Musty laundry when drying

[LittleadventureB]

My laundry is driving me insane at the moment.

I do not own a tumble dryer so everything has to be put on an airer during the winter, I do have a heated airer which has helped.

Lately however the clothes are drying with a musty wet dog smell to them. I have cleaned the washing machine, hung them on the heated airer and normal airer with a dehumidifier on, tried reducing the amount of laundry softener, put vinegar and those soda crystal things in the wash with them and put them on extra spins to try and dry them out even more.

It has been far too damp and cold to hang them outside lately, I am just starting to get to the end of my tether with it. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I could be doing wrong or new things to try maybe?

I think the problem is that once clothes have got like this once, they will stay like it - although drying them quickly helps disguise it. I think this because my adult DS uses the same machine as me and DP but he often leaves the clothes in too long and/or doesn't do an extra spin on a quick wash. I think a hot wash, possibly with bio powder, then being prompt about getting stuff out of the machine is key. We are drying on a rack with dehumidifier, our stuff has been fine.

I had this problem with my dark wash few months ago and I the only difference with the while loads was that I was using liquid on darks vs powder on whites.
I solved the problem by adding laundry detergent for a few weeks. It probably got rid of the bacteria that were on the cloths. Now I am back to liquid only and don't have any problems.

I find with hoodies in particular I need the pod dryer with the window open - that way they dry so fast there's no time to develop that musty smell

We have a dehumidifier running near the airer, space things out as well as you can (one load over two aiders if you have the space).
The damp smell in my machine (caused by accidentally leaving a load in for two days I think) has gone since I used a dettol machine cleaner and then the dettol laundry disinfectant in every or every other wash.

Do you wash with washing liquid or powder? We had this same issue when using liquid but it stopped when we started using powder.

Are you shutting the door of the room the clothes are drying in? I found doing this causes the clothes to smell. They need to be in a well ventilated room

I use Dettol laundry cleanser or a cap of Zoflora in my wash. My washer has a 1600 spin which has helped . My last machine only had a 1200 spin which left some clothes wetter . I have storage heaters , meaning that the room has steady 24 hour heating . I also spread one load over 2 airers for circulation .
I have had a problem in the past with some clothes that didn't smell musty , they were more of a strange almond biscuit smell . I have no idea where it came from . No amount of washing ever shifted it . I ended up throwing those items away . If one accidentally got into a load of washing it seemed to contaminate other items . I'd love to know what caused that .