New Washer Smells!

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bobbins

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Nov 18, 2015
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Location
Victoria, BC, Canada
I know that this may be an off beat question. How many of us luv the new washer smell? There people who just love the new-car smell..so what is wrong with the new washer smell. OK, when I was a kid (30 or so years)…I would open the lids of the clothes washers at the local Sears store and take a whiff of the new washer aromas. I am sure the store clerk probably thought I ws insane. The new rubbers, plastics and paint…to this day these smells stick with me. I noticed that the new washers built today do not have the same effect to me as it did when I was a kid..the plastic used seems to not a strong.

So after many years of laundry, the body oils, dirt, grime stick to the outer tub causes unpleasant ordours.
 
I LOVE the smell of a new washer, my grandpa worked for Whirlpool while mom was growing up, and they got a brand new TOL Whirlpool set every 6 months. So both me and my mom recognize and love that smell. Grandma on the same side always used Tide w/bleach powder, so that mixed with the new washer smell has always been a great memory for me! Because my grandpa worked for Whirlpool, as a wedding gift I believe, mom and dad got a free washer from him, it was a belt drive prototype. I'm not sure why it was so special, my guess is that it was some little hidden feature that helped Whirlpool out but not really the customer. But that machine died when I was 6, the transmission went...
 
I particularly like the smell of a new dryer before it's permeated with detergent and fabric softener perfumes. Since I got my last new washer and dryer I've been very conscientious of not going bonkers with perfumy laundry products with the hope of keeping the machines smelling new as long as possible.
 
I once rebuilt a 1970's Whirlpool Washer. I scrubbed the inner and outter tubs. Rebuild the transmission, repainted the housing, and replaced the 2 stage pump. New belts were installed. Replaced spin tube, agitator, hoses and other parts that appeared to worn. Virtually the washer is all new. After the washer was put back together, the new washer smell was there (that was after over 25 years of use!)..this brought me back so many memories and much pleasure...I was cautious what detergent to use and what I washed in it.

Funny how smells bring us pleaure. I walked by a commercial kitchen one day, and I could smell the bleach used in in Dishwasher ALL..some people do no like that smell of bleach in dishwashers, yet I do....the cleaning power..
 
Scientific studies show that we have a better memory for aromas than images or sounds, and that the aromas can trigger other memories.

The only new washer I've owned has been the Neptune 7500 set. I don't recall a "new washer" smell but I'm sure it was there and that I'd recall it if I sniffed a new one. I do recall being quite entranced by the set when it got it; quite a change from a failing 70's GE Filter-Flo. The Neptune still smells fresh and clean, but not what I'd call "new".
 
It did have a nice sent to it

When I had my new washer and dryer on layaway, I would go and visit them at the store that I was buying them from, for motivation of course. The opening was big enough to peek my head in and take a good look around and smell the un-used rubber,metal, plastic and glass. The instructions and the waranty cards tucked neatly. It was BETTER than sitting in a new car. It was also the first thing that I did before I did my maiden load in my new set. I would love to have that smell back, although, they do not smell bad.I know what Zip dang says about not going crazy with the smelly stuff.I have never used dryer sheets in my new dryer.
 
However, NOTHING beats the smell of a Unimatic when it shifts into spin and is picking up speed...a combination of burnt electrical components and oil that nothing new could possibly reproduce. The entire basement was filled with this at the Convention, and when I used my WO-65-2, it would fill the air of the washhouse as well. I'm looking forward to getting my machine running again, as well as going back to Omaha in September, for this reason...
 
The only new washer smell I can remember was on the one my mom bought in 1975. It was a nearly TOL Kenmore with "Quiet Pack" silencing feature and the smell lasted quite a while. That machine lasted for 25 years and one of the reasons my mom got rid of it was because it tended to have a sewer smell at the beginning of the fill process. Instead of having me try to fix it (I suspect it was a funky hose or filter), while I was on a two week vacation she took advantage of the insurance coverage she has on her home systems and appliances and they came out and replaced the machine with an absolutely BOL GE that screams out CHEAP GARBAGE! And no noticeable new washer smell with that one. I expressed my displeasure with what she had done but there was no way to reverse things.
 
MMMMMMMMMMMM--I remember that smell very well!!!!!!!

My mom use to buy all her appliances from a local whirlpool dealer--"Stuck Brothers". She use to hate to take me there cuz regardless of what she went there to get I would make a dash for the Laundry showroom and run up and down the isle lifting every lid and looking inside and taking a big whiff!!!. The day that her new washer arrived and was installed she washed a load of jeans. Thoughout the entire cycle I would open the lid and take a deep breathe. AAAWWW--HEAVEN!!!!. Can still close my eyes and smell that smell.
 
"run up and down the isle lifting every lid and looking

I STILL do that, forty-one years later.....:;
 
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