A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a stagnant
pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day and always
leave the door open when she has finished with it. I have checcked and
there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out smells from the drain
coming up the pipe, also there appears to be black mould in the
aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both at a loss to think
whats causing this and wonder if any of you knowledgeable people can
think of anything.
Regards
Trevor Smith

Trevor Smith wrote:
A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a
stagnant pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day
and always leave the door open when she has finished with it. I have
checcked and there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out smells
from the drain coming up the pipe, also there appears to be black
mould in the aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both at a
loss to think whats causing this and wonder if any of you
knowledgeable people can think of anything.
Regards
Trevor Smith

Her husbands underpants?

The smell is prolly coming from the soap tray as these never get cleaned
regular by many women.

Take the soap tray out and give it a thorough cleaning(should be done
regulary), also if you can take the pump out and clean that as well...I have
known all manner of objects to get caught in the pump even when it's
supposed to have a filter on it.

"Trevor Smith" wrote in message
ups.com...
A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a stagnant
pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day and always
leave the door open when she has finished with it. I have checcked and
there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out smells from the drain
coming up the pipe, also there appears to be black mould in the
aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both at a loss to think
whats causing this and wonder if any of you knowledgeable people can
think of anything.
Regards
Trevor Smith



We always seem to get the black mould as well.

In order to remove it you should use an anti-bacterial cleaner and gloves.
You should be a bit careful as the mould can pose a small health risk to
some people.

You could also try running the machine at its maximum temperature for one
wash to try and flush it out.

"Trevor Smith" wrote in message
ups.com...
A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a stagnant
pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day and always
leave the door open when she has finished with it. I have checcked and
there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out smells from the drain
coming up the pipe, also there appears to be black mould in the
aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both at a loss to think
whats causing this and wonder if any of you knowledgeable people can
think of anything.
Regards
Trevor Smith

ISTR bacteria are usually to blame for smells. Try something anti-bacterial
(demestos multisurface cleaner, dilute bleach) to kill the buggers. Bleach
should also kill the black mould.

Bob

On Sat, 9 Jul 2005 21:53:08 UTC, "Trevor Smith"
wrote:

A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a stagnant
pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day and always
leave the door open when she has finished with it. I have checcked and
there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out smells from the drain
coming up the pipe, also there appears to be black mould in the
aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both at a loss to think
whats causing this and wonder if any of you knowledgeable people can
think of anything.

Soap residue etc. caused by only ever doing cool washes. Try a really
hot wash or three, just add soap and no clothes.

In article ,
"Bob Smith \(UK\)" bob@nospamplease writes:
"Trevor Smith" wrote in message
ups.com...
A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a stagnant
pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day and always
leave the door open when she has finished with it. I have checcked and
there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out smells from the drain
coming up the pipe, also there appears to be black mould in the
aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both at a loss to think
whats causing this and wonder if any of you knowledgeable people can
think of anything.
Regards
Trevor Smith

ISTR bacteria are usually to blame for smells. Try something anti-bacterial
(demestos multisurface cleaner, dilute bleach) to kill the buggers. Bleach
should also kill the black mould.

Bleach will damage many of the plastics used in washing machines.
All that's required is to wash the old fabric conditioner residue
out of the soap dispensor and drawer runners.

--
Andrew Gabriel

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Bob Smith \(UK\)" bob@nospamplease writes:
"Trevor Smith" wrote in message
ups.com...
A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a
stagnant pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day
and always leave the door open when she has finished with it. I
have checcked and there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out
smells from the drain coming up the pipe, also there appears to be
black mould in the aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both
at a loss to think whats causing this and wonder if any of you
knowledgeable people can think of anything.
Regards
Trevor Smith

ISTR bacteria are usually to blame for smells. Try something
anti-bacterial (demestos multisurface cleaner, dilute bleach) to
kill the buggers. Bleach should also kill the black mould.

Bleach will damage many of the plastics used in washing machines.
All that's required is to wash the old fabric conditioner residue
out of the soap dispensor and drawer runners.

