Your washing machine gives off a bad smell and you are looking for effective solutions to eliminate it? White vinegar, baking soda, bleaching agents… here are some tips that have proven effective.
Wet laundry that is stagnant, a door that is always closed, or even excess detergent and fabric softener can be responsible for bad odors in your washing machine. So how to get rid of them easily and effectively?
How to avoid bad odors in the washing machine?
Before tackling the phase odor treatment, you have to think about the phase prevention by adopting simple but highly effective actions to prevent a bad odor from building up in your washing machine:
- Think about empty the laundry from your washing machine at the end of the cycle in order to avoid humidity and a possible proliferation of bacteria or mold which cause bad odors.
- Clean your washing machine filter regularly as well as the drum seals to prevent residues of all kinds (hair, dust, fibers…) do not accumulate and therefore cause bad odors.
- Avoid excess detergent and fabric softener which may affect the proper functioning of your washing machine and cause bad odors. Indeed, an overflow of these products has a harmful effect on the joints can quickly find covered in mold. Moreover, overuse of fabric softener harms the environment and causes skin irritation. So do not hesitate to use dosers to avoid having a heavy hand.
What grandmother’s tips are there to eliminate bad odors?
1. Run an empty cycle on high with a dose of detergent with bleach to clean your drum.
2. Remove bad odors from the washing machine with white vinegar : pour around 5 liters of white vinegar into the drum of your washing machine and run an empty cycle at 40°C or 60°C depending on the extent of the odor to be treated.
3. Remove bad odors from the machine with a baking soda/white vinegar mixture: pour 1 liter of white vinegar into the drum, add the equivalent of a cup of baking soda and run an empty cycle at 90°.
You have a new washing machine and you find that it gives off a bad smell? If it can reassure you, know that new household appliances always have a particular smell or an odor may have been “locked in” during factory packaging.
To eliminate an odor in a new washing machine, run a first empty cycle at high temperature with a little detergent before you start washing your laundry there.
In principle, a smell emanating from a new washing machine disappears over time. If, despite all the precautions taken, it persists, do not hesitate to make your device warranty work.
