Often I come across front load washers (meaning they have a door that you put your clothes in from the front as
opposed to what most of us remember as kids which we loaded through a lid on the top) that have an intense rotten odor.
This odor is caused by organic material. Skin, hair, food, and any other organic substances that are on your clothes eventually settle in the tub gasket. The tub gasket ( we also call it a boot or bellows) is usually a grey rubber ring that connects the tub to the outer face of the washer.
In this gasket are grooves that over time collect organic waste and soon the bacteria come to eat that waste and that’s when you start to get the odor. It can even get so bad your clothes will pick up that odor after a wash.
As of today there are only three ways to deal with is issue.
- From the day you buy your machine leave the door open after washing. This will allow the machine to dry out so bacteria won’t have a moist cool place to set up shop. Once the bacteria get in the unit it is like they are impossible to completely remove. They bury themselves into the rubber and soon recover after treatments.
- Purchase a washing machine cleaner like Affresh or Oxyclean. These cleaners will freshen the machine but like I said the bacteria will be back unless you regularly do step three…
- Use bleach regularly. I don’t know what happened to society. As kids our parents bleached whites all the time! I seldom see a plain bottle of bleach in peoples homes anymore. Even if you don’t use bleach on your clothes at least run a cycle with it just to clean the machine once a week or however often it takes to control the odor.
Well I hope this helps. If you have any questions by all means make a comment below.
Have a great day!
