AIBU to be incredibly disappointed and think you all lied to me?

[GodRestTEEMerryGenTEEmen]

I did a maintenance wash on my washing machine yesterday.

There were not mountains of bubbles. There were no bubbles.

I blame all of you for my disappointment.

With you deja.......nuts? vinegar? lavendar? maintenance wash? ...... Every so often things crop up on MN that I have been completely oblivious to for my whole life and I say "Huh?" . This is one of those occasions.

I do maintenance washes but I know not of nuts or crystals.

Me too juliandick... I'm baffled. Some answers please mn:

1 - wtf are soap nuts?
2 - I need to stick an empty washing machine on at 90 and watch it bubble?
3 - monthly?

I do a maintence wash every two months with soda crytals

juliandick yep, me too

FamousFive by any chance?

Oh, did they mean soap nuts? I thought it was soap and nuts

What are soap nuts?

Somebody tell us what soap nuts are! Can other types of nuts be used? Can Sarsons malt vinegar be used?

Peanuts?

Yep Deja, Aunt Fanny would surely know what soap nuts are

I've just remembered when I was little my nan, I think it was, used soap flakes. Are these anything like soap nuts?

Whatever they are they've got to be better than the vision I had of bars of soap, nuts (any type) and vinegar going round and round in the washing machine

Vinegar I assume is white vinegar which seems to be used in a variety of ways. I've heard of it been recommended for cleaning windows and for use if a cat has an accident on the carpet.

I'm sure she would.

Sorry, OP, I'm hijacking, didn't mean to.

What nuts and what vinegar and where do you put them?

I'm not going to fall for this putting your appliance on the hottest setting to clean it nonsense. I tried it with my oven the other week, made the mistake of reading in the manual that it will 'self clean' if you put some water in the bottom and put it on the hottest setting for ten minutes.

The oven was still filthy afterwards, the element blew, all the electricity went off in the house and it cost £90 to fix.

Not risking that with my washing machine!

Definitely white vinegar (not non-brewed condiment. This isn't a fish-and-chip shop).

Monthly is ridiculous even in a very hard water area like mine. I do it once every 6 months.

And I assume you are all clearing your filters out regularly too?

Soap nuts are a sort of nutty thing that produce soap when you put them in hot water -- you can put a few of them in a bag in with your laundry instead of using detergent.

Vinegar is dilute acetic acid.

Soap nuts. Talk to me.

Thanks NannyO. What are the nuts used for?

Goodness, I clean the drawer (worst design ever) but I've never done a maintenance wash. My machine is at least eight years old as it was part of the f&f when I bought the house.

I don't even know where the filter is.

you can buy soap nuts in Lakeland. They look like big hazelnuts. They are 100% natural and excellent for anyone with skin complaints. You can buy them off eBay too.

My filter is probably thick with fatty deposits by now I'm too scared to look. Why didn't my mother tell me about nuts and vinegar? They need to teach this in schools

What new wifework horror is this?

The filter (if you have one) is at the bottom, sometimes behind a cover.
Make sure you put something underneath to catch the water that comes out when you unscrew it, or you'll be cleaning the floor as well...

Ex P (engineer) would say there is no such thing as a "washing machine engineer" and get cross!

I put the wrong sort of washing powder in my washing machine once ... my kitchen looked like one of those Ibizia nightclubs where the 18-30 lot go to drink, dance and have sex in knee-high foam. I didn't do the dance and sex stuff in my kitchen, but I did wade through the suds to get the winebox out of the 'fridge and have a few stiff drinks, before I started to clear up.

By the way, was OP referring to a clothes washing machine or a dish washer?