So our washer is making our clothes smell mildewy. options?

[jdc]

Its a front load Kenmore, about 5-7 years old...

We leave the door open or ajar when we remember, which is pretty often. The rubber ring has some green mold on it, but not a lot. We have tried to clean it, but not all of it comes off. Regardless, not every much.

We have run some of the "washing machine cleaner" blobs thru it, but nothing.

Wife talked to the repair guy about replacing the rubber ring, but he said it prob wouldnt help, that we would need a new drum. But not the best $$ option. And apparently he had a list of brands that dont have the issue?

Full drum replace? New washer? Thoughts?

[DinerDave]

Huh, never heard the new drum excuse. I occasionally spray the rubber gasket with a Lime-A-Way type de-lime and mold killer, then run any of the cleaners made for that as you mentioned in the post. That has always taken care of it for me.

Is the repair guy saying that water leaks out around the drum somewhere and it is sitting under the drum until it gets scummy?

Sorry, no other ides right now.

Dave

[NewtonMP2100]

....try for mildon'ty.....???

[cbelt3]

This is my mother in law's solution from the 1950's that we still follow....

1 -Using a scrub brush and a small pail of hot water and mild soap and bleach, scrub the inside and outside of the gasket. Yes, you will get bleach water on your clothes. have a fan stationed to ventilate into the washer so you don't choke yourself. ventilate the room as well.

2 -Run a cup of bleach and hot water into it on a cleaning cycle. take the opportunity to wash the heck out of a pair of nice thick white towels if you have them... having fabric in there helps scrub stuff.

3- Leave it open with a fan blowing into it for a day (ventilate the room, because the bleach smell is gonna be heavy duty).

Repeat every few years.

[NewtonMP2100]

....when they built it.......they probably broke the.....mold.....

[Paul F.]

Here's what I'd do...

Replace the rubber seal.
Run 3 wash cycles with some old towels or something you don't care about with a LOT of bleach AND Oxy-clean.
Open the door, and run a fan directed into the washer until everything is stone-cold DRY DRY DRY.

Then, don't just leave the door open "when you remember"... you MUST leave it open WITHOUT FAIL, every single time.

Otherwise, green slime and mold smell. Guaranteed.

Hope this is enough to do it for you.

[Ombligo]

For all the headaches involved with frontload washers, especially with the higher cost - explain to me again why they are sooooo-much better than a topload?

[Zoidberg]

Paul F. wrote:
Then, don't just leave the door open "when you remember"... you MUST leave it open WITHOUT FAIL, every single time. Otherwise, green slime and mold smell. Guaranteed.

Yup; this. I don't have a front loader (decided to forgo them years ago) but I've heard this complaint from most who have them, especially if they live in humid areas or their W/D setup is in an enclosed (poorly ventilated) room.

FWIW, I have a top-loader and I still always leave the lid up. It helps that it has a self-cleaning cycle as well (you run it every x number of washes (it tells you)).

[NewtonMP2100]

....what about bottom.......loaders....??

[OWC Jamie]

Ombligo wrote:
For all the headaches involved with frontload washers, especially with the higher cost - explain to me again why they are sooooo-much better than a topload?

They use less water/detergent and don't shred your clothes.
We have the notorious Maytag stinker and leaving the door open alll the time it is not being used solved the problem. The light eventually burned out but that's OK.


A 1/2 teaspoon of TSP every now and then.
If you just can't learn something as simple as leaving the door open.
( not the phosphate free TSP )
Add clothes to take advantage of the cleaning power of phosphate.