Stink laundry problem - there must be something I haven't thought of!

[ClutterofStarlings]

First post, I'll try to keep it brief and not muck it up. Elderly relative has been living in, well, fairly squalid conditions (long story, nobody knew, they avoided intervention). Think, hoarding, moths (lots), a bit damp, very musty, not clean at all. Has now moved to new accomodation.
Clothes have been salvaged where possible. The problem is they stink. We don't know what of. It's not urine (some of it might be) it's a sweetish, slightly oily smell, with an underlying sourness. It mings.
I've been trying to launder some clothes (live moth larvae notwithstanding, blee), but the smell won't go. I have tried -
Soaking in vinegar & water. Doesn't work.
Soaking in soda bicarbonate. Doesn't work.
Soaking in bio liquid. Doesn't really work.
Soaking in washing soda. Works a bit, but not totally.
Soaking in Dettol. Made it smell of Dettol and terribleness.
Just washing. I thought this had worked, but then the things dried and it hadn't.
I'm tempted to ditch the lot, but it's all pretty good (Hobbs and that) and would be a shame. I'd appreciate any other ideas anyone has, to stop me forlornly wandering the laundry section of the supermarket.
Thanks in advance.

add zoflora to the fabric softener bit of the machine? I use this for smelly football/gym kit

Napisan? It's designed for cloth nappies so is supposed to kill nasties. Don't soak any non colour fast stuff though as it does bleach a bit, a scoop in the drawer would do.

Epsom salts are good. Expensive for a little tub annoyingly.

how are you drying it?

Halo sports wash is v good and effective at low temperatures. I use that on both DH's disgusting sports kit (and mine but I'm not as sweaty/smelly) and also on delicates that children have vommed on etc.. Not the best smell, maybe dry ad then re wash in something nicer but it does seem to eliminate the stink z woolire also has a nicely overpowering smell.
Or just cut your losses? Very kind thing to do, but not fun I imagine

To dry - It has variously been left outside to think about things (got both rained on & frozen), and hung in a well ventilated bathroom & one but also accidentally tumbled for a bit (huge mistake). It's not left with that not properly dried smell. It's the original stink.
The other thing I forgot, when soaking it's often leaving the water yellow. A bit like nicotine - this had crossed my mind, but they stopped smoking years ago.
I did wonder about zoflora, is it awfully strong? Or will it just cover one stink with another. Honestly, it's the weirdest smell.
I will try Epsom salts.

Thank you :)

why was tumbling a mistake?

the heat kills moth eggs and mould spores

Oh, yes, not because of that, but because when it was cool & damp I thought the Smell had gone, and then when it was tumbled it came back with a vengeance! (I thought it had mostly left at the end of one wash & put it back in for another which is how it got dried.)

I kind of think you may do best to just cut your losses. It could be that the smell is from a wound, or urine or moth balls or mould, and not be laundered and dried properly for a long long time. Even if you are successful, I think that the smell will still be there in your mind!! (Where I worked we once had a patient who's clothes were so bad that just leaving a seemingly clean cardigan on a chair would make the whole room smell awful)
You could spend a fortune trying to sort it but I think the clothes need to go by the sounds of it.

Hmmm if you've tried all of this and they still smell, I'd give up and purchase some new ones. Can you all club together to buy this relative some new or nearly new clothes?

May be a daft question but who's machine are you using? I'm only asking because I had a stink problem with my washing recently and it was as simple as removing the powder drawer and cleaning the mouldy gunk that had accumulated. I also cleaned the filter at the bottom out.

Apologies if this advice is useless!

It's my own machine & is clean. And it's not getting the smell from being washed it's there beforehand.
I fear Mouthful and James are right & I should give up. And yes, some of the less bad things the smell has come out & I can't tell because it's still there in my head! You start feeling quite paranoid after a while!
We have already started getting new and have ditched the very very worst already. The other thing is their insistence everything should be dry cleaned. Which I'm ignoring. Mum did spend a fortune getting some dry cleaned and it didn't make any difference!
But I'm glad I asked you all, I've lurked here for years & I thought if anyone would know, you would :)

caramel I didn't see your post. I couldn't remember what halo was called & my supermarket don't stock it. I'll try that & woo lite on the next load which is delicate. Thanks.

