When you go to your laundry room and found a funky smell, what do you usually do? Might you probably think the stink comes from the drainage or, worse, your washing machine? Unfortunately, that is a more common issue than you would expect. Dirt, mildew, detergent residues, and minerals built up in your washer create an awful smell. A smelly washer contributes to unclean clothes and an unhygienic body. Fortunately, I have some simple tips to help you get rid of that stinky problem and how to get smell out of washing machine for good.
Reasons My Washing Machine Smells
If you aren’t careful enough, any place can have a bad smell if there are continuous moisture and dampness. In most areas with low light and where standing water can accumulate, mold and mildew grow easily.
Using the wrong detergents will prohibit the washer from washing your clothes and washing the drum if you have a front-loader, causing a layer of soap scum to accumulate and then become a bacteria breeding place. Even this deposit could get under the door rubber grommet and trigger odors.
Strong smells for regular machines may be a sign of bad drainage or something that blocks the drainage tubes. If you patch the drain, this should keep hold of much of the scent. But you might need to clean your washing machine to flush out the smell thoroughly. There are other reasons your washer smells, and it’s essential to know how to get smell out of washing machine.
How To Get The Smell Out Of Washing Machine
Use the below steps on how to get smell out of washing machine to restore and eliminate those foul odors.
1. Clean The Washer Tub
- You can use a 1⁄4 cup of baking soda, and 1⁄4 cup of water mixed, produce a cleaning solution. Pour the mixture into the dispenser with the detergent.
- Through the empty washer pot, add 2 cups of distilled white vinegar.
- Run the empty washer with warm/hot water on a daily washing cycle.
- To eradicate the vinegar scent, wash and dry the washer’s interior.
2. Clean The Washer Gasket
If your washing machine has an awful smell like mildew, the source may be the washer gasket. Here’s how to disinfect it and remove the smell.
- Wipe any grime off the outside of the gasket with a damp rag.
- Take off the washer gasket.
- Soak a paper towel or fabric in a small bowl of water with a small portion of bleach.
- Use the moist cloth to clean the gasket and clear any visible traces. Reinstall the throttle.
3. Sanitize Your Washing Machine
The vinegar is an effective deodorizer, and the product’s acidic nature eliminates hard water accumulation. Set your washer to its hottest mode, to begin with. Easily add cups of plain white vinegar to a top-load machine or two cups to a front-load model. In this method, please do not use laundry detergent or anything else; vinegar works independently.
Top Loading Machines: How To Get The Smell Out
If you’re not careful, top-loading machines can get smelly too. That’s why you should learn how to get smell out of washing machine. The best solution is to leave the top valve to allow it to dry between processes completely.
You can also sanitize the drum using a technique similar to the one above. You will need:
4 cups of white vinegar
Half cup of baking soda
- Start your cycle running without clothing at the warmest temperature.
- Apply the baking soda to access to water, and dissolve it.
- Put in the vinegar, and finish the cycle.
- Once you finished the process, wipe down any lingering stains with equal amounts of white vinegar and water.
Front Loader Machines: How To Get The Smell Out
You will need a quarter cup of baking soda and water, plus 2 cups of white vinegar to remove the washer’s smell.
- Mix water and baking soda to create a thin liquid.
- Open the bottle for detergent, and add in the mixture.
- Directly pour the vinegar into your washer’s drum.
- In high heat, run an empty loop and repeat until the odor is gone.
- To get a shiny washing system clean some stubborn spots with a domestic sponge.
How To Keep Your Clothes Fresh
With the way you wash your clothes, you can also help cut down on smells. Here are some tricks to make sure your clothes don’t make odors.
- Replace wet clothing immediately – It mildews when you enable clothing to remain in the washing machine, creating odors in the washer drum. Get those out of there and help the drum to settle between days of laundry.
- Wash clothes inside out – If your clothes don’t have noticeable stains, washing it all inside out will allow water and soap to penetrate oils and grease from where dresses come in contact with your body. It removes the odors on all of your clothes and helps you cycle quickly away from your laundry.
- Using essential lemon oil – Citrus in the essential oil will help eliminate the oils from fabrics and minimize soap scum occurrence. Using a few drops for a top-loader and one or two for your quality loader’s maximum performance.
- Keep the doors open – We can’t worry enough about this. Enable the doors to stay open during loads and washing days, so that your appliance can dry faster. The less humidity you sit on your dishwasher, the less likely you will grow a mold problem.
- Do not use bleach — Chlorine bleach is perfect for surface sanitization and whitening, but it can be rough on the washer. Stick to baking soda and white vinegar for a gentler solution when you are trying to get rid of odors. And never combine vinegar and bleach.
Conclusion
The main thing you can do to prevent the bad from making the laundry horrible is to stop the build-up of humidity. If your machine never dries out, even a clean coating will develop mold and mildew. Knowing how to get smell out of washing machine will go a long way in decreasing bacterial growth and maintaining proper hygiene. Know more about cleaning appliances.