Cleaning the inside of smelly washing machine

[experiencednanny]

Any ideas that re eco-friendly please? Am thinking of bicarb or white vinegar but think I may be getting myself confused....

I inherited a MINGING washing machine. I scrubbed the powder drawer, the filter and the door seal (literally lumps of black mould in it) with normal kitchen cleaner, then set it on a couple of hot washes without clothes. Finally I left the door open whenever I wasnt using it (hard since it is built in to the kitchen units). Then in a very non eco way I put a sachet of washing maching cleaner in it (from wilco) based on the theory that it was better than stinky clothes.

Throw in white wine vinegar and do a 90 degree wash with the machine empty

apart from the powder drawer, which needs to be periodically scrubbed in hot water, the smell is usually from congealed old powder and fabsoft lying as sludge in the drum and the grooves of the rubber door seal.

scrub out the grooves, and do a HOT HOT HOT wash with only white cotton towels and no powder or fabsoft. If it froths up, that will be the old powder sludge dissolving in the hot water. Do it again until it stops frothing.

Powders do not dissolve well at modern low temperature washes. Verify that you are using no more than the recommended amount of powder for your wash.

Clean out the pump filter as well as it might be clogged with fluff, sludge, coins and bra-wires.

PigletJohn is right. You want to clean your filter out as well as the usual.

I took the back off mine and removed the rubber tube when it got blocked with loads of stuff. Tricky but worth it...putting back the jubilee clip was a struggle!

regular 90 empty wash cycle.
eco friendly washing liquid and lots of cool washes actually make it more necessary to do this often.

• put the powder dispenser into dishwasher.
• scrub the compartment where the drawer slots into (I fill a spray bottle with warm water and am armed with an old toothbrush for his)
• hot wash with cup of soda crystals and cup of white vinegar in drum
• wipe seal with hot soapy water

That's a good idea re the powder dispenser in the dishwasher - I fight a huge battle against that bloody powder dispenser

Thankyou for your help....am off to buy all necessary items.