How to clean washing machines? Baking soda + white wine vinegar - been there, done that

[OM2]

What's the best way to clean a washing machine?

Baking soda + white wine vinegar...
It doesn't really work.
It works a little if I use 2 times on hot cycle
But then, not completely back to normal

Then the odour in washed clothes comes back

We have a fairly new Samsung washing machine

If I buy a cleaner, that does the trick and it stays OK for 6 months say
I'd other not buy and would rather use home made solutions

I would add that I've done all other checks needed to clean a washing machine. Tray clean, bottom outlet clean and rims cleaned

Thanks

 

[johnny2007]

In my experience, the cleaning sachets from hotpoint once a month keep everything nice and clean, as well as keeping the door ajar when not in use.
They're roughly £1.50 each in multipack.
However, I have cleaned machines of tenanted properties with homemade products.
The most effective is a full bottle of white vinegar in the drum and half kg of course sea salt in the powder tray.
Then 90⁰ wash.
This also cleans the corrugated waste pipe.

 

[Loofah]

Chuck in a dishwasher tablet on a hot wash

 

[OM2]

@johnny2007 full bottle of white vinegar + half kg seat salt?
The cost of this would be similar to £1.50?
I haven't heard about the sea salt before though.
Never mentioned in youtube videos?
Youtube videos: normally they say 1 cup? + 1 cup baking soda?

@Loofah dishwasher tablet - that's a new one!
I might give that a try.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I just make sure the door is left open, after each use, so it can dry between washes.

 

[OM2]

@Harry Bloomfield
I've been making sure the door is left open all the time

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Percarbonate on a hot wash. Relatively cheap and widely available (e.g.. Amazon, etc) - used for cleaning fish tanks, etc. A spoonful in a tea or coffee stained mug plus a bit of boiling water removes any stains

 

[Mike13]

Mixing bicarb (an alkali) with Vinegar (an acid) reduces the effectiveness of both, either as J&K says or put the washing soda in one hot cycle, and vinegar in the next

 

[jj4091]

Has the inside of the door seal gone black? If so the only way you will stop the machine from smelling is to replace the seal then dry it after every use to stop the mould becoming embedded in the rubber again.

 

[cwhaley]

I'm going to add to the argument for keeping the door and drawer ajar.

Helps moisture escape and prevent the growth of mould.

 

[Stivino]

I'm going to add to the argument for keeping the door and drawer ajar.

Helps moisture escape and prevent the growth of mould.

+1

 

[johnny2007]

@johnny2007 full bottle of white vinegar + half kg seat salt?
The cost of this would be similar to £1.50?
I haven't heard about the sea salt before though.
Never mentioned in youtube videos?
Youtube videos: normally they say 1 cup? + 1 cup baking soda?

@Loofah dishwasher tablet - that's a new one!
I might give that a try.

Yes, but you can get salt and vinegar in any shop, instead the cleaning sachets need to be ordered.
And I find that the shock treatment with salt and vinegar is more effective with dirty washing machine (and dishwashers).
The sachets are good for maintenance once a month.
I scrapped my previous washing machine after 20 years, not because it didn't work anymore, but because the plastic front panel had broken and the boss said it wasn't cleaning effectively at low temperature.

 

[JohnD]

Depends what the deposit is. Very often it is a sludge of resident soap, fabsoft and the bacteria that feed on it. This is aggravated by overgenerous product use, and cool washes that do not dissolve it well.

This sludge can be removed with a HOT HOT HOT wash cycle, with no soap, no fabsoft, no bleach, and a cup of washing soda crystals. This dissolves the soap and breaks down the waxy fabsoft deposits. You will notice the water in the machine foams up and goes grey as the soap sludge dissolves into it.

You can put some white cotton towels into this cycle, since it will not matter if they fade or shrink in the hot wash. You will find the towels come out softer and whiter as the residue also washes out of them.

You can minimise future sludge buildups by reducing the amount of coap, and adding washing soda crystals. This will also soften the towels.

The soda is about a pound per 500g bag. It is not the same as bicarb or what Americans call baking soda.

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/dri-pak-soda-crystals--fine-1kg

 

[JohnD]

Youtube videos: normally they say 1 cup? + 1 cup baking soda?

Those are pretty sure to be American videos. Vinegar would remove limescale, if you have a problem with it. Bicarb would do nothing except neutralise the vinegar.

Some people like to mix the two because it fizzes attractively and gives the false impression that this means it is doing some good.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Some people like to mix the two because it fizzes attractively...

So does percarbonate (at least with boiling water), but at least you can demonstrate that percarbonate does something by letting it loose on coffee and tea stains, or even light scale inside your kettle. Percarbonate is actually a mixture of soda ash or soda crystals and hydrogen peroxide, the latter being a powerful bleach. It isn't as effective as hydrochloric acid on lime scale to be sure, but that HCl has a tendency to attack some rubbers and plastics (as well as low grade stainless steel), so maybe not such a good idea in a washing machine. I sometimes add some percarbonate to my work clothing wash