always come out sweet smelling no matter how bad they smelled before washing them. It's funny how now washer manufacturers and the government wants us to use cold water to wash everything, yet run 3 or 4 cycles with hot water to clean out the machine that got filthy from all the cold water washing to begin with. If the machine is water efficient, then using hot water to wash in the first place shouldn't be a problem and would avoid all the mold, mildew and must problems to begin with. My best friends WP DD top loader only gets hot water washings when I use it. And then I turn up the water heater as high as it will go. Her washer never really stinks, but it seems to smell cleaner after I'm done using it lol. She only uses cold water with liquid detergent.

 

[lotsosudz]

Clorox

I wash my towels occasionally with a 1/2 cup of Clorox, with Sears Detergent, and Downy, and mine always come out beautiful! They make it sound like its rocket science. I you would use hot water and Clorox once in a while, you wouldn't have to deal with all that, and your gasket would be fine. I had a 1984 Westinghouse FL for years, and never experienced any of this! Again, its not rocket science!
Hugs,
David

 

[whirlcool]

I think a lot of it has to do with the environment the washer is located in.
I've mentioned this before, but it fits in this discussion so I'll mention it again.

My nutty sister has a Kenmore 2T plus washer. She's had it for 8 years now. Everything is washed/rinsed on cold/cold. She lives outside Chicago so you know that in the winter that incoming water is COLD! She uses only Tide by the CUPFUL, not capful (the salesguy told her to only use Tide, if she tried something else her warranty would be voided). She also fills the fabric softener compartment to the max with Downy. She also never leaves the door open after use because her cats will use it as a litter box!

Guess what. Eight years of this and the machine is still odor free. No smelly towels, no odors at all, etc. So she has done everything that people have done to cause odors but she doesn't have any.

Now on the other hand I had a cousin not far away from my sister who had an early Maytag Neptune front loader set, she did it all right (left the door opened, wiped the drum and gasket out, used hot water washes) and in 6 months her whole house smelled like a sewer from that machine. When the Maytag guy was there she saw that the inner drum was just loaded with moldy stuff.

Now explain that, I couldn't!

 

[mrb627]

Past Experience

I would say that musty stinky towels are most likely caused by leaving clean laundry in the washing machine overnight and drying it the following day. While I don't tolerate this practice, I know a few people that don't hesitate to leave laundry overnight before running it in the dryer. Even after the laundry has soured, dry it and move on.

Shameful behavior and unsanitary as well.

Malcolm

 

[dustin92]

I have never had smelly anything come out of a traditional Top load washer, but when we had our Frigidaire Gallery front loader, nothing you could do would make towels smell clean. They always smelled mildewy and musty, even with regular warm/hot washes and regularly using bleach. Now, since we moved and have top loaders (Maytag Performa upstairs, Speed Queen downstairs, the towels have never smelled better, even doing what would typically cause them to smell, washing in cold water and using cheap liquid detergent.(Although I do run warm/hot washes ocasionally) Even friends who are TERRIBLE at doing laundry (no sorting, cold water only, cheap liquid detergent) always have fresh smelling towels,even though they are gray and dingy. (They have a Whirlpool DD) I think the most important things are 1. leave the washer lid up whenever it is not in use, and 2. Dry the laundry immediately after it is done washing, not so much the water temp or brand of detergent.

 

[tomturbomatic]

If a cat used my washer as a shitter, it would be at the door of the humane society immediately, no second thoughts about it, unless I caught it in the machine in which case the door would be slammed and a cold fill initiated. After a minute, I would pause the thing and open the door to the machine and the basement door. Animals and children need to be shown the dangers of bad behavior.

 

[whirlcool]

My sister has 6 cats. They go everywhere, including walking on the top of kitchen counters while she's cooking.

One time her and her husband went on a weekend trip and forgot they left the washer door open. They came back to a full litter box and full washer. They are real cat people. But she keeps the door shut to prevent a repeat performance.

Her washers are stacked, so since they are not on pedestals the washer opening is quite low to the ground. Now since she has a proper laundry room it could be a matter of leaving the washer door open and shut the door to the laundry room, but she won't. She's the kind you can't tell anything to. Even suggesting this to her would meet with a response such as "How do you know?" "Do you work for Sears?" "Did you design this washer?" "Quit telling me crap when you don't know what you are talking about!"

This is the reason I always refer to her as my crazy or nutty sister, she's bi-polar and is very erratic about taking her meds. Most of the time she hasn't because they "make people around me act strange". I last saw her in 2007, and no intentions of going back (Chicago) anytime soon. I do try to talk to her at least once per month just to keep the connection, but usually it's a failed effort.

 

[mrwash]

Is this really a matter of using a TL or FL?

I don't think so. It is just the matter people don't care about correct laundry treatment. Since consumers are told to use cold water to save energy and to buy the most energy and water saving machines more an more people are screaming for help as both the laundry and the machine are rotting. And additionally laundry is something most people don't want to care about. It has to be done quickly. As cycles of newer machines tend to be quite long, the short wash option has become quite famous. And liquid laundry detergent can't do the job of a powder.