Smelly washing machine - advice please

[MirandaGoshawk]

Lately it's been smelling strongly of mould. I've wiped the seals, washed the tray, unblocked the coin trap thingy (got out lots of grit & gunge from that). Have done the hottest wash (85 deg) & put through limescale remover. The upshot is that the whole kitchen now smells of mould.

Any ideas?

I was told by a washing machine repair person to put on a 90 degree wash with 2 tablets of Milton in the drum works v well

Unfortunately it doesn't go up to 90 deg, and I haven't had any Milton in the house for about 15 years. But I do appreciate your advice

Would something else do?

Use Biological washing powder and less of it than they recommend. A few 90 degree washes too. It won't work immediately - the washing machine I inherited stank and it took nearly 3 weeks before I got rid of the smell.

bio powder 90 wash
white vinegar 90 wash

Thanks Disparity. I'll be patient.

Eldon - Aha! I do have some white vinegar. Will give it a go. Thanks.

Kim and Aggie recommend hottest wash with a bottle of vinegar emptied into the drum, followed by hottest wash with bleach in the drum

dishwasher tablet straight into drum, hottest wash possible. Beware using bleach, had a nasty experience of it bubbling out of soap drawer and onto waiting dirty lothes! Take out you soap drawer and give it a scrub, you may also need to check there's nothing blocking the filter at the base of you machine (if you have one there of course..)

Thank you Ladies - the white vinegar has worked

Mega - I put the soap drawer in the dishwasher (as recommended on another thread) and have cleaned out the filter. Found 20p!

Soda crystals - half a bag in the drum on the hottest wash, once a week.

valium that sounds good as a preventative, I'll get some. Thanks. We live in a hard-water area so no doubt the pipes are bunged up & soda crystals would help.

You can get very good descalers such as oust to maintain washing machines. The problem is caused by all the low temperature washes that we do now and it's recommended that you put the machine through a hot wash with nothing in it every six weeks or so to keep soap scum and mould at bay.

Using calgon or a cheaper alternative water softener in every wash stops limescale forming and extends the life of the machine