Raise you hand if your washing machine has ever suffered from stinky washing machine syndrome! This is a very common condition {especially if you have a front loader} but with a few adjustments to your laundry routine, you can once again have clean, fresh smelling laundry!
Four years ago, we purchased a new front loading washing machine. All was wonderful for about the first 6 months but then I started to notice a not so pleasant smell every time I opened the door. Over time, I also started to notice that my laundry was also not smelling so fresh….
Even Connor was upset! 🙂
So I did a little research and discovered that, due to their design, front loaders don’t completely drain every time a load of laundry is done. The volume of suds produced by regular detergents can also act like sludge to water draining out of the tub and the fragrances will mix with the mildew-y water. The result? My nice stinky washing machine!
I am happy to report, however, that with a few adjustments, my washing machine is now stink-free and my laundry is once again clean and fresh! Just follow these simple tips and you too can get rid of that stinky washing machine syndrome…
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Change your laundry detergent. The brand of laundry detergent that I use definitely seems to have one of the biggest impacts on how my washing machine smells. Detergents with more fillers and added fragrances tend to be the worst culprits as they will leave more residue behind.
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Avoid using too much detergent. Just because you have an extra dirty load of laundry does not mean that you should add a lot of extra detergent. If you are concerned about extra stains, pre-treat them or soak them in the sink prior to washing. Adding more detergent can lead to more residue build-up and actually decrease your machine’s cleaning efficiency! I often find that the recommended amounts of detergent are much higher than needed. So play around with the amount of detergent you add to get the right amount for your machine.
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Add some vinegar. Vinegar is great for removing odors from both your clothes and your washing machine and will also help to soften your clothes. Use this in place of fabric softener – it is cheaper, will not leave behind a residue, and does not have any added chemical ingredients. Add 1/2 -1 full cup of vinegar per load – I promise your clothes will not smell of vinegar when they are removed! {NOTE: NEVER combine bleach and vinegar together}
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Give the rubber gaskets a swipe. After each load of laundry, get in the habit of checking the rubber gaskets for any small clothing items {my kids socks love to hang out there} and quickly wiping them down with a dry cloth to get rid of any excess water.
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Leave the door open. Leave your washing machine door slightly ajar to allow air to circulate and help to prevent the growth of mold and mildew.
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Remove wet clothes promptly. Okay I know that this does not always happen, but try to do this as much as possible.
So there you have it! Hopefully these tips will help your washing machine out as much as they did mine!
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Do you put the vinegar right in the fabric softener dispenser?
You can put it right in the machine to help get rid of odors and in the fabric softener dispenser to actually work as a fabric softener!
Hey Jen, just found your site. Love it! Have you used a product called Freshana Organic Solutions? Just wondering. Thinking of giving it a try. Thanks.
I haven’t used that before but I always like to hear of new green cleaning products!
BEST WAY TO REMAIN STINK FREE (speaking of washers) is to use two small bungee cords ( hooked to each other) Attach one bungee to a magnetic towel rack on right side of washer and the other bungee hook to the washer latch, leaving the door ajar at whatever gap you need/prefer. This avoids mold/mildew accumulating and prevents anyone walking by from accidentally catching the latch on their pockets and/or painters loop (happened twice to my husband, before I wised up and came up with this solution…………………..
Hi, I have been reading your tips today and wondered if you are talking about using normal vinegar (used in the UK on chips) or a special sort? Many thanks
Just plain old white vinegar! 🙂
White vinegar is 36 pence in Tesco
You said never mix bleach and vinegar. Just out of curosity because I’ve never heard not to mix them, what happens?
Bleach and vinegar, when combined, produce toxic chlorine gas which {worse case scenario!} can actually kill you. There’s no point risking your health for the sake of cleaning! 😉
Thank you for your tips!! Just cleaned the gasket (gross)! Looks alot better now! Now running the vinegar through the machine!
Oh good! Hope it helps! 🙂
I did all the steps today! I completed my first load without a yucky smell in forever! Lots of water still gathering in the gasket after a load – I wonder if I have too much gunky backup. Hopefully it will clear up now that I’ve cleaned everything! Thanks for the great tips!
Glad it helped! I still get some water gathering in the gasket – try decreasing the load slightly and it will often make a difference.
