In the late 80's I had a version of a UK Philips FL that had a bleach dispenser.
I'm not sure it was supposed to be sold in UK, maybe the design was meant for Italy and the warmer countries in Europe. However, this model was made in Argentina (with important parts like timer etc imported from UK and Europe) and sold in Brazil.
The thing is, it doesn't matter if we or our relatives used to use chlorine bleach with those older machines. What matters is that the manufacturers for the "current" models (last 25 years or so) have been warning us *not* to use that type of bleach among others. Maybe if you just rinse the machine with bleach and cold water, maybe a 10 minute pre-wash, maybe a short wash with warm water, maybe something else are just maybes. By which I mean, sure, what the heck, go ahead if you don't care what happens.
But if it were me and my brand new machine (or even if I had such good luck and found one for cheap), I'd want it to last longer. Chlorine bleach is not going to make the entire planet implode like some think, but unlike other people think, it's not innocuous either -- as you can see, one can safely wash some kinds of stainless steel in dishwasher detergent that has a heavy dose of chlorine bleach, but both the dishwasher *and* that kind of stainless steel were chosen for resisting chlorine bleach -- there are some stainless steel that corrodes very easily in contact with bleach and/or salt for example. Also, numerous very useful, durable kinds of synthetic rubber used in hoses and seals get attacked and degrade rapidly when exposed to chlorine bleach. Chlorine is so useful *precisely* because it reacts with almost everything and it doesn't take long to do it either. Not a shy element, let's say... ;-)
My gut feeling is that they're using some new synthetic rubbers that will withstand brief exposure to lukewarm very diluted bleach, but not anything else. Say you think your gonna clean the washer, put a cup of bleach in the dispenser (which runs into the sump) and then change your mind and forget the thing there for a couple or hours, or, even more probable, you do run a cold/warm rinse and empty the machine, but do not then run another rinse cycle or two: now you have what started as a "diluted" bleach get more concentrated as the water evaporates, then the seal or the tub gets corroded at that point near the sump.
So, yes, if you see your granny, mom, or some other people who knows what the heck they are doing (Greg or Louis, for example), ask what they are doing and the details. Otherwise you may do things slightly different in your home, then, *if* you have problems, others here will poke fun saying "well, the user guide told you not to do it" and it can be embarrassing.
Have fun!
-- Paulo.
