Bosch washer-dryer not drying *at all* — what to do?

[FrustratinglyIrrational]

I recently bought a house with a 3-year-old fully integrated kitchen, including a Bosch washer-dryer (I know, separates are far better, and I wouldn't have chosen an integrated washing machine myself, but that's what was here), and the dryer seems to be worse than useless.

The first time I tried using the drying functionality, after running a 60C wash that seemed to work (i.e. everything smelled clean), the items came out stinking of damp.

I then realised that there was actually quite a lot of mould in the machine, e.g. under the seal and in the detergent drawer, so I gave it all a really thorough cleaning — I scrubbed and bleached everything, ran several empty washes at 90C with soda crystals in the drum, and separately with powder detergent in the drawer. And I always leave the door open when it's not in use, so it can dry out. But the next time I tried using the dryer, everything stank again. Worse, there seemed to be little bits of residue of some kind on the washing. I don't know if this was maybe due to something having been loosened up by all the cleaning, and not yet having been flushed out of the system. But it was quite unpleasant.

After that I ran another empty 90C wash, and since then I have just been washing things without drying them. It's difficult though, because I don't have enough hanging space, and really need to use the dryer for towels and underwear (a huge amount of laundry has built up due to having to re-wash everything that came out stinking).

Does anyone have any idea why the dryer is malfunctioning like this? I've read about washing machine filters, but I don't know what the situation is in washer-dryers, and whether the drying component has a different part that needs cleaning out (and could be causing this problem)? I'm also worried that because the washer-dryer is integrated, it'll be a complete nightmare trying to sort out any problems, so I'm hoping there's something I can try that doesn't involved taking the whole thing out.

A few extra points that might be relevant:

• When I did a small 40C wash yesterday (just wash, no dry), the items smelled of damp when I removed them, despite the previous (empty) wash having been at 90C. All my washes (without drying) since have been at 60C (towels, underwear), and those have come out fine, but most of my clothes will need doing at 40C, and I can't have them coming out smelly! I hope this was just a one off for some reason I've overlooked, but I'm concerned.
• One of the times when I tried using the dryer, and everything came out smelly, it had originally displayed an E20 error code ("unexpected heating"). This went away when I tried again, but left the outer cupboard door (the one attached to the machine) open. I don't know if this has anything to do with the problems mentioned earlier.

I've attached some photos in case they're helpful.

I have that machine, its a nightmare! It has an automatic fluff clean but it doesn't do the job. Every 6 months or so we have to removed the back and physically clean out the fluff.

Also forgot to mention, that once all the fluff is cleaned out, a switch needs to be reset, located on top of the washing machine under the metal cover

Oh no - Ive just bought this washer dryer and, although I've only done two washes it has been awful. Black fluff over everything which I can't get off and everything seems dirtier than when it went in. . I should have looked on Mumsnet first!

I had a similar problem whereby the clothes smelt damp coming out of the washing machine. I switched from liquid detergent to powder and for some reason this sorted out the problem out

Thank you. Will give it a try!

Hello ,ie got this exact model - and I'veg got this exact issue! I've taken the back off bucan not figure out how you've cleaned that fluff part. Can you step me through removing this and cleaning it?

Hello, did you manage to find a solution? I have the same machine and exactly the same issue.

I had a Bosch washer- dryer, and it was made clear with the user brochure that you could only dry half a load at a time. It is actually dangerous to try and dry full load as it will not only not dry properly, but overheat.

Check where your waste water/drain hose is going after it leaves the machine. They usually come out of the machine at the bottom, and then on most modern machines they will run vertically up and be attached at the top of the back of the machine, from there you run it downwards to connect to a drain pipe.

If it doesn't run upwards first, or if it goes for example up, then down, then up again too far, you can get waste water pooling in the drain hose which might in some circumstances run backwards and enter the machine again.

Another cause of problems is if your waste pipe is blocked with fluff. Try disconnecting it from the drainpipe and checking for blockages.

Found out what you need to do here. From the pix I'm attaching you'll see its quite the task. The heater element housing needs to be cleaned out thoroughly - as it seems to get full of fluff resulting in the overheating switch tripping. Once I cleaned out both this and the fan, everything working as normal