Dirty washing machine - how to clean inside?

[Bombus]

Hi,

I have a 3-yr-old washing machine and I've noticed that sometimes my clothes come out of the wash with dirty, muddy streaks. When I had a poke around in the rubber edging, I discovered that it was filled with grime. Is this normal? Should I have been cleaning this regularly?

It looks like it has gradually built up, as it looks quite mouldy too. I've tried cleaning with a sponge, but the groove is quite deep and I don't think I've got all the dirt out.

I'm just running an empty load on a high temperature at the moment, but any other suggestions gratefully received.

there was a thread on this recently, the advice was to put a cupfull of vinegar in the drum together with a cloth soaking in venegar and put it on at the hottest temp. I did it last night and saw all kinds of stuff (bleugh) floating in the water. 9Aparantly works with a dishwasher too)

Oh, thanks - will try that! I was quite shocked at how filthy it was.

OK I had same problem, and was told that it was a bacteria in the washing machine and to use half a bag of soda crystals, put directly in the drum not in the dispenser, and wash at hottest wash. It took about 6 washes and it's all gone, I had to clean the rubber rim a few times. I had tried with vinegar, but it got rid of the smell but not of the actual deposits.

Thanks BlueberryPancake (your name is making me hungry). I will try that too!

You can use dishwasher cleaning tablets in your washing machine. Put in powder drawer and run on longest hottest wash.

This apparently is down to a lot of the washing machine manufacturers using a stainless steel drum, but a plastic outer drum and the fact that a lot of us wash at lower temperatures nowadays. You can buy washing machine cleaners for washing machines and dishwashers through Amazon.

OK. Vinegar is fine and leave the washing machine open to air when not in use. Run a 90 degrees at least once a month. that will do nothing if your machine is sucking in dirty drain water! If you have a siphon outlet to the drain i.e. a some vertical pipe with a u-bend at the bottom, check that the drain tube from you washing machine does not go too far into the pipe. If it submerges in the dirty water of the u-bend it will suck that back into your machine! In this case cleaning your machine will only make things worse. Simply shorten your outlet tube (but make sure it can't come free of the siphon when pumping out). This problem drove us mad for years. Finally solved!

Right, I know this is a zombie thread, but has anyone actually followed the advice above? Do I have to pull the washing machine out to find the siphon outlet? I've recently left my marital home and moved to a house on my own and I'm rubbish at technical stuff, I need an idiot's guide...