mildew/mold stains on rubber

12 years ago

Hello. I recently took a 10 day vacation and my mother in law stayed at my house and watched the kids. She ran 1 load of laundry and shut the door to my 5 year old LG FL washer. So, for 10 days it sat with water in the seal. I had never had any smell or issues before. My washer does not have an internal heater.

I wiped the washerand detergent compartment down with a bleach solution, cleaned the drain and ran it a few times with dishmachine detergent. This got rid of the smell. I can't get the mildew off of the rubber and it is making me crazy!

I've tried vinegar, salt, oxygel, more dishmachine detergent and a spray disinfectant. I'm hoping someone here will have another suggestion. My thought is that if I can't get rid of the spots on the rubber I'll have a never ending petri dish of mold.

Any and all suggestions are welcome. It's amazing how resistant this mildew is and how simple it has been to avoid it up until now.

Featured Answer

Jessica Fogle

8 years ago

Just bought a used front loading washer and there were mold/mildew stains (black in color) on the rubber seal. After failing with bleach (zero difference after vigorous scrubbing with straight bleach), I used baking soda and clorox cleanup (bleach cleaning spray) to create a paste. I am sure you could just use bleach or any other cleaner with bleach but I acheived great (perfect) results with clorox cleanup. Coat the stained areas with the paste and keep it moist until you see that the stain has disappeared (took an hour or so for mine to completely fade). I had to keep adding both baking soda and bleach spray to keep the paste on these spots. As you spray with bleach the paste runs down the walls. When I noticed the paste was drying (every 10-15 mins) I would spray with bleach and then smear more baking soda. I could not find any helpful remedies online with the products in my home (i did not try any of the above methods since i did not have these items) but this was worth commenting about since it worked so well. I didnt need to scrub really other than gently rubbing with the baking soda only to apply. Success!

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Comments (12)

dave1812
12 years ago
1. I don't let even family stay at my house if I am gone.

2. Did you use REAL bleach, rather than that stuff that Clorox sells that comes in various scents and thicknesses that won't disinfect? 100% REAL bleach should have helped.

3. In the FUTURE, there is a product that is non-bleach, for $10 as bottle that I buy at Home Depot, for PREVENTING mildew. I called the mfgr and they said one popular use is monthly applications to FL seals. It's Concrobium.
sandy1616
Original Author
12 years ago
Dave - I was desperate to get away from my 3 children and will gladly replace the washer in trade for the time away. LOL!

Yes, I used the "bad" chlorine bleach. It did get rid of the smell and brownish murky stuff but not the spots on the rubber. I'll have to take a stroll into my local hardware store and find the least environmentally friendly looking employee I can if he has any thoughts on something to kill the plague. I will Definately pick up some concrobium for her next visit.

She also let me know that my "microwave" wasn't working properly. I should have clearly labeled it as a convection oven I guess. Crazy!
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suburbanmd
12 years ago
Maybe you've killed everything but the rubber is permanently stained.
sparky823
12 years ago
Get some liquid Cascade and put it on the rubber seal. Be sure to put a complete coat on it. Let it sit overnight and then wash off with a rag and hot water. Be sure the Cascade is the liquid with the bleach in it. This sticks to the gasket better than sprays. Might even mix you a little extra bleach with it before putting it on the gasket, just dont get it too runny. See if this helps.
izeve
12 years ago
Agree with the Cascade suggestion. Another would be to soak a rag or piece of paper towel in bleach solution and leave it on the stain for at least a couple of hours. Just wiping with bleach is usually not sufficient - it needs to sit on the stain for a while to whiten it.
suburbanmd
12 years ago
Oxygen bleach is gentler than chlorine bleach, and can be very effective even at room temperature, given enough time. An unknown stain appeared on our white kitchen counter one day. Soap made no difference, neither did steam from a garment steamer. I sprinkled pure sodium percarbonate bleach powder on the stain, and covered it with a damp paper towel. As the powder disappeared, I poured on more, under the paper towel, and re-dampened the towel. Did that for a while, then went out for a few hours. When I came back, the stain was totally gone, and that section of counter was blindingly white.
sandy1616
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you for the suggestions. I tried the cascade gel but did not leave it over night. I'll try the oxygen bleach tonight.
dave1812
12 years ago
You might go to a pool supplier and see what they think of the stain removal quality of algaecide.

read this: http://www.tps.com.au/pools/algae.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: black algae
livebetter
12 years ago
Worse case - I'm sure you can replace the gasket (cheaper than a whole new machine).

My mother doesn't know how to work any of my things. I own several Miele and Breville items that all "beep" when done. Whenever she is here, she's constantly asking, "what's beeping??". I think if I left her here she'd have a nervous breakdown ... lol ...
mamapinky0
8 years ago
I go on craigs list often looking for vintage automatic washers...I see tons of FL'ers on there and often wonder why..my thoughts are either they are comming to the end of their life span or they have a mold problem...Jessica I know zilch, nadda, nothing about FL'ers, but could there be mold other places on the machine also? I'm sure some of the FL members here will chime in. Good luck with your new machine hope you have years of great washing, by the way what brand is the washer?
sandy1616
Original Author
8 years ago
Bleach will discolor but not kill mildew. I used a mix of borax and sea salt. Worked wonders :).

mildew/mold stains on rubber

Jessica Fogle

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mildew/mold stains on rubber

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