Chatgpt told me to throw my towels away…?

[Ineedadvicee]

So we have a small leak coming from our washing machine, but whilst we were waiting for the new part to come into stock we have still been using the machine, just wedging towels under it to catch the water. 3 towels in total (hand towels). The top layer has only ever felt mildly damp as it isn’t a huge leak, but clearly not as I removed the top one today and the two towels underneath are covered in black mould. Top layer towel is black so I didn’t clock!

Any way, I put them on a ‘hygiene steam’ cycle today and added the dettol clothes disinfectant to the cycle but Chatgpt is telling me to bin them (something about the mould spores can get quite deeply embedded into the towels and then listed a whole load of scary side effects?!). So do I go ahead and use them or… bin them?

I would keep them but I would wash them on steam wash and/or 90 degrees.

I would bin them regardless of what ChatGPT says.

I would bin - you never get rid of black mould like that - tbh - you should now thoroughly clean your washing machine too. Spores are airborne.

Keep them, cut them up and use as dusters maybe. Now Im sounding like my Mum 😅

Just don't eat them.

@oatmilkthesecond oh my gosh! I literally thought nothing of it, I thought a hot wash was the solution!

Ok.. they will be binned in this case.

I would have binned them straight away as I would worry about mould going into washing machine.

Gosh I’ve gone into full paranoia mode now… how do I give the machine a deep enough clean to get rid of these spores?

I’d throw them

I would bin the towels. Black mould is a bit of a stroppy beast.

Chuck half a bag of epson salts in the drum, bung some old towels in and do a hot wash. It'll sterilise your machine.

Hot bleach cycle and your machine will thank you.

Let me clarify: EMPTY hot bleach cycle (for the machine itself. That’ll kill the spores.).
Bin the towels.

I think you need to destroy your washing machine as well now.

I did this to day with an old bath towel i also do it with tops that are worn out and no use left in them.

Be careful with the bleach if you have septic tank or biodigester.

You should put a clean drum wash on monthly anyway.

But bin the hand towels. Yes mould is airborne but it's airborne everywhere.

No point putting bleach into hot water, as the heat renders it pretty much useless.

I'm on medication that screws with my immune system and wouldn't think twice about it.

Chat GPT is clearly talking bollocks (again) and doesn't even match the other versions of AI search engines that all say just wash fabrics.

It's simple to get the entire thickness of the fabric soaked to a high enough temperature to kill any spores. A hot wash would have sorted it - and as you're anxious now, stick them in for another go at 90 and if you've got a tumble dryer, dry them in that.

If, after that, you're still anxious about the washing machine itself (bearing in mind that they usually get black mould inside the drawer and the door gasket from too much fabric softener/using liquid detergent and, as far as I know, nobody ever gets rid of their beko on the basis of something that comes off with a bit of hot water and a scrub daddy), put the machine on 90 with some other towels.

Please dont run your washer without something in it to balance it out.

Absolutely. A hot wash will kill the spores in the machine and the towels.