washing machine maintenance...

[Tutter]

so erm, am i supposed to do any? have had my machine 4 and a bit years and have never had it serviced. noticed that it's not cleaning terribly well, and that dh's gym t-shirts that came out of this morning's wash honked under the arms still. so, either dh has some mighty powerful BO, or i need to figure out the problem...

oh come on you scrubbers...

never had to doing anything to my washing machine, I am on to my 2nd one in 7 years.

Do you clean the filter?

I didnt until last week when it stopped washing and didnt drain properly.

Still recovering from the horrors I found in it but it has been much better since!

ah, filters eh...? no idea, will see if i can find one when cycle finished.

Tutters, put your machine through a maintenance wash. Run the machine at the highest temperature, putting in washing powder, but no clothes. I tend to use white vinegar instead of washing powder when O run a maintenance wash (it cleans the machine out far better).

And yes check the filters if you have any.

ok fuzzy, i could do that. white vinegar??? i have clear malt vinegar - is that what you mean...?

nooo not malt vinegar.

OK if you don't have white vinegar, just use your regular washing powder and run a normal wash cycle at the highest temperature, without any clothes.

I tend to run a maintenance wash every six months (I read the user instructions for my machine I'm so sad).

I never even considered they might need 'maintenance' or 'servicing'

Instead of vinegar I use soda crystals (about 3 tablespoons) and run the cycle through. do it maybe every 3 weeks. Advised to do this by Dyson Machine repair man so guess the advice is good. Both Soda crystals and vinegar very good for limescale which is important if living in hard water area.

I want to do this and live in a very hard water area so how much soda crystals? in a hot wash? with extra washing stuff too or just the soda crystals?

I'm glad I've seen this. Took the last lot of clothes from the machine and they didn't even smell clean. Remembered now that I am supposed to do a maintenance run at 75 degrees every so often

JUST DONE A PREWASH at 90 and thena proper wash at ninety with loads of powder. How often should it be done?

jellyjelly I run a maintenance wash every 3-6 months, I think one is supposed to do them a lot more regularly, but my machine is very rarely sitting empty

omg! i have never doine that and my machine is about 5 years old now! it takes FOREVER to do a wash thru, and is super noisy.
How long do they generally last? (wondering if i should bother with the servce wash thningy or geta new one!)

do a service wash, it has go to be worth that than spending a couple of hundred on a new washer. Mine smells greatand i will do it often now. Havent had it long but feel good now.