[BarryM]

Hello Kwatt.

I downloaded Affresh’s data sheet. https://filebin.net/ftjd8fzl4x0g9rer It says it contains:

• Sodium bicarbonate which is less powerful than sodium carbonate for cleaning
• Citric acid which I used for scale but it is questionable that it will preserve its required acidity
• Sodium lauryl sulfate which is a scum free detergent
• Glucono-delta-lactone which has several uses but maybe for scale here
• Sodium starch glycolate which I think is some sort of chemical builder
• Sodium percarbonate which is a bleaching agent
• Sodium acetate not sure
• Magnesium stearate probably for bulk

I can’t see much there which I don’t already have from what I’ve been using, except perhaps the bleaching agent which I could add from a tub I have but it would be for disinfectant (rather than cleaning) purposes.

What you say about the suds when using soda crystals is interesting. As I understand it soda crystals (sodium carbonate) forms the bulk of a detergent powder like Ariel and I assumed it was the primary cleaner for maintenance washes. I don’t mind using Ariel instead of soda crystals but it always foams up and out of the drawer.

Perhaps the smelly gunk is above the water line inside the machine and lots of foam might be a good way to reach it — although there’s quite a lot to clean up afterwards!

If you have any further comments or advice, I would be interested.

[BarryM]

iadom wrote:Using disinfectant will not do any good, the Zanussi machines in particular do have a lot of small nooks and crannies that even the very best of cleaners fail to shift for long.

You could try Affresh it’s the best product we have found.

I am not sure Affesh is going to be much of a help after what I have tried. The ingredients say it is mostly citric acid (35{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}) and sodium bicarbonate (45{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}). I used a huge amount of citric acid (250g each time) and even more sodium carbonate (soda crystals) which is said to be a better cleaner than Affresh’s sodium bicarbonate. Nor am I sure how an acid and an alakaline will preserve their individual properties when mixed like that into a single product. The other Affresh ingredient 8{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} is just an ordinary detergent (sodium lauryl sulfate).

I figured I should just zap the mould now as much as possible. Perhaps in those nooks and crannies you mention.

[BarryM]

kwatt wrote:It is all explained in great depth here: Smelly Washing Machines

You can use bleach in it.

Disinfectant I wouldn’t, you don’t know what will (if anything) react with it.

Follow the advice found in the article for the last bit. 😉

K.

I saw that page before I started trying the various cleaners and decided on citric acid and soda crystals alternately.

There is a bit at the end of that page which says “i advise my customers to soak overnight, 2 cups of bleach, add to machine, run machine to fill with water and switch off. leave overnight and drain. first wash may be affected by the leftover bleach so take care.”However another page on the Net says to use only 60ml bleach. There’s a big difference between two cups (approx 450ml) and 60 ml! I don’t want bleach to rust up part of the machine or perish seals!

A friend once used household bleach and said it foamed out of the machine. I wonder if she used thick bleach with gummy ingredients but she should have used thin bleach?

Is there any advice on the type and qualtity of bleach I should use?

[BarryM]

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?

[BarryM]

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)

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