Tumble Drier question

[TriwizardCupcake]

I have a condensor tumble drier.

I opened it today and a horrible musty smell came out.

I took out the condensor unit thingy and realised that lots of the smell was coming from there. There was a build up of soggy fluff. I do clean the condensor unit from time to time, but I'm not sure when I last did it - I tend to loose track of time

Anyway, I've rinsed out the condensor unit and it's drying out at the moment. Then I wiped around the area where the condensor unit sits. I realised that lots of soggy fluff has got into lots of nooks and crannies that I can't reach.

Also, it looks like there may be mildew in places that I can't reach (sort of up the side between the condensor unit and the drum). The cloth was coming up black in these places and I don't know if it was dust, fluff or black mould.

I'm now panicking a bit. What do I do? Is it now unhygeinic to use my tumble drier?

Inspired by your post I just checked mine - I have a similar problem!! Help us someone!!!

Oh god, off to have a sniff at mine too. May be tumble dry something like old towels just in case (or dark clothes belong to DP/DH who probably wouldn't notice a slight musty smell...)

If the condensor unit is wet and soggy then it is a long time since you cleaned it.

Can you access the area between the drum and the unit?

What make is your tumble drier? You can look up the instruction booklet on-line if you haven't got it to hand.

I use a little cleaning stick thing from Lakeland to get to the bits I can't reach here

Mine is an AEG and there is a little filter in the main part of the machine where the door seals. I remove that and the condensor unit and can get to the area where the fluff goes down from the drum to the condensor unit.

I do mine a la Flylady so when I do the kitchen I clean mine out then.

I had someone out to change the carbon brushes on my washing machine on Monday, and he took a look at my tumble drier and gave me a roasting for not cleaning out the condensor unit out. He said it should be washed and dried once a month .