Another suggestion, in between washes, store a charcoal bag in the machine. Norwex has a great one, which helps absorb any offending smells. Plus absorbs extra moisture. Keep door open slightly
I tied a song shoe lace on my charcoal to remind myself it is in the machine. Works wonders.
Great idea for the shoe lace – I’m sure I would forget it in there! 😉
I’ve had my front loading machine for 10 years now. The smell is horrible even with bleaching the machine or running the additional product through made specifically for that problem and leaving the door wide open. You would think that if they can send a man to the moon, they could actually fix their DESIGN FLAW in 10 years time. Apparently they would rather sell more useless products than fix the problem.
I’d try either changing detergent and/or using less soap. Just decreasing your loads by a few items can also make a big difference. I have not had any issues with a stinky machine since I made the changes. You can read more ideas here…
https://www.cleanandscentsible.com/2010/08/tueday-tidbits.html
Hope that helps!
P.S. I do totally agree though, that appliances are just not made to last like they used to. 😉
I just did the 1st step to clean the gasket. I put the bleach/water soaked rags in the gasket and left there for 40 minutes. Then I scrubbed with a toothbrush. Still no luck……the mold/mildew won’t come off! A little bit came off but there is still a lot of visible mold. Any tips?
Hmmm… I’d try repeating it a couple of times and really soak the rags with straight bleach. I’d leave it for a longer period too. Hope that helps!
I had a lot of problems with a foul smell and tried vinegar and bleaching it always came back. So I decided to clean the filter, which was the culprit. It will have screws bobby pins dog hair sticks pennies and the smell was awful. So maybe you can suggest that if nothing else is working. It was easy to do although a pretty dirty job.
Great tip! I’ve cleaned mine out a couple of times too {over the 8 years or so we’ve had this washer!}
When I moved into my new house it came with a front loader washer and dryer. The smell from the was horrible. I noticed the water wouldn’t drain and the smell became worse. I had a friend help me open the back of the washer and I checked the pump filter. There was a pair of women’s underwear (belonging to the previous owner) stuck in the filter section. This was causing the water to sit and become stagnant. If you can’t get rid of the smell or notice the water doesn’t drain well, check the drainage pipes and filter. Yuck!!
If your machine stinks and cleaning it doesn’t help, maybe look at what kind of waste system it’s connected to. It you have a side attachment to a waste trap in a kitchen sink, the low power of water draining from the machine often isn’t enough to clear the trap properly. If you tend to put small waste and grease down your sink, it’s even more likely. I have to take off the waste trap every 6 months or so to clean and bleach it to remove mould and general yuk. If it looks squeaky clean and still smells, look further afield to see if it’s pulling up smells from your waste water pipes! Particularly likely if your machine makes a little burp noise at the sink when it starts the cycle and there’s a. momentary smell of rotten eggs.
Hi Jenn. I have a family that loves to leave their damp/wet shower towels all bunched up on the floor or if by some luck on the towel rack in a bunch. Of course after a couple of days they start to smell really musty and grosse. No amount of washing seems to get rid of the stench in the towels. Do you have any tips for getting rid of the musty smell so my towels smell fresh again.?
Have you tried just adding vinegar to the load (about a cup). It seems to work well on our stinky towels. Let me know if that doesn’t work.
Hi. Plain old bleach soaked rags do the nest job. Clean that gasket every time. Cant fix that black-molded gasket anymore? Order a new one. Take the spring retainer off, replace.
Love this site.
I sometimes use baking soda in with the clothes to freshen everything up. I’m guessing I shouldn’t be mixing the soda with the vinegar ? 🙂
The baking soda and vinegar actually counteract each other, so while it can look impressive when they are mixed and get all bubbly, it actually neutralizes their cleaning power. Vinegar alone actually works great to freshen stinky laundry smell. 🙂
You can also clean the drain in the front of the washer. I have a small door in the front. Open it and drain out remaining water with the small hose then twist out the plastic filter. It may be stinky and very ucky! Clean all the lint and gunk from it. It will help with the smell in your washer as well. I appreciate all the tips you have shared.
Thanks for the added tips!
when adding vinegar to a load, I’m still a little unclear on where to add it. You say directly to the load, won’t it just soak into whatever item touches it & not mix in the whole load to help with stinky towels, etc.?
If you want it to soften your load {especially when doing towels} you can add it in the fabric softener part. If you are using it for smell, just add it where you would add your detergent right before washing. It will get mixed in with the water as everything gets agitated in the machine.
