Washing machine smell hell- can anyone help?

[WhiteLily1]

Can anyone help me? This is driving me mad and is gross.
We have an integrated washing machine that’s fairly old (it was left in place by previous house owners)
It works fine but It stinks. I feel like I have tried everything. Cleaned out all the drawer, taken out the filter at the bottom and drained / cleaned. Even had the whole thing out and checked the pipes at the back. Cleaned seal as far as I can- tried to lift it as high as it will go to clean anything out.
Used white vinegar. Put on 90 degrees wash with only white vinegar. Used washing machine cleaners.
I used lots of white vinegar at the weekend and put on a hot cycle and two days later it smells 10x worse than it did before.
Just to give you an idea- I had the door open for 3 mins and it stunk out the whole downstairs which lingered for a couple of hours, even with a window open.
i can’t leave the door open for long in any case as It has the cabinet door on the front and is next to the kitchen sink. So having the machine open prevents me from accessing the sink and cupboards etc. I know this might be contributing to the smell but I don’t often see other people with integrated washing machines with then door hanging open in the kitchen for hours- so why does mine smell so bad?
I’ve tired so many things, is there anyone who can give me a suggestion of what I can try so get rid of the smell? It seems to be coming from the drum itself!
I have heard people use bleach or a dishwasher tablet but others say not to use those as it can damage the machine.

Yes I can try that- although the cupboard door tends to push it almost closed but not clicked. At the moment, it needs to be shut as when even ajar the smell is horrific!

With all that cleaning and it still smells I'd be looking at the pipework or the drains tbh. Are there any kinks in the waste pipe or connect to the sink plug hole?

Go to tiktok
I seen something there about cleaning under the big ridges in the drum

Is your dishwasher pumping into the same drainpipe? If so, and your washer spends a long time dry pumping (you know the sucking sound when all the water is out but it’s still pumping), you may be getting dishwasher gunk into your washing machine. Hence the smell.
Any DIY superstore will sell triple drain inlets that go under the sink.

Or, as other posters have said, hot washes with diluted washing soda (base) or citric acid (acid) and leave it to soak overnight. I use powder for whites and Nancy Birtwhistle’s liquid detergent (75g washing soda and 75g grated soap mixed into boiling water to make a gloop- put into the drum as it can clog the detergent drawer).

That reminds me- take out the detergent drawer and see if there’s mould etc in the cavity.

This is the sort of triple drain I mean.
https://www.diy.com/departments/flomasta-standard-bottle-sink-trap-with-adjustable-height-dia-114mm/5059340064802_BQ.prd

Thank you- that’s really useful about the drain. I will check but I think it’s mould / bacteria from water and gunk and it’s a kind of awful stale smell rather than rotten food- but who know!

Anyway; I’ve put half a bag of soda crystals in on a very hot wash. Then left the door open for 2 hours and dried the seal best I can.

Bought powder for washing. Let’s see how it works. I will report back and let you know!

This stuff https://www.amazon.co.uk/Indesit-Limescale-Detergent-Descaler-Eliminates/dp/B005NZ8GCQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1X7DL3JQFT08K&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.cD67xdpjykSnLklgHPQhqNrKcfme4Fm2-1Ka9tspOyQLnUz5zG6fg0QOqhI8yAmA1KdltIs_PjuVEg_hhacq24N2a-hmrr4wr_PdhYc02AXewAS1gJUBqibFOT8i8FBD6XTZ8XVoTActRxB2H7_DaLuRJMJaFTAPJOr8iicRNkkkeyFhd6Lwr4_jqtGDTTQp37YorMI8MqMKY2PtT2WOUA.JKYTYSMSSAcWAmBo8m3imRWIc88t_Q3QxEd6I7wnQRc&dib_tag=se&keywords=indesit+limescale+and+detergent&qid=1739484213&sprefix=indesit+li%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-1 only thing that worked short of buying a new machine.

I had the same problem and had to buy a new washing machine.

