If so, what do you do to try to mitigate it? I use Affresh monthly. I try to wipe dry the seal around the door after every use and leave the door slightly propped open. The logistics of our washer location prevents me from leaving the door open very far. Our towels still smell mildewy when I use them. Any ideas?
Ours is a Maytag and about 1-2 years old.
I have this problem too. There are a few things I have to do to prevent the stink. First of all, I run an empty hot cycle with bleach about once every two weeks. Second, I leave the door open between cycles - even an inch or so helps. Third, use a bare minimum of detergent, and make sure it’s made specifically for HE machines. I generally use about half of what is recommended on the detergent container. Fourth, I remove the laundry immediately after it’s done. I find that it can start to smell even after an hour or two.
I don’t think I would purchase a front loader again. I’m moving into a house with a high efficiency top loader, and I’m hoping that this won’t be an issue with the new machine.
Are you using HE-specific detergent?
I have never had a mildew smell problem with our towels. I have a front-loading Whirlpool HE washer that we’ve owned for about four years now.
In general terms, laundry odor usually occurs when either 1) you’re letting the wet laundry sit in the washing machine for too long before drying it, or 2) you’re not rinsing the detergent out of the laundry sufficiently. Item 2 can be caused by using too much detergent (or in the case of an HE washer, non-HE detergent).
Mine did, and I looked it up on the Internet. Running two loads with vinegar (2 cups each time) took care of the problem completely.
ETA: Mine is top load, thankfully, so I leave it open all the time.
Ours don’t unless we leave them sitting in the washer for too long, but that’ll happen with anything.
However, when we first got the thing, everything smelled like mildew until we stopped using “eco-friendly” detergents (they were for HE). For some reason, the green detergents didn’t work for us at all, and the problem didn’t go away until we switched back to Gain.
We’re using Tide HE detergent but we’re using the amount recommended by P&G, might try halving it. We’re not letting the towels sit too long in the washer. We take them out within an hour of washing. When we do forget and leave them overnight, everything smells and we wash the whole load again.
Affresh is basically bleach in a tablet form but I only do it once a month, we might have to try more often. I’ll try the vinegar thing as well. Thanks for the replies.
I think my next washer will be a top loading HE but I can’t really afford to replace my washer every couple of years.
No, my towels are fresh and clean and smell that way, I would not tolerate it any other way. I use All - no dye and color safe bleach and pre-soak, take them out as soon as they are done and dry them on high. I have LG machines.
We have old style washer. And IME you CANNOT let stuff sit the washer for any length of time. When you hear that its done buzzer its time for it to go to the dryer.
I have an LG HE front load washer, and although I voted “no,” sometimes if the door’s been closed for too long, the tub does smell musty when I open the door. So on the whole, my towels don’t smell, but I can certainly see where they would.
In fact, I just opened the washer door (it’d been closed for a few days), and it did smell a bit musty/mildewy/funky, so I’m leaving it open to air out. That should solve things.
My mother was a fanatic about leaving the washer lid open so things could “dry out.” (this was before HE washers were invented, LOL)
When I got my snazzy Maytag Neptune, it was the first front loader I’d ever dealt with, but I had my mother’s lessons ingrained. As soon as I started using it, I found a hanger that would hook nicely into the door latch, and I’d leave the door propped open when the machine was not in use. I’ve never had a problem with musty odors.
My daughter has a front loader now, and I introduced her to the “hanger on the door” concept. Her washer door stays propped open when not in use, and there are no musty smells with her washer, either.
IMHO, HE machines especially should have a little door-prop gizmo on the machines so you can leave the doors open. Prevention is easier than trying to clean up after the fact!
~VOW
We leave the door open too, we also leave the soap drawer open between washes. It seems to me there’s more muck in there to go mouldy than anywhere else.
When we got our HE front-loader last spring, both the sales and delivery guys were adamant that we leave it open. It even has kind of a catch on the door that stops it from closing completely unless you push. I am therefore assuming it’s important to not close it, presumably because the sealed environment promotes mildew.
LG front-loader, Tide HE. No mildew/smell problems after almost a year, for which I’m grateful. I didn’t notice the innumerable complaints about mildew smell until after we bought it—if I had, I probably would’ve been scared into not buying this model.
We do wipe down the gasket and leave the door open after each use, and run a bleach/cleaning cycle periodically. So far, so good.
You likely have a build-up of flora in your washer. When you wash towels, add some ammonia to knock it back and your laundry won’t pong half as much.
I worked at a place with a front-load washer and one of my friends has one. In both cases I thought the laundry stunk, not just the towels.
Front-load never made sense to me from an engineering standpoint. Wouldn’t you just have to go to more trouble sealing the door? Though as midget I must admit that unloading a front-load is MUCH easier with my stubby little t-rex arms.
We managed to snag a high-capacity washer and I can’t imagine going back to a small one. I do one load of laundry every 10 days or so.
If my towels stank after washing, I would be pretty sure they weren’t actually clean. I’d get a new washer that didn’t need to be babied to do the one and only thing it was created to do: wash.
My towels smell fine (doing like everyone says - HE detergent, not very much of it, leave the washer and detergent drawer open after use every time), but my washer does ball up the nap on my towels, which I don’t care for. I prefer to air-dry my towels, but I have to dry them in the dryer now because my energy-efficient appliance balls them up. Isn’t that just a kick in the pants?
I DID have this problem with, well, everything. My solution was to run a “clean washer” cycle with a lot of bleach, then every time I did laundry for a month, add bleach (only about 2 tablespoons to the darks/colors) to kill the funk on the clothes, lest it reinfect the washer.
Now, I run a clean cycle about once monthly and leave the door open compulsively and have not had a recurrence.
I have never heard of putting any amount of bleach in a load of darks. You are a brave soul.
My towels don’t stink from washing, but if I leave them out or in the hamper too long before washing. If they start to stink, I do a load with towels only, hot water, and a cup or so of vinegar in the fabric softener space.