Stinky he washer

[tortoise]

How do I clean the insides of an he wahing machine? It STINKS!!! Stunk when we bought it but I can smell it on our clothes now.

I saw a Tide product for this and I'm very, very tempted to buy.

 

[so lucky]

Stinky like a chemical? sewer-y?

 

[tortoise]

stale detergent smell with a touch of mold. I think it is from not using he detergent and scum build-up inside.

 

[Javamama]

I just saw that commercial too! The smell in mine is faintly like vomit I have tried vinegar and bleach and neither of those helped.

 

[so lucky]

Yuck! Do you wash in cold water mostly? Have you run a wash with vinegar in it? Maybe a strongly bleached load would get rid of the mold smell (just not WITH the vinegar) I have never had a HE washer so I am pretty much whistling in the dark here. But I have a strongly developed sense of smell, and odors really bother me, so I feel your pain! DH says I have a nose like a bloodhound. :/

 

[so lucky]

I just saw that commercial too! The smell in mine is faintly like vomit I have tried vinegar and bleach and neither of those helped.

Oops! sorry, I just now saw your response. Oh well.....

 

[sufficientforme]

My sister had many issues with hers and at one point the repairman stated to make sure you always keep the door open between loads so it can air out and stay fresh. I have done this from day one for the last 4 years with my FL HE washer and it only smells if the kids slam it shut or hubby forgets (because I only do laundry once a week) I would go with the professional chemicals to try to eliminate the smell and then try to do that and see if it helps.

*ETA I do not use HE detergent I alternate between homemade dry and commercial liquid occasionally.

 

[moolie]

One of the instructions that came with ours was to run a self cleaning cycle with bleach every month.

We've had ours for 2 years now and never run a cleaning cycle, but nothing stinks either. We keep it open when not in use, and run vinegar in the softener cup with every load (because we have really hard water and it keeps the lines clean plus also softens our clothes).

I'd run a cleaning cycle with bleach, or a "sanitary" or whatever your hottest cycle is with bleach if you don't have a self cleaning cycle, and then leave it open to dry for a few days. Repeat as necessary to get rid of the stink--if it's been there a while it may take some time to kill.

Also, check all the creases and folds in the rubber gasket--sometimes linty crud gets in there and I'm sure it will start to rot after a while. We get a lot of lint because we have two super-sheddy cats so hubbie always checks the gasket for crud (he does the laundry).

eta: we use homemade liquid laundry soap (made with home made bar soap, washing soda, and borax) and vinegar only, no commercial laundry products and I haven't owned a bottle of bleach in over 10 years so we obviously don't use bleach either.

 

[tortoise]

This one came to us like this. I use homemade detergent, just figured out how much to use without having residue. He uses and "he" deteregent.

 

[Denim Deb]

And here I was wondering what kind of washer only washed stinky men!