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Just put some vinegar (you can buy the big jugs in the cleaning section in the supermarket) in the fabric softener spot each wash. It will help protect the colors on your clothes, and will keep away the smell. Cheap easy solution which also is good for the clothes. And of course keep the door open between washes.
I love my LG front loader. I noticed the funky smell, not on my clothes, but emitting from the drum itself. My clothes never smelled rank unless I tossed them inside and shut the door without running the machine for a day or two...
All I do now is check the under the gasket at the middle bottom of the drum and wipe out the dirty muck
I leave the door open after using for a few hours or overnight
and if I neglect to do either one of those previous things then I run the tub clean/rinse mode on the machine...problem solved.
It really depends upon your front loader. I've owned 3 front loaders over the last 20 years and they have differed. I currently have one of the European Miele washers now and it never smells. It's worked flawlessly for the last 5+ years. This washer will heat the water to 190+ degrees so it's extremely well built. There is no plastic inside this washer as even the outer tub is heavy stainless steel and the gasket it designed of material that can take that heat. In washers that smell, I bet it happens around and under the plastic parts.
Prior to that I had a Maytag Neptune. This was a horrible washer that not only smelled but would develop mold. I ended up getting rid of it after a couple of years. It didn't do a very good job washing clothes either. This washer was full of plastic.
My first front loader was a White Westinghouse from the late 80s. It was quite different looking from the washers you can get now. It worked fine with regular detergent which is good since HE detergent had not come out yet. It never smelled, didn't have any problems and washed year after year with no trouble at all. I regret getting rid of it for the Neptune. There was no stainless steel in this washer but no plastic either. It had a drum made of porcelan coated steel. The outer drum was also steel.
Something that might help is to chuck the fabric softener and use a couple of table spoons of plain white vinegar instead.
Some of the washers just need to be cleaned out periodically, others leaving the door open takes care of the problem, but there is a design flaw with some makes and models where mold is not eradicated with standard measures.
I use the AFFRESH tablets and have found that they seem to help a lot.
By the way, I think there are class action suits against most, if not all, of the manufacturers of front-loaders for what they supposedly knew was a serious design error tat has resulted in the "smelly washer" syndrome.
In addition to leaving the door open when not in use, you have to clean behind the rubber seal. Front loaders gets all sorts of stinking gunck stuck behind there. You have to pull back the rubber and literally clean it by hand.
put in 2 cups of baking soda and a cup of lemon juice.run through the cycle as usual or try dish machine detergent i use that to clean pots and pans and to clean the tub in a pinch
Add me to the list of front load owners who has always left the door ajar, my reason is that I read of possible mold buildup. I have a Kenmore that's about 5 yrs old now......
Don't forget the dispenser also. I pull out the dispenser after the last load, rinse it and dry it with a towel, then leave the dispenser pulled out for a day to completely dry it before pushing it back in. I've noticed that this is also a place where mold could start.
I love my front loader washer due to it uses less water and less detergent and the clothes come out less wet so less dryer time and electricity with that but I get a funk.
It a sour musty smell and I cannot figure out why it does this. I have to add fabric softner to the load in hopes it will fix the problem and I love the feature where I dont have to wait before rinse cycle begins to add it but I still get that funk.
My last option is adding scented dryer sheets but I want to know what the funk is
Anyone get the funk?
Google the problem with the make and model of your washer + smell. If it is an older model, it may be a design issue. We have the original Maytag Neptune, which tends to have the problem, but leaving the door open when not in use pretty much eliminates the problem, and fortunately ours is located where that is not a problem.
We are currently on temp assignment, renting a house which came with a front loader. We left our top-loader at home. Oh, how I miss my top-loader! It took us a few funky weeks to figure out the leave-it-open strategy for this appliance. We also figured out about cleaning the rubber gasket. Ewwww.
Never, ever had a funk problem (or any problem) with our top-loader.
We thought maybe it was just a problem with this particular unit. We thought perhaps it was just cheap. However, from reading the 6 pages of this thread, it seems this is just one of several universal problems for front-loaders. A rather serious one, I might add. I don't want funk (unless I'm on the dance floor ).
Why oh why do people put up with this ridiculousness? You spend good money for a product and then you have to babysit it and leave it hanging open? With all the problems front loaders present (can't close the door, difficult to load/unload, can't add clothes after it starts, must use specialty detergent, backache from bending over...), I can't see why people are buying them, other than fad.
Unless there are some significant improvements, I don't see myself buying one.
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