Be sure you use regular, cheap bleach - none of the no-splash, fancy scented ones. The no-splash ones will create a lot of suds, which may look like left-over soap.

I would also leave the door open for more that 15 minutes. It takes much longer that that to dry out the gasket and the dispenser, which I also leave open a bit.

I leave mine open pretty much all the time. And the drawer if I remember.

We've had out LG WM2688 washer & DLG8388 gas dryer for about 9 months and no problems

Service Manuals for most LG products

LG service manuals

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/index.action

http://www.repairclinic.com/

Just bumping this up to the top as it contains some very good information for any new LG owners out there.

Janet

One LG owner here too. I don't do tub clean but I drain the bottom line and clean filter every couple of months. No sign of mildew or smell.
Use only sanitary and hot cycles and extra rinses.
CS, Persil,baking soda and vinegar.
Leave the door open in between washes.

You know. I have a question. The drain pump ALWAYS has water in it..........Yes, we leave our dispensers and doors open to let the tub and the boot dry out but water will ALWAYS be in the drain pump.........What's to stop mildew from growing there? I never thought of that.

I personally never worried about the leftover water in the drain pump/filter. I think if the laundry is properly washed and rinsed, the water should be clean. Plus the vinegar in last rinse might help. I'm using FL for past 30 years and never had any problem w/mildew. I was told to use the hottest water possible for laundry and I believe that w/proper rinse it will not cause smells and mildew in the little leftover water or the drum or elswhere.
My dishwasher has little water left on the bottom too-I air dry the dishes, and nothing smells b/c it was washed right and w/ hot water.
It is no brainer. All the sweats, lotions,deodorants etc. and then the spot treatments,bleach and other chemicals like FS will not be washed away in warm (forget cold)water and without extra water to be rinsed properly.
I would suggest to everybody who has any laundry problems to use the hottest water they can for a month. It will clean the tub inside too, skip bleach, add extra rinse or two and problem is solved.
In europe we never experined smelly washers. Yes back then they used more water too but very hot water is number one ingredient.Number two-detergent choice and proper dosage.
Hey I washed cloth diapers at home for my kids so I had some stains. Boiling them w/ detergent took care of it. And no bleach.I am alergic to it plus I can't stand the smell of bleach anyway.
Now, not many people are washing diapers at home but HOT water is still important. Even if you soak your laundry first in cold, wash it in hot water or better yet sanitary cycle and add extra rinse.

Thank you so much for bringing this subject up again. I just had my new LGs delivered Friday and, even though I did my research on them first, need and want any advice I can get! This forum rocks!

I agree about the hot water. My Duet is almost 4 yrs old and it NEVER smells. The one repair I had to have on it was the circuit board (covered under warranty) and the repair guy that was replacing it said that my washer was the cleanest smelling front load washer..... he had seen a lot that were bad smelling that he had worked on. A) Don't over load. B) Hot water. C)right amt of detergent. D) extra rinse E) leave door open couple inches and dispenser drawer pulled out/or taken completely out and put on top of machine.

mark40511, you are absolutely right! I always feel I sound like broken record when I talk about washing laundry but just those simple steps will prevent any smells.

An additional point to mention:

Thanks to everyone's advice on this forum, we learned many great tips that manuals either don't mention or they gloss over. Several posters have mentioned to empty the remaining water from the detergent dispenser in order to reduce the chance of mildew. Along with wiping down the gasket, leaving the door open, etc., we dutifully emptied the detergent dispenser (usually about a teaspoon or so of water left in there.)

Only recently did we accidentally find that we can remove not only the dispenser that holds detergent, but the entire drawer that includes the detergent, bleach, and softener dispensers. And when we empty the entire drawer, we easily get a quarter cup of water. That's way more water than what's left around the gasket or on the inside of the door.

This may have been mentioned in previous posts and we just missed it, but maybe mentioning it again might help a few more folks. Of course, we may just be the last folks in the universe to find this out! :)

No need to remove the water in the Dispenser Drawers if the Washing Machine will be used often (within a few days)

If I'm buying something that I know it will shrink, I buy bigger size. This goes basicaly for t-shirts, some jeans.

I don't ever empy out the dispenser. The little water will not do anything. I don't even keep it open in between. I do take it out once a year and see if anything got build up under. So far no problem. The rubber gasket dries up quick without wipping, there isn't any standing water left after the wash. But every couple of months I wipe the inside, there is little lint in there dried up.I always leave the door open.
I do drain and clean the bottom pump filter every few months. It collects lint and hair and it will get slimy if you let it go.
I wipe the glass door from inside every now and than. The other day it had some dried up lint like film on it.

I have an LG front loading washer from 2012 and it does not have a "Tub Clean" mode. