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Our Bosch has been smelling for about a year now, initially we put up with it as we took the clothes out as soon as the cycle finished but more recently we haven’t been able to do that. About 6 months ago we tried a product called purewasher, which made the problem a bit better but not a huge difference.
In the last few weeks I have noticed my clothes have come out of the washer smelling of vomit so after searching around I found this site and bought some Affresh. Since the smell was quite bad I used all 3 tablets and ran it at the hottest wash my washer has, 90 degrees.
After the cycle finished I emptied the drain, then took the top off and emptied the trap at the top that the waste pipe comes from. This was completely gummed up with some grey looking substance. After putting it all back together the washer smells better, but it still has a nasty odour. I can that this grey stuff is on the plastic outer drum by shining a light through the metal drum, and I am worried that this stuff is also in the pipes inside the machine which is causing the problem.
Is there anything else I can use to get rid of this grey stuff?
Re: Bosch Exxcel 1400 Express – Smelly clothes!
Get down to your local supermarket and buy yourself a bag of soda crystals.Fill your detergent tray with them and do another 90 degree wash.Try this a couple of times and then routinely do a 90 degree wash every 4-6 weeks to maintain the machine.This is my opinion anyway.
Re: Bosch Exxcel 1400 Express – Smelly clothes!
Hi,
Like most things, especially bleach or bleach containing detergents which do eventually clean, they tend more to mask the smell than actually cure the underlying problem, which is bacteria build up in the tank. Soda crystals, so far as I am aware, are not that effective for this task although like many things the manufacturers will claim a million uses and miracle cures.
Th problem is that you get a thick black or grey sludge that builds up in there and it absolutely stinks, it can be classed when it’s bad, as simply rancid. It takes a bit to shift it I’m afraid without having to strip the machine down totally and physically clean it out. It is not uncommon to see this stuff up to 2 or 3cm thick on some tanks, that takes some shifting unless you get it stripped down and in about it with a brush. It’s a job I’ve done several times and, trust me, it’s not a nice one.
What m0t has is that grey sludge and it may take several applications to get rid of it if it’s really bad. We’ve even had the odd occasion where it gets worse before getting better as the top layers of this muck are removed revealing the even more rancid ones underneath that, but re-application has cured it every time so far. Although, it has to be said, the worst one I’ve come across took about three or four goes to clear down.
Maintenance washes help, no doubt.
Correct detergent use can reduce it to almost nothing but most people will tell you, when you try to explain this that, “I’ve been washing clothes for years and I know what I’m doing, the machine should just do what I expect”. Which is fine, but modern machines are different to the ones that many people had many years ago. It sorta like trying to compare the performance of a 1970’s Mini to a modern one, totally different animals.
However it has to be noted that maintenance washes will, almost certainly, still be required. It may well not be the once a month that’s recommended, but the machine does still need it.
There are a slew of articles in THIS SECTION (Advice & Help) of the site that will help people do it right as well as a lot on how to use modern detergents in modern machines correctly in that same Advice & Help section of the site.
Affresh does work, very well indeed, if the instructions are followed and it does get rid of the smelly washing machine syndrome. Used as directed as part of a maintenance regime it will keep it clean, keep it fresh and help avoid service calls that really are not required. It can even help things like drum spiders not getting corroded, at least as badly, as they normally might.
Of course everyone can totally disbelieve me if you like, just don’t be surprised if people don’t get too close to you. 😉
HTH
K.
We don’t reccomend Soda crystals being used in Bosch/Siemens machines. We’ve been advised that constant use of Soda crystals can cause a reaction/corrosion on the aluminium drum cross and can lead to black marks on washing.
Re: Bosch Exxcel 1400 Express – Smelly clothes!
@Nomadpaul; In that case i shall abstain from using soda crystals.After all, i recently purchased a Bosch machine on the 1/8/08 as can be noted from my post on the “general app enquiries sub-forum”..On this note i presume i’m better doing what i’m currently doing, and that is; Washing my white towels, bedding, etc, with Daz powder on a 60 deg wash, and washing my decent denim and coloured with Ariel colour safe(purple box) on a 40 deg wash?Sorry to ask, but i constantly see a large variation in opinions.Also, with regards a maintenance wash, would a drawer full of Daz powder on a 90 wash every 4-6 week suffice as opposed to the soda crystal method?Cheers guys.Re: Bosch Exxcel 1400 Express – Smelly clothes!
Hi Damo,
Yes, that’s correct, Daz powder contains bleach so it’s fine for whites and using that for maintenance washes should keep bugs at bay.
K.
Re: Bosch Exxcel 1400 Express – Smelly clothes!
If the machine was badly crudded up, I suppose you could try something like Finish dishwasher cleaner. This is a liquid product that I have used several times in my Zanussi. I poured it in through the powder drawer as it was filling, set on a 90 deg wash.
