How to stop washed clothes stinking!

[Confusedrelation]

Just that, after washing our clothes often smell once dry (and it’s a horrid off, musty smell!). I use detol laundry in as well as the detergent, most clothes are washed on 30 with towels/sheets etc on 60. I have chucked in a washing machine cleaner a few times recently but it’s still not helped. Please help me! (Before we have no friends left as we smell too much).

how are you drying the clothes?

Mine did this - do you use liquid type washing detergent? After lots of washing machine cleaners etc, I found the only thing that stopped this from happening to mine was to switch back to using powder which contains bleaches that liquid detergents don't.

Clean the machine seals, powder instead of liquid, capful of zoflora in wash, 40 instead of 40, leave machine door open after use. Remove to dry quickly...

Have you checked the filter in your machine? Do that, clear out anything there, run a long 90 cycle, thoroughly wipe out seals and tray with dilute bleach on cloths, run another 90 cycle with the cloths in it.
Use powder detergent and always leave the door and drawer open when not in use.

Um... I found that if I hooked out DP's stuff and sent it round separately at 60 degrees with industrial strength washing powder, it came out clean, and everything else at low temperature came out clean too. I love him dearly but he's a very stinky person...

You need to stop using gel and use powder. Also 2 x maintenance wash.
Leave door open when not in use

Don't let them sit wet in the machine for any length of time and dry them rapidly, with some form of heat. I have a Lakeland heated airer and it does a great job drying a full load (with a sheet or duvet cover over the top to hold the heat in).

Is it a smell like sour milk?

I occasionally get this on certain things - cloth napkins in particular, and it used to happen on baby clothes sometimes too when we had babies. I think it’s bacteria from things being damp in the laundry hamper.

Putting them through again on the hottest cycle works for me (90) instead of our normal 40.

Could it be your tumble dryer? I find my dryer sometimes makes the clothes smell weird.

Bio powder is the best I find. Also a cup of neat vinegar where the conditioner goes acts as disinfectant too during the rinse and spin phase. You dont smell it after.

Is it because they're not drying quickly enough?

It’s the filter most likely

That musty smell comes from mould spores that won’t be killed off with a low temperature wash. Run your washing machine without clothes in it with a good glug of vinegar in it. The musty smelling clothes also then need washing with vinegar instead of detergent. They will come out smelling of vinegar but not musty so will probably need washing again with normal detergent. I just buy really cheap distilled vinegar from the supermarket.

Ok I know we are only 10 minutes in, OP, but I need to know what you have tried out of this list. We must solve this smell issue.

30 is cold. Body temp is 37. Maybe you need to wash at 40.

The heating element in my washer went a while ago, and I think it had stopped working for longer than I realised. My washer and clothes started to smell. Went on repair and resumption of normal temp washing. For all the hype re. washing at 30 it is not bacteriologically hygeinic.

I second the use of powders.

I only use powder, heaps of conditioner, those whitening sheets if washing whites, a 60 wash for all clothes, take the clothes out as soon as possible and get them hung up. I do those service washes every other month (liquid cleaner for drawers too) and I've never had whiffy clothes. Also I don't put damp clothing in the machine. Things like swimsuits/towels. I dry them before washing. Little neurotic but meh.

I used to get musty smell when washing with non-bio liquid.

Use bio powder now, 40 degree wash, never happens

Use washing powder, not liquid
Wash at 40 degrees not 30
Line dry, use a tumble dryer or a dehumidifier. Clothes that take too long to dry smell musty, especially jeans.

Do you have a combination washer drier? Both my Mum’s and daughter’s don’t dry the clothes at all well. They go through the motions but thats it.

If you've a conventional drier is it producing hot air? Ours wasn't it just blew cold through. In some, like ours, there’s a overheat switch buried inside. If it’s ever overheated ( or the program interrupted) it can trip. Its a bit of a job to get to it but no new parts are needed.

I’ve sometimes had clothes that smell either musty of have a smell with hint of vomit - its usually down to festering damp in the drum and/or poor drying.

There was a recent thread on this and someone said they found it was the washing at 30 that did it. Try going higher and switching to powder.

Use Halo washing liquid it’s from Sainsburys’s

Everyone who uses powder - does that not block the machine and is it better than liquid? Thanks

I also use napisan in loads with things like sweaty sports kit and it really helps even though my youngest baby is at uni

does that not block the machine and is it better than liquid?

No
Yes

Wash at 40.
Bio detergent only.
If I use a short cycle on my machine nothing smells clean- the rinse is shorter and the wash just not as thorough so no quick washes unless I only have a couple of urgent bits.