Anyone with Front Loader get a Funk smell on your clothes? (color, cleaner)

[FloridaKash]

I know this is an old forum, but maybe this will help someone. The secret to making your front loader NOT smell is by NOT using liquid detergent. Liquid detergents have animal fats in them. Due to the low amount of water used in front loaders these fats build up in the waste lines of your washer. Quickly, these fats begin to rot and smell. Eventually your lines will become clogged and will require you to clean the clog out yourself or have a repairman do it.

When we first got our washer we used liquid detergent and the smell occurred quickly. I did some reading and begun using powder detergent. Aftewards... no more smell.. ever, never.

Also be sure your drain hose in the back does not have a large dip in it before going into the drain in the wall. This will ensure all waste water is drained from the hose.

[hueyeats]

My MIL's front loader smells of mold & mildew... with liquid detergent or with powder (she actually likes using powder better). The problem... is with the seal in the front, she has to wipe it down with dish detergent & open up to air dry after every use to rid the smell.

[Coldjensens]

Funny I skipped over this thread several times thinking, if yu dont like the smell, just dont drive it.


Then I realized that you are talking abotu a washing machine.

Our front loader gets a bad smell if we do nto clean out the screen the is inside the pump on a regular basis. I have not noticed the smell getting into the clothes, however once I figured out the cause of the smell, I have cleaned out the screen pretty regularly.

[stuckinindyfor6years]

i have samsung front loading washer - there is an odor to all my clothing
regardless:

if i leave the door ajar to dry completely after washing loads;
draining more frequently;
using bleach in a hot (empty) wash;
using vinegar in an empty wash

also, it is not a mold/mildew/sitting water odor. it is a smell i can't even describe.

also, my clothing does NOT come out clean - they're pretty dingy. i have tried all of the cycles at varying times (e.g. there's a quick wash cycle (about 25 minutes) and there's a sanitizer cycle (about 2 hours) - it doesn't make a difference towards my goal of clean clothing. it's a good thing i do not wear a lot of white, light colors.

i am currently looking for a new system, preferably a 1 pc w/ top loading washer. i will never purchase another front loading washer for any reason.

[JohnRoxy]

Wow! I'm so glad I'm not the only one!!!
I was resorting to taking my towels to the cleaners. My hubby kept thinking I was leaving the laundry in the washer for days or something. I kept telling him it's the washer! I'm going to clean my washer on Christmas, and I'm excited!!!! I have an LG.

[missik999]

I am on my 3rd front loader which is a GE. I had a Maytag front loader for 12 years and never had a problem. Then I bought another Maytag and used it for a year with no problem at all.

However I needed a new dryer so I sold the Maytag and bought a GE frontload washer and dryer. NOW I understand what everyone is talking about, definitely a funky smell. It developed several months after I started using it.

I have tried different detergents, long cycles, short cycles, etc. Fabric softener seems to make the problem worse.

The only things that seem to help are leaving the door ajar between loads and running the Clean Washer cycle once a week with Afresh.

I want my Maytag back! It didn't even have a Clean Washer cycle, it didn't need one!

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by FloridaKash

I know this is an old forum, but maybe this will help someone. The secret to making your front loader NOT smell is by NOT using liquid detergent. Liquid detergents have animal fats in them. Due to the low amount of water used in front loaders these fats build up in the waste lines of your washer. Quickly, these fats begin to rot and smell. Eventually your lines will become clogged and will require you to clean the clog out yourself or have a repairman do it.

When we first got our washer we used liquid detergent and the smell occurred quickly. I did some reading and begun using powder detergent. Aftewards... no more smell.. ever, never.

Also be sure your drain hose in the back does not have a large dip in it before going into the drain in the wall. This will ensure all waste water is drained from the hose.

Unfortunately, some front loaders are designed to only accept liquid detergent. I know some Maytags were made that way. Our Samsung washer takes both liquid and powder, though, and we mostly have been using powder.

[biguggy]

In my opinion there is no panacea to the problem of foul odours from front load washers.
I have seen posts where it was stated to have been traced to the discharge pipe pushed to far down the drain pipe allowing water to siphon back into the machine. Most machines I know of have a non-return valve to prevent this, and prevent any water in the pipe draining back into the machine. These, even if fitted, may have been defective.
I have seen posts where the smell has been stated to be traced to small items of clothing, baby clothes, sock, ladies flimsies etc. that have got stuck ‘somewhere in the works’ and are cheerfully rotting away.
Use of excess detergent and/or fabric softener very often coupled with use of other than HOT water. This allows build-ups of these laundry aids to form and then start turning foul. HOT water alone will sometimes get rid of these build-ups. Sometimes the assistance cleaners such as ‘Affresh’ will help, sometimes not.

In my opinion there are three, normally overlooked, sources of these fouls odours: -
1. The recesses in the hubs of the spiders fitted to many of these machines will retain water even after the fastest spin. This ‘water’ will contain, inter alia, unused laundry aids (detergent, bleach, fabric softener etc), soil, and the chemicals found in the tap water, the products of the interactions between all of them. When left over time the water will turn foul smelling. A photograph of such a build-up can be seen at: -
http://www.ripoffreport.com/applianc...n-am-4cd6d.htm

2. The products of corrosion on the spiders retain small quantities of water after the final spin giving the same result as above.

3. The recesses inside the back of the rear section of the outer drum which will hold water and contaminents as above with the spider.


In my opinion until such times as these recesses are removed from the design, or a method found to completely flush and dry them, then problems with foul odours will continue.

The only way to be sure you have got rid of build ups is to strip down the machine and clean, not I guess a popular solution. Then alter your laundry habits to reduce the possibility of further build ups occurring.

[Taratova]

I prefer a top loader . It uses more water and I believe because of that fact the clothes will be cleaner. Maybe because of the small use of water in the front loaders the smell gets funky.

Back in the fifties they had front loaders but they were small and then the manufacturers went to top loaders.. because of the trend of something new looking for washing machines the front loaders are back in style again. They look great but I wonder if they have some design flaws to give the funky smell.

[Bigg Mann]

Our clothes were stinky too ,but ours has a cleaning program for washer only. We use this about once a month and smell went away. We have Whirlpool Duet.