Stinky Washing Machine?

If it is a HE machine, then always leave the door open after using it... Mine stays open unless there is a load in it (or my husband walks past and shuts it, lol). HE machines are water tight.. which also means they are AIR tight. So if you don't let them dry out in between uses, mildew WILL grow.

Run a "cleaning" cycle (per manuals instructions). Just running a load of whites with bleach may not be sufficient. My particular machine the "cleaning" cycle fills the machine fuller with water/bleach, which is more effective than the lower water level of a "normal" cycle.

My machine recommends doing a cleaning cycle every month or as needed. I do it about once a year, since leaving the door open seems to eliminate the majority of the issue.

I have a front loader an this happens sometimes. I think it's the rubber ring around the door. I always leave the door open in between washes and try to remove the clothes promptly after washing. I have run an empty load of hot water and cleaning solution to get rid of the smell. They seel stuff for front loaders at Lowes and places like that. Others have told me to try bleach and vinegar. Good luck!

This is very common in front loading machines. You can go to Lowes or the Home depot and buy Affresh and use it every few months to get rid of the build up of detergents, which is basically what it is. You have an unseen film that will cause odors inside your machine. I have not had this problem anymore since I switched to soapnuts

Hi Stephanie, Well, it could be a number of things, but more than likely it's your soap/water/fabric softner combo. I suggest you do run an empty load with lots of bleach then leave the lid of the washer open inbetween loads. This works for me. The washer I have leaves a "ucky" smell in my clothes if I leave wet clothes in it for more than a day or so (and it isn't that old) no matter what soap or softner I use. I think it's because of the water we have in my area. Best wishes.

If it were my problem, I think I would run a cleaning cycle with just hot water and clorox. The reason? perhaps it's mildew, and the clorox would probably take care of it.

I haven't had this particular experience, but my dishwasher had something black which a repair man said was mildew. It was all over the inside and covered the trays. So I ran an empty dishwasher with the hot water and clorox, and afterwards, Wow! It was just like new.

I normally don't use harsh chemicals like clorox, but my problem was an emergency (as yours may be, too). Let me know how you make out.

E. B

If you use less detergent, and leave the lid open between washes, it should help. You only need about half the detergent they tell you to use to get your clothes clean. This started happening when my washer got older also (about the same age as yours). Ours is about 12 yrs old now, and I don't really have the problem anymore since I started doing these things.

Try running a cycle with no clothes in it using the fullest capacity of HOT water and 2 cups of bleach. It needs disinfected. Also wipe as many reachable areas around the top of the drum as possible w/ a much milder bleach/water solution. You may also want to pull the washer out and check underneath/behind it. There is the possibility there may be a leak somewhere. Good luck!

My father was an appliance repairman. He said most people use too much detergent which builds up inside the machine and causes a smell. Also the clothes do not come as clean as they should. I know that with the HE machines it's even more important to use as little detergent as possible and still get the clothes clean.

An HE machine has a clean cycle. Running that with vinegar or bleach should eliminate the smell. If your water is hard add a water softener to the cycle. If your machine is not HE, run a regular large cycle thru it using vinegar or bleach.

It is important to leave the door cracked open so that the inside dries in between uses.

This is an unlikely cause but my parents washing machine had this terrible smell and my Dad took it apart and found a dead mouse. They had put warfarin out in the basement to get rid of mice and rats. We lived on a farm. One of them went in search of water which they found in the washer. Too bad for the rat, water didn't safe his life.

This isn't unusual. Mine has it right now and I've meant to order some stuff through Lowe's online (they may have some in store) that you add to your washer and it rids the smell. I just keep forgetting, lol. I forget the name too but you can do a google search.

K. B
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EDIT: After reading your edit, I'd say not leaving the lid open over time has cause the nasty smell you have. Water sits in the bottom of the outside tub of washing machines, no washing machine gets all the water out of them, front or top loading. I'd still try the tang or powered lemon aid trick and see if that helps. If not, might be time for a new one.