Wow! I didn't know that?
I clean anything plastic that is dirty or has ingressed grease or dirt, so I
beg to differ.

In article ,
"ben" writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Bleach will damage many of the plastics used in washing machines.
All that's required is to wash the old fabric conditioner residue
out of the soap dispensor and drawer runners.

Wow! I didn't know that?

Bleach makes some plastics go brittle. Sometimes you
won't notice, but that would be particularly bad for
a washing machine outer drum, given the very high
stresses on it during operation.

I clean anything plastic that is dirty or has ingressed grease or dirt, so I
beg to differ.

Bleach doesn't clean things, it just makes some types
of dirt invisible. (Some bleach preparations will also
have detergent and/or salt in them which will perform
the cleaning, depending on the nature of the dirt.)

--
Andrew Gabriel

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"ben" writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Bleach will damage many of the plastics used in washing machines.
All that's required is to wash the old fabric conditioner residue
out of the soap dispensor and drawer runners.

Wow! I didn't know that?

Bleach makes some plastics go brittle. Sometimes you
won't notice, but that would be particularly bad for
a washing machine outer drum, given the very high
stresses on it during operation.


Now your going of the track...we are talking about cleaning the soap tray
which has nothing to do with the internal outer drum, and the drum is not
made of plastic, it's fiberglass.

I clean anything plastic that is dirty or has ingressed grease or
dirt, so I beg to differ.

Bleach doesn't clean things, it just makes some types
of dirt invisible. (Some bleach preparations will also
have detergent and/or salt in them which will perform
the cleaning, depending on the nature of the dirt.)

Your talking bollock's Man.

ben wrote:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"ben" writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Bleach will damage many of the plastics used in washing machines.
All that's required is to wash the old fabric conditioner residue
out of the soap dispensor and drawer runners.

Wow! I didn't know that?

Bleach makes some plastics go brittle. Sometimes you
won't notice, but that would be particularly bad for
a washing machine outer drum, given the very high
stresses on it during operation.


Now your going of the track...we are talking about cleaning the soap tray
which has nothing to do with the internal outer drum, and the drum is not
made of plastic, it's fiberglass.


Well, yes.
What do you think is around the glass fibers?
It's not pixie dust.

In article , "ben"
says...
snip
Now your going of the track...we are talking about cleaning the soap tray
which has nothing to do with the internal outer drum, and the drum is not
made of plastic, it's fiberglass.

Hint - the P in GRP stands for plastic.

In article . com,
says...
A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a stagnant
pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day and always
leave the door open when she has finished with it. I have checcked and
there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out smells from the drain
coming up the pipe, also there appears to be black mould in the
aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both at a loss to think
whats causing this and wonder if any of you knowledgeable people can
think of anything.

I recently had a very similar problem with my own washing machine. I
wash almost everything in cold water, which was almost certainly at
least part of the cause. A google search came up with a number of
suggestions, so I took the ones that made most sense to me, and ran
the empty machine through a hot water cycle with a bit of dishwasher
detergent. (Given that dishwasher detergent is designed to remove
dirt and crud from dishes, it made sense to me that it would do the
same for bits of a dishwasher.) It took two cycles, but the smell was
gone, and hasn't come back. HTH.

--
Hedgehog

Aparently it only started smelling after she did a boil wash which she
does not normally do, she will try the dishwasher cleaner and if that
don't work we will strip the pump and pipes out and give them a good
clean, thanks for your suggestions

"Andrew Gabriel" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
"Bob Smith \(UK\)" bob@nospamplease writes:
"Trevor Smith" wrote in message
ups.com...
A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a stagnant
pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day and always
leave the door open when she has finished with it. I have checcked and
there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out smells from the drain
coming up the pipe, also there appears to be black mould in the
aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both at a loss to think
whats causing this and wonder if any of you knowledgeable people can
think of anything.
Regards
Trevor Smith

ISTR bacteria are usually to blame for smells. Try something
anti-bacterial
(demestos multisurface cleaner, dilute bleach) to kill the buggers.
Bleach
should also kill the black mould.

