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I regularly clean my washing machine (using with Arial at 90 degrees C) and the drum always smells fine. However I don’t use it often (perhaps every 10 to 14 days) and a putrid smell appears in the room when I use the kitchen extractor fan or when I run a rinse programme on the machine.
It seems water in the machine’s outflow pipework or perhaps the U-bend is getting stale and smelling putrid. To empahsise, the drum always smells fine and so does the flexible outflow pipe which has no gunk and similarly the open stand-pipe it goes into is free of smells and gunk.
In order to disinfect the water and stop these smells developing, is it okay to put household disinfectant (typically benzylkonium chloride) or even bleach in the machine and do a rinse wash after using the machine for a normal wash?
still may not stop the smell as it has more to do with how the machine is connected to the drain. My guess is the outlet pipe is connected to the “U” bend of the sink as this arrangement often causes smells
check the outlet hose for the sink is in such a position that when the sink is used its not possible for dirty waste water to get into the machine outlet hose
Dave
I checked the pipework and there is little chance of sink waste water getting into the washing wachine drain hose . The washing machine has it’s own U-bend trap and so does the sink. Each trap then connects on the outflow side to a waste pipe which takes water to the drain.
I have the feeling the powerful extractor fan draws putrid smelling air either (a) from the U-bend or (b) from somewhere in the macine although not from inside the drum as it smells fresh. Sometimes I go into the room and it is full of smell and I don’t think I had the extractor fan on previously (the fan and the extractor are in different room so it is hard to see cause and effect).
Putting bleach in the washing machine stand pipe that goes into the U-bend trap doesn’t help. The flexible pipe from the machine is gunk-free when I take it out the stand pipe and the inside of the pipe doesn’t smell. It is almost as if the smell cmes from inside the machine but not from the drum, however this seems impossible.
My idea is to put some anti-germ chemical in a rinse and leave it in the machine until I next use it. I had though of doing a maintenance wash between every main wash but with no clothes the foam spills out everywhere even at 60 degrees and, anyway, it seems a waste of washing powder.
Would any of these cause problems for the machine if I put it into the machine and then use a rinse-only programme to empty the machine leaving traces of this solution behind?
(a) household disinfecttant (such as one based on benzylkonium chloride)
(b) bleach
(c) washing soda crystals (sodium carbonate)try something
leave machine a few days then run a rinse but before you do put the outlet hose in a bucket. ( you can always stop the programme and lift the hose if the bucket overfills)
what I am trying to prove is its the machine with the smell and not your drains
Dave
Good idea although I ran a maintenance wash this morning, so it will be some time before the smell builds up again.
However I did something similar a few days ago. The machine had been standing unused for days and I ran a rinse programme. This is just a single rinse with water entering, filling up and then after the drum does some agitation the water is pumped out.
Before doing the rinse, the washing machine drum smelled fine. Afterwards the room stank with the putrid smell.
What can I do?
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