Washing machine staining

[DennisTMenace]

In the past few months, my pale coloured laundry has started to come out stained. Firstly it was the armpit deodorant yellowing, but also whites going grey and yellow splodges like the deodorant ones. I tried soaking in vinegar and all I got was stained clothes that smell of vinegar.

What could be causing this? I did always use supermarket non-bio liquid and switched to using powder sometimes. It seems to happen when not using powder too, although there could be residual in the machine. It is a washer dryer and probably 5/6 years old.

Any ideas how to make this stop? Never used to happen.

Liquids don't contain bleaches so won't keep whites as white. Try powder and a whitening in wash powder (e.g. vanish) for whites. Change deodorant to one that doesn't cause yellowing.

Do an empty hot wash to clean your machine and clean the filter and the dispenser drawer/bit it fits into

Thank you @dementedpixie. I will do the hot wash and clean filters. I do a cleaning cycle with washing machine cleaner regularly, but will admit the draws and filter get forgotten about.

I will try the vanish, but it never happened when I used only liquid, so find it weird that it has started since I started using powder for sheets and towels. Deodorant wise, I have used the same one for 20 years due to previous allergic reactions to deodorant and shower gel. Why would it only start staining now?

previous allergic reactions to deodorant and shower gel. Why would it only start staining now?

They could have changed the formula - companies are always tinkering with formulas.

Or other off chance is the chemicals in the particular detergent you are using are interacting with your deodorant - there's a lot of things in the mix when doing a wash, the chemicals in the detergent, the deodorant and your water type (hard/soft, low/high iron content etc) and different fabric types, so it may be a case of trying another brand.

To be honest though what I think is happening, if you have been using liquids and low temp washes for a while there will be a LOT of build up in the machine which now will be starting to dislodge due to using powder with bleach in it. It may take a good few hot empty washes of your machine to remove.

I use big box powders. I never use too much powder. Sometimes if I run a pre-wash rinse the water looks soapy so I know my machine retains some of the soap from the last wash.

If I wash dark items like black jeans and leggings I notice a residue on them when I go to peg them out. It doesn't always happen. When it does I have to take them back in and rinse them and the white residue disappears, but on occasion I have to do it more than once.

It's annoying, but at least I know how to deal with it.

I use fairy nonbio liquitabs. I find that 100% cotton whites need to be boil washed at 60-90C, with a prewash and whitening powder one scoop in each drawer.
Synthetic whites always seem to grey before long in my experience. You can get a bit more life out of them by washing with net curtain whitener or colour run removers.
These kind of issues can be affected greatly by water hardness which varies by region.

Also fairy make a fantastic oxy type whitening powder.

Yellow marks can be oil from the skin (or cosmetics or hand creams) that goes yellow over time as it oxidises. It is not yellow when fresh so you won't realise it is there. Often seen on collars and cuffs of whites that were not hot-washed because they didn't look dirty.

Laundry sprays will reduce it. Oxidised oil is much harder to wash out than fresh.

Bleach does not remove oil.

P.s.

If it has recently started, is your washer getting properly hot?

It might be worth using sport wash (such as Halo) on your clothes with the deodorant stains.

Thank you all. I have bought some stain remover and will use that in white washes. I did a couple of empty hot washes, my machine goes up to 60, and on the second wash there were still bubbles. I will do a couple more empty washes when I have got through the current wash pile and stick with the powder.