European whiffy washers
In the UK we didn't use to have to worry much about keeping washing machines clean, other than leaving the door open, but it was mainly thanks to regular boil washing and using powder detergent.
I remember somewhere around the mid 1990s - 2000, seeing an episode of "That's Life" a BBC One consumer/ entertainment programme starring Esther Rantzen, that featured stinking washing machines as their main story, because they'd had a huge amount of mail about the problem, with people blaming their machines.
The "industry expert" they had on, blamed it on the rapidly increasing popularity of using liquid detergents and also low temperature washing not killing the bacteria.
We'd already learnt that a few years earlier, having used "Wisk" liquid detergent for 2 -3 years in the 80s while it was available in the UK, then switching to "Radion" liquid. I remember my irate mum getting me to smell the machine, it was really foul. She tried an empty boil wash with disinfectant then, she used a very strong garden disinfectant, which still didn't stop it stinking, then I think she must have chucked a whole bottle of toilet bleach in it as a final resort. I had to stop the wash, pump it out and start it again about 3 times because of the amount of foam the bleach and all the old detergent residue dissolving in the hot water was producing.
That's why I use powder for nearly all of my washing, and only use liquids on delicates. I don't normally even bother to wipe or dry the seal, just pick out any balls of my hair and lint. The powder keeps it clean, no mould, no smell, just a bit of limescale in the fold in the door seal.