Thanks. That being said, do you wash your stinky/dirty towels in just vinegar? Or do you wash them first in detergent and do another load after with straight vinegar?
Thanks much!
The vinegar and detergent are just mixed in the same load. 🙂
i switched from liquid detergent to powdered, and that did the trick! No more bad odor!
Yes, I found a big difference with this too when I switched. I think the biggest problem with the liquid detergent is often just using too much though!
i use Norwex laundry soap now for the past six months. Before that I used store bought. I use vinegar for my softener. My washer is over two years old and the one before was over 15 years old. Never have I had a stinky or moldy gasket washer. I do leave the door open. But could use advice on how to get grease from cooking or tomato stains out. The only solution so far that works is dawn dish soap and re wash it. Has anyone found a better way to catch the stain sooner.
Jenn, is it ok to use vinegar on delicate fabrics (blouses, nice dresses etc.) or just on towels? (in both the detergent tray and rinsing tray?) Sometimes I use Woollite for delicates – is it ok to mix vinegar with that? Thank you! Love your site!!
I use it on clothes too (about 1/2 cup) but I don’t really have a lot of delicate fabrics that I wash. If you are using Woolite on a delicate wash cycle you might not want to use it due to its acidic content.
For grease/oil stains I use tlacum powder and or corn starch. Use liberally on the grease stain, pat it in a bit. If it’s really bad then pat it in on both sides of the garment. I don’t wash it right away because it needs time to soak up the grease or oil. So I just fold it up and throw it in the hamper and then when it’s time to wash I just throw it in with the rest of the items and it always, always, works. The stain is gone. Learned this from my dad.
Z
Great tip! Thanks!
I’m going to try the vinegar run-thru as well. Thanks for the tips!
I noticed on my LG front loader at the bottom left is a little compartment that houses a tube filled with ?!?!?
I unclip and let that tube drain out into a large bowl every so often. This helps with keeping the smell at bay. Also, in the sane compartment is a filter that unscrews. Clean that out as well.
Yes, that’s the drain pump filter and it definitely helps to give that a good clean out.
I have also find that draining the pump (via the panel across the bottom, in the front), to manually drain that “held” waste water, is a great preventative as well.
Yes, definitely!
Thanks for all your tips, I have some white vinegar in the larder so I’m going to try it. It depends on the make of washer as to whether you get a front drain or not here , most machines in the UK no longer have filter drains, (mine is Hotpoint Aquarius) it makes me wonder where all the fluff and stuff goes. Also there are fewer washing powders around these days, apart from the ones I don’t like such as aerial and Daz, they all seem to be liquids, but I will bear in mind all your advice and hope I can get rid of the stinky stuff.
Greetings to the UK!! Liquids can still be fine – just be careful not to use too much. I know over here, it is only a small portion of the cap that you are supposed to use although I think having those big caps encourage people to use more than they need.
My sister’s front loader smelled horrible and so did all her clothes……musty mildew smell. I rewashed everything using 1 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup baking soda (no soap). By the third load the machine was clean. NO SMELL in the machine or on the clothes. Now she use a small (coffee scoop) amount of baking soda, 1/4 cup of vinegar, and less detergent per load. Leaves the door open when not in use and it smells clean. She had been using way too much laundry soap and fabric softener.
This worked great for her front loader.
I think too much laundry soap and fabric softener is one of the main problems with smelly machines and poor washing outcomes. It seems counter-intuitive, but less really is more! I totally agree that vinegar and baking soda are great ways to clean and eliminate smells but I try not to use them together as they mix and form a salt which actually decreases the effectiveness of both {although the reaction does give a great appearance!}. The one time that they do work well is if you need a little abrasiveness.
One more thing. I put the baking soda directly into the tub then the clothes. Poured the vinegar into the soap dispenser. This also cleaned out the gunky dispenser. She is now using powder detergent.
Yes, the vinegar in the dispenser is a great way to clean the residue out! The one thing with mixing vinegar and baking soda is it turns into a salt and actually decreases the cleaning power of both {even though the reaction looks pretty impressive!} I find that they both work well, but I try to use them individually.
Does the vinegar prevent static cling as well?
It’s supposed to but I don’t really notice a huge improvement with that. It does help with softness through and I use a bunch of dryer balls to help with static cling. The best thing though is to make sure you’re not overdrying your clothes. 🙂