Cleaning a Washing Machine, how often?
07-19-2019, 01:12 PM
#11
Junior Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois
Posts: 244
Many years ago I worked for Maytag and we were taught always to leave the door open. Guess it worked as much old Maytag was 30 years old when it started "walking" and I never had a problem with odors. Also never occured to me to clean it.
07-19-2019, 03:04 PM
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Maine
Posts: 1,270
I leave the lid up, use Tide, and my washer has a cleaning cycle. The manual recommends Affresh, they are washing machine cleaning tablets. I get mine on Amazon. I run one through every six months. Works great 
07-19-2019, 03:44 PM
#13
Super Member
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 4,688
I too leave the door open on my front loader when I don't use it -- I find if I do not use the fast spin water is left under the seal so I do a drain and spin after doing my delicate wash to get the water out. I also wash my sheets and towels with a bit of Clorox every week or so. However, I also use vinegar in every rinse cycle and have for years so I have managed to keep the machine very nice smelling.
07-19-2019, 07:04 PM
#14
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Northern Colorado
Posts: 506
My hubs worked at a cement plant and his clothes were always full of cement dust. The washing machine would get so dirty. Finally someone told me to put white vinegar in the rinse cycle of his work clothes. Solved 2 problems, rinsed the cement dust out of his cloths and left my washer sparkling.
07-20-2019, 07:27 AM
#15
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Arlington, TX
Posts: 243
Cleaning washing machines
We live in hot climate with high humidity, at times. Seems my washing machine was not getting some odors out----yuck ! I use quality washing liquid, no cheap, smelly stuff !
Read online so many ways to clean washers. My machine is top load Maytag and is years old but functions fine. So I decided to use the 'natural ' way of cleaning with vinegar and baking soda--found instructions online. Now there are products you can purchase to do this but already had supplies on hand and did the cleaning process yesterday. Washing machine smells nice now. There are some fabrics that smell so bad after being shipped in those plastic shipping bags--they can actually smell up a room--ha ! Will be doing regular laundry soon to find out if this was worth the hype.
Read online so many ways to clean washers. My machine is top load Maytag and is years old but functions fine. So I decided to use the 'natural ' way of cleaning with vinegar and baking soda--found instructions online. Now there are products you can purchase to do this but already had supplies on hand and did the cleaning process yesterday. Washing machine smells nice now. There are some fabrics that smell so bad after being shipped in those plastic shipping bags--they can actually smell up a room--ha ! Will be doing regular laundry soon to find out if this was worth the hype.
07-20-2019, 12:53 PM
#16
Super Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Central Wisconsin
Posts: 4,391
I too leave the door open on my front loader when I don't use it -- I find if I do not use the fast spin water is left under the seal so I do a drain and spin after doing my delicate wash to get the water out. I also wash my sheets and towels with a bit of Clorox every week or so. However, I also use vinegar in every rinse cycle and have for years so I have managed to keep the machine very nice smelling.
07-20-2019, 03:06 PM
#17
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: SoCal
Posts: 1,859
I use Vinegar in every rinse cycle of my laundry. It gets any soap residue out, cleans the machine and is way cheaper than softener for clothing. I do use softener in the dryer. I have an old washcloth, I wet it and wring out the water and Spray a bit of softener on the wet cloth and toss in the dryer. It works perfectly. I buy the smallest bottle of softener I can find and put in a little spray bottle and mix 3 pts softener liquid and 1 pt water.
07-21-2019, 11:07 AM
#18
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Texas currently
Posts: 1,222
When I moved from California to Texas, I found the humidity so high here, so much of the year, that I had to get in the habit of keeping my washer open after using it. Otherwise, it would grow mold and stink up the whole place. No longer able to use the top of my washer as a feeding station for the cats.
07-26-2019, 08:30 AM
#20
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: NM
Posts: 989
I used to leave the washer lid open until my Siamese cat decided to nap in it. Started a load without checking and boy did he explode out of the washer! I now leave it open for a bit, then check it then close it. Cat are sneaky.
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