Bleach will damage many of the plastics used in washing machines.
All that's required is to wash the old fabric conditioner residue
out of the soap dispensor and drawer runners.


I thought washing powder had bleach in it, except the "colour saving"
varieties.

Bob

Rob Morley wrote:
In article , "ben"
says...
snip
Now your going of the track...we are talking about cleaning the soap
tray which has nothing to do with the internal outer drum, and the
drum is not made of plastic, it's fiberglass.

Hint - the P in GRP stands for plastic.

Hint - the P in GRP stands for Glassfibre Reinforced Polymers

Trevor Smith wrote:

Aparently it only started smelling after she did a boil wash which she
does not normally do, she will try the dishwasher cleaner and if that
don't work we will strip the pump and pipes out and give them a good
clean, thanks for your suggestions

After you've boil washed, do a 2nd boil wash with citric acid, and
preferably switch the power off once its reached bioling, and let it
resume next morning. This is as thorough a descale as you can do with a
washing machine, short of dismantling the machine.

The problem is normally a combination of muck scum bacteria moulds and
limescale. Detergents are physically blocked from getting at much of
the muck by the limescale, and dont affect limescale. Equally the muck
blocks the citric from getting to all the scale, but alternating them
every now and then steadily strips it down. Ideally one should do such
a pair of boils every couple of months.


NT

On 09 Jul 2005 22:44:22 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

Bleach will damage many of the plastics used in washing machines.

I find this unlikely (although not impossible).

Yes, there are plastics that will suffer from contact with bleach. But
who's going to specify those for the insides of a _washing_machine_ ?

My Hotpoint manual for one specifically states, "if smelly, run bleach
through it on a hot empty wash".


IMHE (which is getting more extensive in recent weeks, not that I want
it to) there are four places to get smells inside a washing machine: the
soap dispenser tray, the bottom of the door seal, the pressure
bottle/pump area (especially on a Zanussi) and finally the outlet hose
into the drain stack.

Use some measure of common sense to go at all of them. Bleach for
starters, toilet cleaner for more poke on thick scum buildups, and
toilet limescale shifter for fecking Zanussis that lose track of their
level sensing (a hideous design and impossible to clean easily).

Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Bleach doesn't clean things, it just makes some types
of dirt invisible.

That's good enough for me :-)

Owain

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 09 Jul 2005 22:44:22 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

Bleach will damage many of the plastics used in washing machines.

I find this unlikely (although not impossible).

Yes, there are plastics that will suffer from contact with bleach. But
who's going to specify those for the insides of a _washing_machine_ ?

My Hotpoint manual for one specifically states, "if smelly, run bleach
through it on a hot empty wash".

How much bleach?

In article , "ben"
says...
Rob Morley wrote:
In article , "ben"
says...
snip
Now your going of the track...we are talking about cleaning the soap
tray which has nothing to do with the internal outer drum, and the
drum is not made of plastic, it's fiberglass.

Hint - the P in GRP stands for plastic.

Hint - the P in GRP stands for Glassfibre Reinforced Polymers

Yeah right.

"Trevor Smith" wrote in message
ups.com...
A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a stagnant
pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day and always
leave the door open when she has finished with it. I have checcked and
there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out smells from the drain
coming up the pipe, also there appears to be black mould in the
aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both at a loss to think
whats causing this and wonder if any of you knowledgeable people can
think of anything.
Regards
Trevor Smith

Every 6 months to a year run on the hottest wash with no cloths in, a wash
with citric acid. This gets rid of stuck on detergent in the drum. The
smell may be because of too may cool washes.

"Trevor Smith" wrote in message
ups.com...
A friend of mine's washing machine has started to smell like a stagnant
pond which is strange as she uses it at least twice a day and always
leave the door open when she has finished with it. I have checcked and
there is a trap on the waste pipe which rules out smells from the drain
coming up the pipe, also there appears to be black mould in the
aperture where the soap dispencer goes. We both at a loss to think
whats causing this and wonder if any of you knowledgeable people can
think of anything.
Regards
Trevor Smith

Had a similar problem - turned out to be a dead mouse - probably
electrocuted as it was dangling from a solenoid valve on the inlet pipe!!

