I did an empty hot wash.. And my machine smells worse?!

[Beanymonster]

Help?!
I did an empty hot wash onmy washing machine and it smells horrific.... What did I do?!?!?!

[HazeltheMcWitch]

You've dislodged the grot.

Do another one!

[HazeltheMcWitch]

Ooh, but give your seal a scrub with some bleach on a toothbrush. There's always much hiding there.

[LynetteScavo]

Yep, you dislodged the grot. Do another wash, with a special machine cleaner, or soda crystals.

[chocolatespiders]

Just empty or with cleaner, bleach or crystals

[3DcAndMe]

I am currently running my first ever empty hot wash!

[Beanymonster]

Oh god, how awful..

I really need to do it more often, my dd puts eveththing in the machine and I'm sure a lot of food crumbs have been washed.. Boak.

How do I use soda crystals to sort this? Just chuck some in the machine?

[mousmous]

yep, just put half a cup into the drum.

and clean the filter while you are at it. use an old towel to catch the gunk (you can put it in the hot wash after)

[Beanymonster]

Okay.. Where's my filter? There's a panel at the bottom of the machine that looks like it should open, but I have no idea how..

[SauvignonBlanche]

I'm just doing a empty hot wash with soda crystals now as I thought it was a bit niffy. Please don't tell me it might get worse!

[IHaveSeenMyHat]

My washing machine always smells worse when I do an empty wash with soda crystals. Glad it's not just me!

[mousmous]

what kind of mashine is it? do you have the manual?

usually it is in the front behind a little door. sometimes there is a little plastic hose to let out some water.
then there should be a screw thingy that you unsrew and pull out. that's the filter. clean it. bathroom cleaner is good for that.

it's a messy but satisfying job last time I found 50p!

[SauvignonBlanche]

Possibly a very stupid question but - if I'm doing a hot, empty wash there's no point in having the spin on, is there?

[mousmous]

no need for spin.

[Beanymonster]

I'm a bit scared. We are renting, have been here for 2 1/2 years and I've never cleaned the filter......

It's an indesit?

[Beanymonster]

Okay, got the panel off.. How much water is likely to come out? I'm not sure I have anything that will fit underneith?

[mousmous]

I usually push a large towel as far as I can underneath. it can be quite a bit of water, so have another towel ready.

[SauvignonBlanche]

Thank you mousmous I had turned it off but then had a moment of self-doubt.

The soda crystals I bought OP had a website with cleaning tips here. They suggested running another empty wash, after the soda crystal one, with white vinegar. I wasn't going to bother and haven't got any white vinegar anyway.

[Beanymonster]

Well that was disgusting.. The water was brown.. I cleaned the sludge off the filter and found 2p! Got another hot wash on now.. If that doesn't clear it il try soda crystals!!

[chocolatespiders]

White vinegar is good -,48p a bottle
I add few capfuls to every wash now

[ToomuchIsBackOnBootcamp]

I was also told its good to leave the door and the powder drawer open for a while after each wash to let it air and dry out, helps reduce gunkiness and smell.

[crazykat]

Vinegar is good for cleaning the machine in an empty hot wash. It does need another one or two empty hot washes to get rid of all the gunk that gets dislodged though.

It's supposed to be white vinegar but I've used normal malt vinegar and it does the same thing.

[3DcAndMe]

Right

By white vinegar do you mean white wine vinegar or white balsamic! These are the only ones I see on Asda

[OhOneOhTwoOhThree]

It has taken my machine 4 boil washes (one empty, three with towels) this week to make it stop smelling. I was in despair after the first one, but found an old thread on here which explained that it might would probably get worse before it got better.

3Dc - you can get white "normal" vinegar. In my local Tesco it's with the condiments, while the wine and balsamic vinegars are with the olive oil.

[3DcAndMe]

Asdas "distilled" vinegar is clear, could this be it?

[PigletJohn]

your machine, especially if you do a lot of cool washes, will have a resident sludge of congealed old soap, fabsoft, grease and dirt, and the bacteria and mould that live on it.

To clean it, your hottest hot wash cycle, with no soap or fabsoft, and a cup of washing soda, will start to wash away this sludge. If the water goes grey and foams up, that's the old sludge dissolving. Do it again until it stays clear.

When you start to clean it away, you disturb this sludge, so it smells more. When you have cleaned all of it away, it will stop smelling.