My washer is lame.
I hate to talk bad about my washer – especially in case I’m tempting fate by doing so – but man is it pissing me off! With four little kids, I find that I’m FREQUENTLY washing bedding, and almost every time I do, I have to run an extra rinse cycle to get rid of all the soap, and an extra spin cycle, too. If I don’t do that extra spin, my kids’ comforters come out weighing thirty pounds because they’re still full of water.
Besides all of THAT, I find that my washer smells like ass a good portion of the time. I regularly clean out the filter assembly, but I’ve recently found out that front loading washers typically smell like mildew. There are a billion sites online where people are bitching about this very thing – I’m surprised nobody’s come out with some special laundry additive for front loaders that takes away the ass smell. I always leave the door open when the washer isn’t in use – but it’s still stinky.
Now you understand my addiction to Gain Apple Mango Tango detergent. I need something intoxicatingly fruity to comfort my offended nose!
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LaLaGirl is the mother of a teenager and two young sets of twins. She's happily married, loves living in Colorado, and writes almost daily about married life, raising multiples, and parenting a child with autism.
Wow, I didn’t know that about front loaders. Of course the only front loaders I have ever used are at laundry mats and that was on Colfax and everything smells like ass there. That sucks that you have to do an extra rinse and spin. Have you noticed a difference in your utility bill? We had 4 washers from December until last weekend because of repairs and switch outs so I was up to my eyeballs in laundry. I can do without a stove
but don’t mess with my washer and dryer! I am a Gain addict too, but my fav is the original scent. Yummmmmmmm
I’ve begun using Planet laundry detergent (purchased on Amazon) and it has reduced the smell almost completely! I’ve also found (and heard) that using liquid fabric softener causes a scent. The front-loaders don’t create enough water force to clean out the softener from the washer. I’ve since switched to dryer sheets.
Tamara – I love everything about my front loading washer except the ass smell. (Well, and that thing about spinning the comforter twice. But that’s a recent issue – I’ve had my washer for 7 years and I use it HARD, let me tell ya.) It uses hardly any water and it’s definitely energy efficient. But yeah, it’s a smelly old thing.
Cynthia – good to know! I don’t use liquid fabric softener at all – but I have heard that HE detergent is formulated to rinse away more cleanly with less residue left behind. I may have to try that.
We have a front loader and wash my 9 month old’s cloth diapers in it several times a week (in addition to our “regular” laundry), but don’t have a problem with the stink. We use homemade detergent and run an extra hot rinse cycle with bleach in the washer about once a month. Hopefully you can get your stink-problems taken care of, because I agree that front-loaders are awesome!!
What brand is it Laura? I want an LG in our next house. If you ran just a bleach load would that help. I have no idea how those things work.
There was something on the news about the smell TODAY!! Gosh, what channel was it on…. They had suggestions and all sorts of stuff. Ahh, here it is http://www.thedenverchannel.com/call7forhelp/22505952/detail.html
hope this helps!
Oh wow! Thanks, Amy! I’m going to try to find that citric acid product they mentioned.
Our front-loader smelled for the first five years we had it. I started putting about half a cup of Borax in before I load it up with clothes, run a regular cycle with my regular detergents, fabric softener, etc, and there has been -no- stink for the last two years. You can find the “20 Mule Team” brand in the laundry aisle at the grocery store for about four bucks, and it lasts me about two months. Also, keep the door ajar when it’s not in use and the pull out the detergent drawer a few inches for the air to flow through (Sears guy told us this, not sure how effective it is but it’s habit now).
Thanks Laura! I’m a newbie when it comes to this. Good thing I landed on your site. Thanks everyone!
there are many products on the market, similar to a dishwasher type puck, that will freshen your front loader. most manuals recommend using these products on a semi regular basis. all of them are available with the other laundry products at your local grocery store.