Stinky he washer

[so lucky]

Back to a bucket and washboard! Uses less water, no stink and gets clothes really clean.

Wow! Can you even buy a washboard anymore? (Not that I want to go back to those days unnecessarily)

 

[Farmfresh]

Sure you CAN! Lots of Washboards Here!

 

[Dirk Chesterfield]

I have a 15 year old Kenmore top loader that gets stinky every few months. To deodorize it I run a load of towels adding a 1/4 cup of Mr. Clean Antibacterial Multi-Surfaces liquid (Summer Citrus scent) and an 1/8th cup of TSP (trisodium phosphate) along with the normal detergent. It gets rid of the funky mildewed dead rat smell.

That load of towels comes out baby soft too.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

My sister has a regular top loading washer and has been having issues with it smelling lately. She tried bleach and it didnt' help. She finally got the Tide stuff, and she said it was very perfumy so it covered up the mold smell, but I'm not sure if the mold smell came back after the perfumy smell faded. I'll have to ask her!

 

[BirdBrain]

I used that tide cleaner and It was awful!! It smelled worse than when I started. On a "funny" note, I once found a decaying sock in the gasket of my old washer. I have been pretty regular in my cleaning of the washer ever since.

 

[Denim Deb]

I try to remember to clean the gasket out after every load, but don't always do so. Maybe I need to start leaving the door opened a crack.

 

[goldenluver]

part of the problem is that they took out the one ingredient in our cleaners thet worked, TSP

 

[pinkfox]

we run ours with baking soda on a HOT/Sanitary wash once a month...
never had an odor problem and dont leave the door open either so it must work...right?

we just fill the detergent cup with baking soda and do a hot (empty) wash.

 

[greenSearcher]

I have a HE, and I don't have a stink issue. First I run a "clean machine" cycle every few months or after washing rugs and shoes or filthy poopy clothes. Second, I try to leave the door open so the machine dries out. Last, I use whatever detergent I wish, using enough to clean the clothes. My favorite is all free and clear. I am thinking about trying the homemade and see if it works in my water. I don't use chlorine bleach or phosphate additives, I like my septic system and want healthy bacteria in it. I have done this for 5 years. One thing I would suggest, especially if you have a leach field septic system, is to get a lint filter to put on the end of the discharge hose. In OH used to get a wire mesh bag from HD that I could secure on the end of the discharge hose and it would collect all sorts of lint, hair and fibers. I suspect a screen hair catcher would do the same thing if placed over the drain of your laundry sink. This keeps the lint, especially the synthetic fibers that won't decompose out of our leach field, and out of the pipes where the fibers catch on the rough edges of the pipe seams and joints. In our new house I have the discharge receptacle in the wall, rather than in the laundry sink. I am going to start collecting the wash and rinse waters in my wheel barrow and dump it on the dry grassy areas (no lawn, just pasture grasses) No point in putting the linty solids in the septic tank. I really like the water the front loaders don't use. When I was in NM, I would collect up to 20 gallons of water from each rinse cycle that went on the bushes and other landscaping. For just the 2 of us that was more than 400 gallons of water a month.

 

[valmom]

Good idea about the lint screen on the discharge hose- I didn't think of that. One of my peeves about the front loaders is I can't believe they don't have a lint screen. With the amount of hair we wash off our clothes it must be a problem somewhere.