Borax??

Or maybe soaking in non bio - if it is nicotine or similar, it won't be organic in nature, so non bio might be better?
Or bio powder???

How hot have you tried washing it?

Have you tried one of the powders with fabreze in it? The spray on its own did amazing things in hiding baby vomit in the car.

dettol desinfectant liquid work well and is available everywhere.
tbh if it's that bad I would chuck and buy new

Oo. More ideas. Can you still get borax? How much would you use? Things have been washed at various temperatures depending what I thought the fabric would handle. Hot seemed to work quite well, but it had also been soaked in many different things by then.
I haven't tried a non bio soak, and that's probably worth a thought.
Dettol sort of worked, but I think it masked it rather than removing.
I was sure febreze made a detergent, but couldn't find it, thanks addicted will look again.
I'm not sure it is nicotine, but it has that oily quality. Have you ever smelled a carrier oil, like almond oil or something that's gone a bit off? A bit like that, but with a sweet musty scent to it. Cloying.
I think mother's given up already, so there will be no shame :)

Borax has been taken off the retail market due to toxicity concerns. It is still used in a few industrial processes.

If you think the smell relates to an oil, you could try washing soda crystals.

Looks like it would be a borax substitute No ideas how good it would be.

It seems to be ariel actilift that has fabreze.

OP, before you bin, try this:

1. Soak clothes that will stand it in dishwasher detergent (you can still buy powder). It is quite a lot harsher than bio powder, so skip this step with anything delicate - try lemon juice instead for those
2. Wash as hot as you dare (since you're going to bin things anyway, you could take some risks with natural fibres). Use a good bio powder (Ariel or Aldi) and add a scoop of one of the additional cleaning products - Vanish Oxi Hygiene Powder is excellent. Use normal blue Lenor fabric softener too.
3. Get the clothes out of the machine as soon as possible after the wash, and put them out to dry somewhere where this will be a quick process.

Hopefully this will work. Keeping my fingers crossed. Oh, and you might want to buy a pack of Service Engineer and run your machine on a really hot wash as soon as you are done, so that you kill off any lurgies left in there. Then leave door and drawer open to dry.

Have you tried wizz oxi powder? Poundland, home bargains, b&m, amongst others all sell it.
wizzproducts.co.uk/wizz-oxi-ultra-plus-powder-fabric-stain-remover

Okay. I have at least three? Four? More? ideas to run with. I will try to come back & let you know if anything's worked.
Can I wash silk hot?
I did try some lemon juice, but was scared it would bleach things. Or is that just hair?
Do you know I used to think I could wash anything, but I feel I've fallen in with the experts now :)

I think you can still buy borax, but it's no longer possible to sell it as a laundry product. So you'd have to buy it as a chemical. But I think you can find it online fairly easily. Whether you'd want to is another matter!

Sounds as though the smell might be BO mixed with perfume and dry cleaning fluid all left to get horribly stale!

I've read that a few drops of tea tree oil in the wash or in water for soaking could help. It is naturally anti bacterial; might work.

Don't wash silk hot, it will weaken the fibres I think.

This might be completely stupid, but have you tried something like this?

www.amazon.co.uk/Mini-Tower-XJ-1100UV-Purifier-Ionizer/dp/B00EQJKPUQ/ref=sr_1_8?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1422951138&sr=1-8

I have used a smaller version to get cigarette smoke out of stuff that couldn't be washed. Set it up with one or two items on a hanger right beside it, then keep turning them. Something like this is really useful.

Well the arsing washing machine just broke. To join the vacuum two days ago. And still no car. And every time I see the missing y in the thread title it's irritating me. Bum. Updates will need to wait a bit. Thanks though.