I did speak to a repair man who said it's a fairly common problem and not easy to fix as it's not always obvious what is causing the smell.

What’s the smell? Assume mould.
take the draw out and clean the cavity, mine had black mould in there. Bleach the rubber seal.

I've just seen you use capsules, I'd stop using them and only use powder (biological).

I tried switching to powder but it made no difference.

Repeated 95 degree washes in an empty machine with no detergent, worked. I had to do about six washes over a day but it got there in the end.

I was going to say something similar. If you try all the other great suggestions to no avail, look under your ppic cover (the small usually circular cover outside), it may be blocked. We use Kifra laundry perfume, it won't be liked for many on here because it is extraordinary powerful but we love it.

Our machine went really stinky a while ago and like you I tried descaler, machine cleaner, loads, in the end I did a boil wash (empty) with a decent splosh of bleach in the soap dispenser and softener compartment followed by a 60 wash of whites incase there was any bleach left behind. It did the job finally, now I try to remember to leave the machine open at night to dry it out.
I haven't needed to bleach it again.
I do find that liquids or capsules leave a funky residue more quickly than powder detergent though.

Agree with @nightmarepickle2025 especially in a hard water area. Have you cleaned round the rubber seal (between it and the drum) @WhiteLily1 ?

Yes as far as I can get in there. The first trough is easy, what’s harder is underneath the seal but I have tried to pull it out and get underneath

Try Dettol Washing Machine Cleaner. Buy 2 and run 2 cycles. Then add bleach to the drum, run a hot wash and switch off once the water gets hot. Leave to stand overnight and switch on again in the morning. Once machine has finished run a short empty cycle.

TBH I don’t feel the need of anything to make washing smell ‘nice’ - it just smells clean. I stopped using both pods and conditioner a few years ago after a post on here by Piglet John, saying they gum up the machine with gunk.

I had to do 2 very hot empty washes with just soda crystals before the dirty grey foam disappeared - TBH I was appalled at the gunk that must have built up.
Now I use just powder and soda crystals for every wash.

Like PPs, we use powder only and leave the door open constantly. If you could just leave it open every night that would
help.

It's about prevention. Once the gunk has built up it's very difficult to get rid of it. Bitter experience.

Usually (about 5 loads) I use a persil non bio tab and wash mostly on 30, 60 fkr towels/whites and on the economy long cycle so about two hours.

Once a week I wash the cloths, tea towels, and floor mop pads on 95 with an aerial biological pod and a handful of soda.

The machine is 9.5 years old and never a whiff. A washing machine repair man told me to do it.

I usually leave the door open but always have and have had a stinky machine despite doing that.

Use both liquid and powder, not pods
Never issues! Don’t normally wash below 40 tho

Check your drain isn’t blocked. Ours had got blocked up with dead leaves so dirty water was backfilling into the machine

Have you cleaned out every fold of the rubber collar around the doorway of the machine? Mine started to stink like this, I tried every other avenue that you describe, and was left with the collar.
It looked clean, but using paper towels I got into each fold, wiping the whole way round. My god, the grot that came out of there was vile. It has been so much better after that as I make sure that the collar is wiped completely dry after each use.

We are about to embark on Destinking ours this weekend. Watched a YouTube last night called MyMateVince and will be following what he did. His machine was full of stagnant water and crud, plus kids hair bobbles etc and he showed how to clean it.

I changed to powder but still used fabric condiltioner... I then reduced the amount of powder and used vinegar instead of the fabric conditioner.. clothes are perfectly clean, do not smell of vinegar.
The black spots on the seal that I simply couldnt shift have disappeared since I started using the vinegar.
Leave the door AND the drawer open overnight.. the air circulates all throught the maching then.

I'm going to go with those saying to look at the pipes - for a while when the washing machine was running an awful drains smell would come out of the plug hole in the sink.

Because I have the cover, I got someone to come and check for a pipes blockage and there was a small one which was causing a horrible backup of dirty water - was better after that.

It may be a combination of more than one factor but I would look into that if it was me.