degunking the washing machine

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degunking the washing machine
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marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 6:00 am Post subject:

gil wrote:

Ran a de-gunking wash in my washing machine, and checked the filter.

What do you put in your machine to degunk it? Mine stinks, but the variations of hot wash I've tried don't seem to work very well. I've tried vinegar, washing soda and bleach (separately). The stupid modern drainage system causes the problem, I think, though I do clean the outlet hose from time to time.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 1:24 pm Post subject:

marigold wrote:

gil wrote:

Ran a de-gunking wash in my washing machine, and checked the filter.

I used 500g of soda crystals and a hot wash, and washed out the detergent feeder trays.

This is the first time I've done mine (in over 10 years). It doesn;t particularly stink, but the washing isn;t as fresh as it once was. I also started using washing liquid as well as powder about a year ago, and I understand that is really bad for gunking up machines.

In future, I'm reverting to powder for whites, and to use liquid only for darks/colours. I'd stopped using powder because it never seemed to dissolve properly.

It may well turn out that what I've done doesn't help with the freshness issue, though hopefully it will have degunked any gunk and extended the life of the machine.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 1:26 pm Post subject:

marigold wrote:

gil wrote:

Ran a de-gunking wash in my washing machine, and checked the filter.

Yes, I am having degunking fun too atm. Ran a boil wash with some tea towels, which seems to have release some infinite internal supply of gunk. Now everything is coming out of the machine with little specks of horridness all over it.

marigold

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 12458
Location: West Sussex

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 1:45 pm Post subject:

judith wrote:

marigold wrote:

gil wrote:

Ran a de-gunking wash in my washing machine, and checked the filter.

Eeeuuw!

@ gil - thanks. I 'll have another go using more soda crystals, I only used a cupful last time.

Washing smells OK, but the dank whiff from the machine is beginning to pervade the kitchen.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 1:49 pm Post subject:
It is revolting. Have just run out of washing soda, so will have to get some more and perhaps run another boil wash with a couple of dog towels.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 1:49 pm Post subject:
Just thought I'd split this useful topic into a thread of its own. So if anyone has any hints, tips, etc, please contribute ! I've always run my machine on half the amount of powder, at cold or 30C wash, except the last year or so when I've also used liquid wash.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 1:50 pm Post subject:

gil wrote:

I also started using washing liquid as well as powder about a year ago, and I understand that is really bad for gunking up machines.

In future, I'm reverting to powder for whites, and to use liquid only for darks/colours. I'd stopped using powder because it never seemed to dissolve properly.

Ooh. I had always assumed that the liquid would be better because of the dissolving properly issue.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 1:52 pm Post subject:
I am sure that the cold water washing is the source of a lot of these problems. I am constantly wiping away gunk that collects in the seals - have to do that every couple of weeks, and I'm not doing that much washing here.

Nell Merionwen

Joined: 02 Jun 2008
Posts: 16300
Location: Beautiful Derbyshire

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 1:57 pm Post subject:
I've used soda crystals in the drum and white vinegar in the tray before. The idea was the get that fizz thing going on during the cycle. seemed to work at the time.

alice

Joined: 18 Feb 2006
Posts: 2820

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 3:10 pm Post subject:

It's partly due to lower temperatures and partly due to all the ingredients that have been removed or reduced in even biological detergents.
I consider 60 deg to be a hot wash nowadays but 10 years ago I regularly washed at 90deg.
Over the years I've made my own powder and used 'eco-friendly' but I'm back to plain old Daz powder now.
A wm engineer told me years ago to use what I liked but at least use a box of daz every couple of months to clean out the machine.
Mine gets a bit wiffy occasionally - then I just do a couple of hot washes and it goes.
Using ordinary powder and no softener I don't get that grey slime in the drawer and seals that I used to get.

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 3:14 pm Post subject:
What is it about Daz, or would any bog-standard powder do ? If so, bio or non-bio ?

alice

Joined: 18 Feb 2006
Posts: 2820

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 3:20 pm Post subject:
Dunno. It just stuck in my mind. Maybe he had shares in a daz factory Bio. I use bog-standard 'big-box' too. Not tablets or liquid or double concentrated or any of the variations they come up with to make it acceptable to charge more for less.

lottie

Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 5059
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 3:47 pm Post subject:
My machine is gunky and smelly---I put it down to 30 washes but a hot wash and vinegar didn't sort it---I never thought it could be changing from powder to liquid,I just assumed liquid would be better at low temp.

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4587
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 4:43 pm Post subject:
Question for hard water areas: limescale is alkaline, so can be removed with vinegar, correct? And washing soda is also alkaline (?) so would that do any good at all in a limescale-d machine??

Midland Spinner

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 2931
Location: Under a green roof

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 11 5:38 pm Post subject:

Our machine gets used for oily overalls as well as ordinary washes - it used to collect a lot of black gunk and the overalls got progressively blacker. Now I put a dash of washing-up liquid (fairy or equivalent) in with most washes - seems to help get shot of the oil that accumulates. Not too much fairy, otherwise you get a flood of froth escaping from the powder drawer.

Since I started with the washing up liquid the boiler suits have got gradually bluer again and we don't get as much grey on the whites as we used to.

I think a lot of it is the useless modern powders - they don't work very well at all.

n.b. if you don't wash oily overalls this tip may not be much use to you - or it may, you decide!

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