Oil smell in Laundry

[mattl]

Was talking to one of my cousin's last night and he was saying he needed to have his laundry equipment checked, but was not sure if the washer or the dryer was the culprit. He said a lot of his clothes have a slight oily smell to them. I asked if he noticed any oil on the top of the water when he's washing, but he said there is too much soap to see if any oil is on the surface. I suggested running a load with no detergent and check.

He said the smell is slight but there. I can't think of anything in the dryer that would cause this since it's belt driven.

He has Kenmore/whirlpool equipment. Dryer 3 years old, washer about 6.

Any ideas where I should tell him to check?

 

[toggleswitch2]

And remember darlings, everyone is entitled to my opinions.

If the dryer is propane-fired this is possible, natural gas less so, electric it may not be an oil smell but cabonized(burnt) dust/lint.

Unburnt propane gas, BTW has a marshy/swampy/oily smell as it is a by-product/derivative of petroleum.

If the laundry machines are in the basment and the heater (furnace/boiler) is there and fueled by fuel-oil, care to guess what may be the problem? [if he has a Beckett brand oil-burning head, try replacing it, when it dies, with a Riello brand head; MUCH cleaner and more complete) combustion)

My mom had a Norge machine that pumped tranny oil into the wash-tub by way of the agitator when it decided to commit suicide. In hers, there were NO SUDS at all as it was dying no matter how much detergent was added.

Propane - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[toggleswitch2]

I'm just sayin'....................

A naural-gas dryer fired with propane WILL CETAINLY have incomplete combustion, with light coming out of the machine, carbon deposits everywhere inside the drum, a flamne that cycles off after a few seconds and a very oily smell left in the clothing.

It happened to a family memeber when Sears "forgot" to adjust the new dyrer for propane. Funny though, that they didn't "forget" to charge for the change-over to the proper type of gas.............

 

[sudsmaster]

Any gas appliance set up for natural gas that is improperly converted to propane without the necessary rejetting is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. The propane runs at a much higher pressure than natural gas, has more BTU's per cubic foot, and needs much smaller jets in addition to a new pressure regulator. It would be like drying your clothes with an out-of-control blow torch.

 

[westingman123]

>It would be like drying you clothes with and out-of-control blow torch<

Now THERE'S a visual!! Why do the Flintstones come to mind.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Blow torch.

That is exactly right. How she didn't have a fire, I don't know.

 

[sudsmaster]

Togs, your mom dried her clothes with a blowtorch???

 

[toggleswitch2]

No, that was used as her hair-dryer, and to singe her moustache.

 

[petek]

Singed her moustache geeesh Toggles

Talking about your mother like that, circus people are people too ya know..

 

[mattl]

It's natural gas in a basement with a gas furnace.

He's pretty fussy about caring for things so I doubt it's lint or such. Just not sure which direction to point him in...

 

[tomturbomatic]

I wonder if he has been doing any painting or using any petroleum-based products in the closed up house. Gas dryers can turn errant fumes into really stinko smells on laundry.

 

[alr2903]

Ditto that Tomturbo, even furniture polish can make for gas dried stink. alr2903

 

[yogitunes]

I know what you mean Toggles......

My sister spent three hours at the beauty parlor the other day..........

JUST FOR AN ESTIMATE!!!!

Theres nothing like a home permanent!

Fortunately I keep my feathers numbered, for just certain emergencies.....lol

just smarter than the average bear, I guess!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Come to think of it, even some air fresheners, especially those oil based things, in a house closed up for cold weather, could be a factor in this. If there is a window near the dryer, maybe it could be opened slightly while drying clothes to see if that alleviates the problem.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Finger in the socket again dear? Imagine if we had 220v?

~There's nothing like a home permanent!

There ya go............ explains that smell. *LOL*