Yes, yet another smelly washing machine thread - but good god, it needs help!

[Gravity1]

DH put a t shirt he wanted to shrink on a 95 degree wash, and since then the machine stinks. Totally vile. I have subsequently put it thro a bleach wash/a bicarb rinse/another 95 degree wash with more bleach and it still smells totally rank! What has happened to my machine?? Help!

have you tried clear vinegar in the rinse draw?

Stupid question alert - do you just tip the vinegar into the bit where the fabric softener would usually go, or into the powder compartments too?

for a rince through put in all of them, run a hot wash,

but when you use it instead of fabric softener, as it works as a fabric softener, just in that bit of the draw,

and make sure between washes you keep the door open, as if you don't that can also make a machine smell.

I put Milton on mine cos it's ancient and stinks every 2 months or so. Every compartment and the drum works a treat!

Thanks, will try it. I didn't know that about vinegar.

if you mix vinegar and soda, they will neutralise each other. Not sure about bleach but they usually say don't mix with other cleaners due to the poisonous gas.

If it went smelly after a 95 degree wash, that is probably because it started to wash away the resident sludge of old soap, and the mould and bacteria that live in it. Loosening the old sludge is good, but it will smell until you have washed it all away. You can do a HOT HOT HOT wash with just water and nothing else, if the water goes grey and foams up, that is the old sludge dissolving. Do it again until the water stays clean because all the sludge is gone.

You can add washing soda if you want, it probably dissolves the soap a bit faster.

Vinegar will help descale lime, but the stink is from old sludge, not lime, so you don't need it until all the sludge is gone (if then)

Clean out the filter!! It's usually near the bottom on the front, and if it's anything like mine, it will contain all sorts of vile black stuff - it smelled like a swamp.

Then use a bottle of washing machine cleaner with a hot wash, which will shift all the soap scum.

Hey presto - sweet smelling machine!

Are you using liquid or powder?

Liquid detergent creates 'gunk' in your machine over time and has less bleach in it than powder.

Do a 90 wash with white vinegar and/or bleach, and use powder detergent occasionally (one wash a week) if you normally use liquid.