Very normal if you have a front loader and you close the door after you remove the clothes from it. There isn't enough air to dry up the water left after a cycle. Think about it, on top loaders, most people leave the door open all the time when not in use right?! You need to leave the door open on front loaders for a while and even open the soap tray too to help air flow. Or if you can't leave the door open, place a hand towel between over top the door to help 'prop' it open.

What you can do to treat the problem and for future maintenance is the Affresh or my appliance guy told me you can use a cup of tang or cup walmart brand powdered lemon aid in hot water!! He said it is the acidic from the fruit flavoring that will do the trick. Great from the dishwasher too. I haven't tried that yet as I run a 1/4 cup of bleach in a full hot cycle once a month or so and I leave the door open too. I've had my Bosch for a year and a half now and never had a problem with bad smells.

Good luck!
S.

Hi Stephanie - I just went through this with my front loader.

There is a product you can find at Lowe's/Home Depot called Affresh. There are 3 to a bag and cost about $10. They look like dishwasher tabs and you put one in the empty washer and run it on hot water. The package says that if you start with an odor, to run 3 washes in a row using the tabs. After that, use the tabs once a month. My washer was pretty bad so I found that I had to do 2 courses of 3 tabs during the first month.

My washer runs great but is 10 yrs old so I also recently had the rubber gasket replaced - it started getting black spots on it. It cost around $200 to get that done and now it feels like I have a new washer.

I dont leave the door open because our washer has a light I cant easily reach that comes on when the door is open. I do wipe out any water sitting in the bottom of the seal after I'm done using it for the day.

I recently came across an article that said to cut the amount of soap you use to wash your clothing in half for a week because extra soap will lead to mildew growth, especially in the newer HE machines. It also recommended that a cleaning cycle be run at least once a week until you have a clean smell, along with leaving the door open to allow it to dry out. I have also tried running a cleaning load with 2 cups of vinegar and 1/4 cup of bbaking soda followed by a load with just bleach then allowing it to dry completely before closing the door. For non-HE machines the amounts may need to be adjusted to keep it from foaming too much, but I have found these steps keep my washer smelling fresh between loads.

I had a smell coming from my front loader. I took out the drawer that you load the soap etc in and it was all gunked up and moldy and disgusting. I cleaned all of the parts of that as well as the inside of the machine where it is inserted. I also quit using Downy liquid fabric softener and now use white vinegar in it's place. I haven't had the smell since.

HE washer - you can buy a tablet that you run the machine with it in it. I buy mine at any local retail store, WalMart, Kroger, even Lowes. Also, the HE usually has a filter that needs to be cleaned every 3-4 months. Check the user manual and it should tell ou something about it. As long as the whites are still coming out white, the problem is not with your water but the machine... Good luck!

If it's HE, I love the Tide washing machine cleaner, we have an HE washer that's 7 years old and it gets smelly (I know there's mildew that will not come off the rubber seal around the door) but my washer smells clean for a couple days when I use it. Also, if you can leave the door open over night so it can dry out it helps a lot. I have to take the lightbulb out of ours and manually hit the off button but it does make a difference.

is this a high efficiency washer? if so you should be "cleaning" it every month or so - you can either buy "cleaner" pouches or add bleach and clean

hope that helps

Run a load of whites with bleach- usually works perfect the first time for me. If it doesn't you may need to check and make sure nothing is traped under the aggitator (i had a baby sock under there once and it was holding all kinds of gunk).
Hope this helps :)

I agree with the doing a cycle with just bleach. Also add a cup of vinegar to each load that you do. It helps to clean out any mildew or hard water that stays in the washer. I generally do a cup of vinegar every other load and it really helps.

Try opening the lid for a while after you remove the clothing, so that the inside of the washer can dry out so that mildew does not develop. When I forget the clothing in the washer and it has that mildew smell, I rewash the clothing in Lysol liquid in the small brown bottle. It takes the smell out of the clothing and the washer.

I have that occasionally with my washer too. We discovered the water was not draining correctly because the lint catcher on the hose leading to the sink was full and the water was backing up back into the washer. It couldn't get through the hose/trap fast enough! Yuck. Now we make sure to clean the trap on the hose & the drain in the sink once a month or so!
Hope this helps! Let us know if/when you figure it out. :o)