tumble dried clothes always smell stale?

[annady]

hello,
the subject header says it all - no matter what temperature i tumble dry at, and even if i use (or don't use) bounce or any other supermarket tumble-dry sheets, the load always comes out smelling odd - kind of stale.
anyone have any suggestions as to what i could do to freshen it up? would dryer balls work maybe, do you think?
is it because we have a combined washer / dryer maybe?
please help me get my washing dry through this rainy summer! (too wet to hang it out, too hot to have the heating on!)
thank you
a x

Have you tried de-scaling it? Can sometimes help. Dr Beckmann's 'Service It' is also good to freshen things up.

It almost certainly is because its a washer dryer. My FIL fixes washing machines for a living so has helped me out with mine!

Basically, its a build up of detergent in the machine. The solution is to add an egg-cup full of thin bleach into the drum and then do a 90 degree wash. You may need to repeat this a couple of times to clear it all out.

It really must be thin bleach and only an eggcup full. I always do another empty wash to make sure the bleach is all out. (not very environmentally friendly solution I'm afraid - all those empty cycles!!)

Hope it works!

thanks for that - i'll get hold of some thin bleach and give it a go! will look into de-scaling too, although we live in a soft water area so i don't think it'd be that?
a x