04-12-2010, 01:25 PM
DRR wrote:
Love my Whirlpool (3 yrs old) but the only problem with it (shared by many HE washers) is the mold smell - have to run bleach through it regularly, as well as manually clean the rubber seals with bleach, and also take out the detergent drawer and clean it regularly too.
This is all with doing the things I'm supposed to do with it like leaving the door open so it'll dry out faster, and I also live in a very low-humidity area. Can't imagine how bad the problem would be in other parts of the country.
Whirlpool did a no-cost service call on our front loader to replace the mildewed door seal. When that didn't solve the problem they gave us a discounted price on a replacement based on the age of our machine. The newer machines have a cleaning cycle which the older ones lacked. We tried cleaning the old machine with tablets Whirlpool sent us, running 23 of them through the wash cycle. It softened the mildewed residue inside, but didn't wash it off.
I think the single most important thing with front loaders is to always use HE detergent, and to use the correct amount (OK, two things). If you use regular detergent, even once, it will suds up too much and leave residue inside the tub, behind the drum where you can't reach to clean it. The machines don't use enough rinse water (or don't slosh it up far enough) to remove all the suds from regular detergent. Mildew will grow on the residue.
Leaving the door open for the inside to dry is important too, but may be futile if you don't use HE detergent, or regularly use too much. Front loaders require very little detergent.
So far so good on the replacement Whirlpool. No mildew after a year of use.
Good luck.
- Winston