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Hi there,
I hope you can help me; I’ve been struggling with my washing machine for a while now. It’s a Bosch Exxcel 1400S about 2 years old.
When I put on a load of darks, I use my normal concoction of a Persil colour capsule, fabric conditioner and some bicarb of Soda (read somewhere that this could help alleviate odours) However once the machine has finished the clothes take on a rather musty/eggy smell that seems to worsen once they dry.
My machine connects to the drain via the under sink drainage and this weekend I have checked all the drainage pipes and cleaned them, they were full of gunk and I wonder if this has got into the machine? When I’ve checked the drain pump at the bottom of the machine after every wash it’s always full of water (left over washing solution) about a pints worth. This smells really eggy and disgusting? Could this be anything? Is it supposed to be like this?
About 3 months ago I have had a Bosch engineer come out and run some diagnostics on the machine (he never took the back off) and he said that all was OK and that the smell was my water type, although I still have the same issue.
Please, does anyone have any tips or advice I could try?
Thanks
Mark
Re: Washing machine making clothes smell!!!!!! 🙁
Hi Mark,
It’s not your water, water is odourless.
The drain could be a problem from what you say, but have a read at;
http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p … age&pid=43
Then take it from there. 😉
K.
Re: Washing machine making clothes smell!!!!!! 🙁
Hi K,
Many Thanks for your reply and useful link. I’ve tried a couple of these cleaning measures and I’m sure that the drainage is OK now I’ve fixed it, however waste could have filtered back into the machine at some point?
I’ll run it through on a hot wash with some powder in it 😉
Do you know if the water that collects in the drain filter is supposed to smell or even collect at all? It’s this thats got me a bit worried at the moment!
Thanks
Mark
Re: Washing machine making clothes smell!!!!!! 🙁
No the water in teh filter shouldn’t be that bad. Obviously there’s collected crud in there, like lint etc. but it should be reasonable and not foul smelling.
If it is then I’d suspect that you may still be getting what we call backfilling, where the water from the drain is coming back into the appliance and it doesn’t take too much to make it stink. The drain is best on a proper standpipe, the spigots off the sink trap seem to cause nothing but problems for washers and dishwashers but they do make the plumber’s life easy.
K.
Re: Washing machine making clothes smell!!!!!! 🙁
So it’s quite normal for the drain filter to have ‘some’ water in it then…..
I’ve just changed the plumbing for the machine this weekend as so to emilinate waste back filling, it still empties via the sink but I have a 4 inch run down so that the water hopefully can’t get back up the pipe.
I guess I’ll have to run a series of maintainance washing and see how it ends up.
Thanks for the help.
Mark
Yes you should generally always have some residual water left in the filter.
All you can do is see how it goes. 😕
K.
Re: Washing machine making clothes smell!!!!!! 🙁
Hi K,
Things appear to be improving….. Bosch customer services contacted me and told me to run through some ‘Maintenance’ washes with just powder detergent at a 90 wash. They recommended doing at least 6! This has improved the smell within the machine, however when using fabric conditioner the smell slightly returns and doesn’t clear until I do another 90 maintenance wash.
Is there such a thing as the machine using too much fabric conditioner?
Thanks for your help
Mark
Re: Washing machine making clothes smell!!!!!! 🙁
Yes.
In effect fabric conditioner is just grease with a pleasant smell, charming thought eh?
Try using Bold as that will help and it’s heavily perfumed to boot.
Also you’ll note that M&S advise that you don’t use conditioner on their towels, this is because it is grease/oil based and water just runs off the towels if you use it on them. Bold uses a clay based formula which is totally different and it does not have that property, the towels still absorb water well.
And if that stuff congeals then water alone won’t shift it, hence the reason that Bosch have suggested the maintenance wash in an attempt to clear it. As an aside, it stinks when it does congeal and then get all those nasty little bacteria into it which just love the warm wet environment of a washer making it still worse.
K.
Re: Washing machine making clothes smell!!!!!! 🙁
Thanks for the tip.
I’m going to Tesco later today, which ‘version’ of bold? I see that they do tablet, liquid or powder?
Bosch have recommended powder?
Mark
I’d tend to go with powder as well to be honest, it’s just so that you can control the doseage better. But do remember to check that you are putting the right amount in, it is very important for good results.
K.
Through years of experience I now always recommended that a washer (front or top loader) be run on a hot wash only, no clothes, and a soak cycle if possible after placing a cup of dishwasher powder in the bowl. If no dishwasher powder then a 1/2 a cup of caustic soda (Drain cleaner). This approach is now advised by Fisher & Paykel. This will break down the fatty depositscaused by Fabric Softener. The seals in a washing machine are the same as in a dishwasher so no damage has ever been observed. Ensure that the machine completes it’s rinse cycles. Note that contact with caustic soda is dangerous and all precautions must be observed (read label). If in doubt, don’t proceed. Dishwashing powder is a dilute form of caustic soda.
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