All of our clothes are getting wrecked! What do I do?

[hugsandpugs]

DS had an art lesson in school the other day and some yellow stuff leaked onto his clothes. DH put the stuff straight in the washing machine when he got home but now even after two lots of washing machine cleaner the washing machine is staining everything bright yellow 😭😭 (see photo) so many of our clothes are now wrecked because of this - school polo tops, my fave white nirvana jumper, loads of towels etc.

Is there anything I can do or am I gonna have to get a new washing machine 😔 this one is only 6 months old

He’s 14 but I’d say it’s more of a dye because it’s wrecked so much stuff from the transfer of the colour onto whites and some coloured clothes that I’ve washed seperate since using washing machine cleaner

IF it’s iodine, then you will likely need to do something different than if it was a normal organic molecule type of stain.
If I was you I’d look up how to deal with iodine stains, and try that on the towel to see if it works or not.
meanwhile I’d leave all the stained clothes in a bucket of water to maybe leach some of it out and minimise it ‘setting’.

How old is he?

Creosote - fence paint
Spray pain, for graffitti
Iodine, science lab

Try some of the different wash settings and play with the temperature control. For years I thought 60° was my highest one until the other day when I discovered that the cotton cycle can go to 90°!

He’s 14. He said he didn’t have science that day so I’m just confused. I think if I can just sort the washing machine so it doesn’t stain anything else that would be good. The clothes can be replaced x

I feel like your son absolutely knows but also knows he's done something extremely silly and possibly dangerous. Maybe ask him again.

Just pour a cup of bleach in and set it to rinse on cold.

It's clearly something he's not meant to have got hold of, so I imagine he knows exactly where it came from, even if he doesn't know what it is.

Turmeric?!

I bet he does know 😂

Do not use ammonium and bleach together, that's how you make chloramine gas!

I think.I did a very hot wash (90 - the hottest my machine does) then the others on 60 and a deep clean wash.

Think we put loads of soda crystals in ! About half a bag.

Honesy thought it would never be the same again and all our clothes would be grey and smelling of oil.

I reckon he knows. Is there a chance that a class bully has put something in his bag?

Dye from a security tag? Maybe he or a friend shoplifted something and broke the dye pack trying to remove the security tag?

Does it smell of anything? Iodine has quite a distinctive smell.

I did mean separately but good point to specify that. Hadn't occurred to me they would be mixed.

It could be iodine. Is there a chance it could be from a vape, not sure what colour they would be but could explain why it's in his bag.
Make sure you put something in the machine when trying to clean it, an old towel or something rather than running it empty.
Clean around the seal, with a cloth and soapy water, getting into the creases.
Hottest wash possible, try some bleach too. Maybe add extra water via the soap drawer so it fills the machine more.
A colour catcher is also a good idea.

I think the poster who mentioned dye from a security tag is on to something here. I’ve just googled it and yes, the iodine coloured dye is mentioned in search results.

Can’t smell anything

They use iodine in science classes, or we did when I was at school, to check the PH value of things. It's not the only method but it is one way to do it so if they are learning about acids and alkali that might be what they are doing.

I would shove a load of dark coloured or old towels and cleaning rags and things that you don't mind getting stained in and put it on a normal wash, NOT eco, not quick wash, just a standard cottons wash at 60 or 90 degrees, plus pre-wash, and any buttons you have like "add water" or "extra dirty" and an extra rinse, if you have one. Instead of washing powder just put in some soda crystals or white vinegar (not both, they'll react).

Do that after wiping around the seal as suggested.

@hugsandpugs I had another look in the interest of being fair to your son and vapes can also have dye in them.

https://www.totallywicked-eliquid.co.uk/vaped/why-does-my-e-liquid-change-colour/

I’m voting security tag

I think iodine is a likely culprit if it was at school. He wouldn't necessarily know he had one drop on his clothes. They probably use it in a lot of science lessons, so it might not be in his memory that he had it that day like a very particular paint would. According to google, it would go all over the place and stain everything horribly, including the inside of the washer!

Oh god! I think it’s iodine too based on what everyone has said but how he’s got it on him I don’t know as I’ve checked his class charts and he didn’t have science that day! Really hoping soda crystals works to clean the washing machine, I’ve had it less than a year 😫

To those who said security tags…. He was in school all day and came straight home on the bus so no way he would have been in any shops etc and he isn’t likely to steal something x

To those who said security tags…. He was in school all day and came straight home on the bus so no way he would have been in any shops etc and he isn’t likely to steal something x

I felt it was only fair to do a bit more googling as it wasn’t nice to suggest your boy may have stolen something.