Does your laundry smell bad after washing? Do you dread the moment of opening the washing machine and smelling its damp, musty smell? To combat unpleasant odors in the washing machine, it is important to adopt good habits. On the one hand, this involves taking the right steps to take each time you wash to prevent your household appliance from getting dirty and scaling. And on the other hand, it will take a good cleaning to combat laundry residue, limescale build-up, bacteria, mold and dirt causing the bad odor. Grandma takes stock of good practices and some tips on how to remove the unpleasant smell of mold without bleach!
1) The right actions to apply each time you wash your laundry
Understanding the reasons why there are bad odors in the washing machine goes hand in hand with finding solutions. Causes of these foul odors include:
–Do not overdose on detergents and softener. This reflex that we tend to adopt to counterbalance odors risks clogging the walls of the device even more. This will therefore promote odors. For liquid detergent, powder detergent and fabric softener, follow the recommended dosage. Too much here is the enemy of good!
–Limit cold washes which contribute to this phenomenon. At 30°C, water is ineffective in disinfecting microorganisms and preventing their proliferation.
–Quickly take the damp laundry out of the machine as soon as the wash is finished. to avoid the phenomenon of maceration.
–Wipe the machine seal at the end of the wash cycle to prevent it from clogging.
-Open the porthole or upper flap after and between washes. This will ventilate the device and prevent moisture maceration.
2) The right cleaning to eliminate bad odors from the machine
Do you know all the benefits of white vinegar in the machine? It is very effective in eliminating stubborn odors on laundry (tobacco odor, perspiration, etc.) and softening them. By the way, he will also remove tartar and detergent deposits, and neutralize persistent bad odors in the machine components. To do this, it is recommended to use it in each machine as a softener. Furthermore, it is to use once a month to do a major cleaning. Pour 1/2 liter to 1 liter of white vinegar into the drum here and run an empty machine at 90°C (without detergent).
In case of large scalingpour 3 liters of white vinegar into the drum. Then to thoroughly remove scale and mold, add around twenty drops of tea tree essential oil. After running the machine empty on a hot program, the deodorizing effect will be incomparable.
3) An impeccable seal and tray against bad odor
To limit odors, it is advisable to clean all machine components. Concerning the machine tray, cleaning with boiling water then with a cloth soaked in vinegar will be more than sufficient. As for the machine seal, it is sometimes necessary a little more elbow grease. In fact, it tends to mold quickly! And in this case, this can also cause bad odors in the machine. The ideal here would be to bring a microfiber cloth or a toothbrush. Scrub the joints with white vinegar, toothpaste or lemon juice. You can also sprinkle baking soda (or sodium bicarbonate) and polish with a sponge soaked in vinegar. Dirt won’t resist it!
4) Take care of the filter to combat bad odors from your machine
Take out the filter and clean it according to the instructions in the leaflet to promote the evacuation of waste water from washing. Nothing helps and the bad smells persist? In this case, the problem may be with the drain pipe at the siphon, and not with the washing machine itself. For clean the siphon and the drain piperemove the caps then use white vinegar and/or a bottle brush. Then put everything back in place. The next machine will allow the rinsing of your installations by draining.