How do I get rid of white spirit from clothes and washing maching?

[LisaClapham]

My DH had an accicent with a large bottle of white spirit and a pile of clothes and decided that the best idea was to chuck them in the washing machine!
Result is that the clothes STILL reek of white spirit, even after 5 washes.
The washing machine - even thought I have run several cycles on empty - still reeks of white spirit - I put in a towel to test the washing machine, and guess what - it came out reeking of white spirit.
I am at my wits end as have piles of washing mounting up and do not know what to do - does anyone have any ideas?

White spirit is not water soluble so washing wont get rid of it. Maybe try and leave the clothes to dry outside (in the sun??!) or on a radiator for a few days until it evaporates. Otherwise you need some sort of dry cleaning fluid ie solvent based which I think you can get in supermarket (or get them dry cleaned which would do it but expensive). Dont know what to say about washing machine tho.

get some refills for pot pourri, the liquid, lavender is terrific for getting rid of smell. i chucked away the ruined clothes, when i did it, but the were only decorating ones anyway, and ran empty machine with the contents of one of the bottles. i got the little refill bottle from Cancer Research,only got couple quid. only needed one empty wash to get rid of smell.

I had the exact same thing last week! I put the washing machine on at 90 degrees for a couple of washes and it got rid of the smell. Not very environmentally friendly though.....

thanks for all the advice - am gutted about having to get rid of the clothes though. I'll try dryng them out first - I take it no amount of washing them will sort this out?

I dont think washing is the answer. It needs to be got rid of with a solvent based cleaner or left to dry and evaporate away for a little while. Put them out on the line everyday until they stop smelling and they may be saveable/washable. Or why dont you ask someone in the dry cleaners what they think? I got petrol on my clothes once from an accident and this is what they told me. What a pain for you!

This might be a one off but I tried for 3 days to get the white spirit smell out of some towels, no luck and they just stank up my washing machine every time I put them through. As a last ditch effort I hung them outside hoping the smell would eventually just evaporate. However about half an hour later it started pouring with rain! A storm that went on all through the night and next morning...miraculously it seems leaving them out through this was the only thing to shift the smell! I brought them in, tumble dried them and they are good as new. SO if the forecast calls for it maybe give it a go and see if it works.