Any suggestions on how to get the musty smell out of our clothes washer? I’ve tried several cleaners and even washed a cup of bleach through the system. No luck, still smells musty. The clothes don’t seem to retain the odor after washed but it’s bugging me.
Spray it down with fabreze, then do a couple hot cycles.
I’d try to find the source of the problem. Perhaps your water softener needs salt??
Vinegar
We have the same deal with ours. Wife tried everything on the market to no avail. Now I see the door left open with a paper clip keeping the light off. She says the smell is there only if the door is kept closed. Beats me, I’ll watch your thread and see if anything else works.
Is it top loading or front loading? If it is front loading, this is a common issue. The best thing you can do is keep the door open when not in use. Then we wipe the rubber “gaskets” to the door about once a month with a bleach rag.
FDR
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sounds silly but start the washer (large load cycle) and leave the lid open, add a bottle of lemon juice and let it soak for about 15 min, let the cycle finish then run 2 wash cycles. wont leave lemon smell on clothes.my grandmother used this trick for many years. if the mold has already set in you may never get rid of the smell….
good luck
Great advice 
Steve!
Yes, this a front loading unit. I’ll give a few of these a try and see if anything helps. Thanks!
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Yes, this a front loading unit. I’ll give a few of these a try and see if anything helps. Thanks!
Us too Kooty. Front gasket is where the nasties live on ours. Emptying the drain plug at the bottom really helps too. That’s where a pile of the waste ends up. We have high-iron content in our water, so it gets funky faster for some reason.
Joel
We had the same issue. We just leave the door open now and it hasn’t been a problem since.
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We had the same issue. We just leave the door open now and it hasn’t been a problem since.
X2 give your brother a call in Albertville his wife has some formula that she used to get rid of that smell.
We just bought a front load and we were told to leave the door open, wipe down the rubber gasket and open the detergent compartment when finished. If you keep everything closed after washing the inside never completely dries out becasue the door creates an air tight seal.
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We just bought a front load and we were told to leave the door open, wipe down the rubber gasket and open the detergent compartment when finished. If you keep everything closed after washing the inside never completely dries out becasue the door creates an air tight seal.
That seems to be the consensus cure. Any tricks on getting the door light off? Leaving the door open will just cause the bulb to burn out, that and the additional energy consumption. Can’t pull the bulb, momma wouldn’t go for that. 
We use Tide Washing Machine cleaner in our front loader. And keep the door open. No issues. Seems like the bleach wash worked as well. Definitely keep the door cracked open. That’s the one thing we always do.
Does the light remain on if the power is off?
Remove the light bulb and then always leave the door open. Problem solved. 
Remove the bulb and get momma a head lamp
You could start washing your socks and underwear in the dish washer. 
We (I should say my wife and mother in law) keep the door open in our washer too.
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You could start washing your socks and underwear in the dish washer.
We are suppose to wash those items?? I just turn them inside out. 
Perhaps purchasing a little more toilet paper could solve the problem as well? 
You could bathe more often. 
what the heck is a washing machine? Us here down in Iowa have never seen one. Musty smell….mmm you get use to it just ask the wife. 
I think I’m going to burn in h-e- double hockey sticks for that one.
The problem is there is soap scum that builds up in areas you can’t see and then mold can build on that. This is a treatment that is supposed to take care of the issue. I know some people that used it and said it worked pretty good.
Leaving the door open is also a good idea so it can dry out.
leave door open
Maybe you can rig up that breast pump that was for sale a couple years ago to get rid of the extra water in the washer….
Now we are talking. Any engineers here interested in a side job?
Run a larger amount of bleach through once, then leave door open so it can dry after every load, solves it every time.
Either it isn’t getting used enough or you could try running a cup full of rid-x thru it after last load if you got a gap between loads of a couple days.
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We use Tide Washing Machine cleaner.
My wife uses Tide also and we don’t do anything with the door….smell is gone.
So here is what I have read on this issue in the past:
1) Leave the door open at all times as these front loading units seal so tight and the combination of moisture and bacteria that like to eat soap scum is bad.
2) Once every month or two run a cleaning cycle. People use Affresh, Bleach or Vinegar. The Affresh type products are suppose to break down the soap scum that bacteria is eating at and causing the smell
3) The other thing is that some washers have a screen/filter that gets plugged in front of the pump. You’ll see some newer units have a small access panel in the lower corner. If yours doesn’t you might have to unscrew and pull off the panels to get to it. It really depends on your washer and you can probably google cleaning for your specific model and get some results.
-Tim
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