The dishwasher cleaner contains a mixture of sulphamic and citric acids, with cleansing agents. (And yes, ‘sulphamic’ is spelled the correct British way; if it has an ‘f’, it is the foreign spelling!).
DON’T add laundry OR any other detergents!!!
Aldi supermarket has an own-brand similar product to ‘Finish’, but a damn sight cheaper. Usually in packs of two bottles.
Re: Bosch Exxcel 1400 Express – Smelly clothes!
Err, no – please don’t. The thinking is good, but there is no evidence as to whether this will work or not – certainly the chemical content of the product is not directed at fabrics.
The basic, much flaunted, tenets apply:
1/ Clean everything you can access; especially the soap box and drawer, as well as the door seal. Lift its’ pleat, pull the edge at the drum forward and scour. If there are black stains set into the rubber, get it replaced at the earliest opportunity.
2/ Buy a small box of a biological whites powder – Ariel is probably the most potent – and boil the machine. Longest, hottest wash…… If this has not been done in the life of the machine to date, you may need to repeat the process a couple of times to start to achieve a result. If it really isn’t improving, get some AFFRESH and use it – remarkably effective.
Once you kill the odours, you must make this into a monthly routine to maintain the effectiveness.
Penguin45.
Re: Bosch Exxcel 1400 Express – Smelly clothes!
From what I have read about the ‘Affresh’ machine cleaner, its major ingredients, apparently are sodium carbonate and sodium percarbonate; ingredients that are already in decent powdered laundry detergents.
That being the case, a powder detergent used on a boil programme would make better economic sense.
Re: Bosch Exxcel 1400 Express – Smelly clothes!
Hi Trilobite,
I can’t recall what else is in Affresh offhand but it isn’t just a variant of a normal detergent. It may well share some ingredients but I think you’ll find that the concentrations are just a tad different as is the purpose.
Regular maintenance washes will keep the bacteria at bay to an extent and it will reduce or remove smell whether you use product like Affresh or normal bleach containing detergent but, bleach containing detergents do tend to mask the effect rather then address it when it gets to the point where people notice it. And that, I’m afraid, is the problem. Most people don’t care until it gets to the stage where the problem is pretty bad.
Affresh is designed to attack the root cause of that bacteria, not to clean clothes as well, it is designed for the specific purpose of cleaning the machine and this bacteria build up. We’ve used it in quite a few machines that have been rancid and, so long as you follow the instructions, it does work.
Is Affresh better than detergent? For monthly maintenance washes the jury is out, it might be it might not. I think it’s more effective as I’ve done both but that’s just my opinion.
However, where there is already a problem then the answer is yes, it is a lot more effective especially when you use the three tablets in one go.
In any event, regardless of the solution to the problem of a smelly washing machine anything that encourages people to look after their machines and make them last longer is no bad thing in my books.
You can find out more about Affresh here: http://www.affresh.com/
K.
Re: Bosch Exxcel 1400 Express – Smelly clothes!
I would say that there is likely to be an awful lot of clarty washing machines on the go, if my recent experience is anything to go by.
I recently met a friend in a supermarket, who had bought a new Hoover machine nearly a year ago. He always washed at 30 degrees, with a liquid detergent. The machine started to smell mouldy, and he was getting dirty marks on his laundry. He had done a couple of 90 degree washes without much success.
I took him to the detergent aisle and told him to buy a powder with oxygen bleach; he chose Daz. I told him to use the powder for several maintenance washes, then to start using Daz for his clothes on minimum temperatures of 40 degree cycles. I told him that liquids create the problems he encountered and that he shouldn’t use them.
Haven’t seen him since, but I’ll ask if that has done the trick, the next time I see him.
Re: Bosch Exxcel 1400 Express – Smelly clothes!
Trilobite wrote:I would say that there is likely to be an awful lot of clarty washing machines on the go, if my recent experience is anything to go by.
Yes, there is. Sadly a lot of people don’t even know until it’s too late, then we often get the call that the washer is stinking and that, somehow as if by magic, the actual washing machine is producing the rancid smell. 🙁
Last I checked metal and plastics used in a washing machine didn’t produce a foul odour.
Fact is, it’s only the improper use of the machine that can cause it, but you try explaining that to people. It’s nigh on impossible.
If I got paid for every time I heard, “I’ve been using an automatic washer for 20 years and I KNOW what I’m doing…” I’d be sipping mojitos on a beach in the Caymans. For some strange reason I don’t get paid for it, or for advising people how to do it correctly so I don’t get the mojitos or the beach in the Caymans. It’s nice to dream though.
The best we can do, is to try to solve the problem. Affresh does that, simple to use, people understand it and it’s not expensive really especially as it solves the problem.
I could go on and on about this as the subject really irks me, but I’ll stow it. 😉
K.
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