Musty smelling clothes washers are a problem that many people have. Unfortunately this problem happens not because we aren’t good care takers of our homes but because of residual water that remains in the washer after use.
This can be a very difficult problem to take care of because the bacteria that causes the smell will also cause your clean clothes to stink.
The amount of bleach that you might use in your whites is normally not enough to cure the problem but with a few simple steps you can get your washer back to smelling new in just a couple loads.
The first thing you want to do is fill your washer with hot water to its highest point and add about a half gallon of bleach. Allow the washer to go through the wash cycle or the first agitation cycle a few times without draining or rinsing. Then let the washer sit full of bleach for a few hours. The longer the better.
Now that much of the bacteria has been killed you can run the washer to empty the water and this second step is where you will see difference.
Although this is not an official endorsement of the product and I am not being asked to wright about it or being paid directly from the company for this I will be talking about Lysol Products.
Lysol has a concentrate bottle that can make about 6 gallons of usable solution. I suggest that you purchase one of these and go through the same step you did with the bleach but instead use about half of the container of concentrate. Remember the longer the better and overnight is fine to let the liquid set in the washer.
After running the washer through the rinse cycle you will need to prepare some regular strength liquid from what you have left.
I use a large gallon size liquid laundry container with the push button spout and fill it with half of the container of concentrate and water. I use this for both spray bottles and for cleaning the washer.
The cup lid on the laundry detergent is large enough to add a cup full or probably actually about a 1/3rd cup of concentrate to my worst clothes. This is normally my towels. The smell will be in your clothes to some extent if you put this in clothes you wear so sheets or towels as the last load and then add a cup to the wash.
This will disinfect your clothes and it will reduce the bacteria in the washer.
Finally i hit the inside of the washer tub with my spray bottle of mixed solution after my last load of wash and just let it remain on the sidewalls.
Final Note
Like I said I am not being directly paid and this is not a sponsored post from the makers of Lysol the stuff just seems to work and there may be other products with the same chemicals that will work just as well and may cost less but I have not used any at this time. Unfortunately today sites like this have to put these notices up because reviews of product are often paid and people don’t know.
Lysol is not the best smelling product. It won’t smell like a spring rain day or tropical fruit but the stuff will kill bacteria and thats what you need to do to get rid of that musty smell in your washer that can and will transfer on to your clothes.
Read the instructions and make sure the product won’t hurt your delicate materials or colors.