Hugh

In article ,
Andy Dingley writes:
On 09 Jul 2005 22:44:22 GMT, (Andrew
Gabriel) wrote:

Bleach will damage many of the plastics used in washing machines.

I find this unlikely (although not impossible).

Yes, there are plastics that will suffer from contact with bleach. But
who's going to specify those for the insides of a _washing_machine_ ?

My Hotpoint manual for one specifically states, "if smelly, run bleach
through it on a hot empty wash".

My Hotpoint instructions say in bold letters
"Do not use bleach in your machine".

It will depend on the plastics used. GRP is susceptable to attack by
regular (hypochloric acid based) bleach, as are some other plastics.
(I fitted a toilet cistern syphon recently, and I noticed that
had a warning label on it saying not to use any bleach products
in the cistern.) The whitening agents in washing detergents don't
generally include chlorine-based bleaches.

--
Andrew Gabriel

Ben wrote;

Your talking bollock's Man.


Oh no he isn't! Bleach on it's own doesn't clean anything. As Andrew said,
it just makes some dirt invisible.

Dave

On 10 Jul 2005 13:15:31 GMT, andrew@a17 (Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

My Hotpoint manual for one specifically states, "if smelly, run bleach
through it on a hot empty wash".

My Hotpoint instructions say in bold letters
"Do not use bleach in your machine".

So does mine. But it permits it without a wash, as a machine cleaner.

ben wrote:
Rob Morley wrote:
In article , "ben"
says...
snip
Now your going of the track...we are talking about cleaning the soap
tray which has nothing to do with the internal outer drum, and the
drum is not made of plastic, it's fiberglass.

Hint - the P in GRP stands for plastic.

Hint - the P in GRP stands for Glassfibre Reinforced Polymers




And if you go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic

You'll see that that is not perhaps the most brilliant comeback.

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 15:20:14 +0100, Andy Dingley
wrote:

On 10 Jul 2005 13:15:31 GMT, andrew@a17 (Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

My Hotpoint manual for one specifically states, "if smelly, run bleach
through it on a hot empty wash".

My Hotpoint instructions say in bold letters
"Do not use bleach in your machine".

So does mine. But it permits it without a wash, as a machine cleaner.

One attempt to use "Domestos" caused prolific excessive foaming, which
kept on happening through several rinses.

DG

On 09 Jul 2005 23:26:29 GMT, andrew@a17 (Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

In article ,
"ben" writes:
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Bleach will damage many of the plastics used in washing machines.
All that's required is to wash the old fabric conditioner residue
out of the soap dispensor and drawer runners.

Wow! I didn't know that?

Bleach makes some plastics go brittle. Sometimes you
won't notice, but that would be particularly bad for
a washing machine outer drum, given the very high
stresses on it during operation.


I'm surprised to hear that. One bleach, Sodium Hypochlorite ( ClONa )
is commonly used to sterilise tubing in path lab instruments, where
bugs growing would give erroneous (contaminated) results. Doing that
job I've never seen any warnings about deterioration of plastic parts.
I'd have thought detergents and organic solvents would be more likely
to strip the plasticiser out of plastics.

I clean anything plastic that is dirty or has ingressed grease or dirt, so I
beg to differ.

Bleach doesn't clean things, it just makes some types
of dirt invisible. (Some bleach preparations will also
have detergent and/or salt in them which will perform
the cleaning, depending on the nature of the dirt.)

It kills bacteria, viruses, and moulds, and causes them to break up.

Bugs metabolising large molecular weight compounds and excreting them
as low molecular weight (volatile) compounds, are potent causes of
smells.

Maybe doing a hot wash cycle with 2/3 dishwasher tablets (and no
detergent) in might help?

DG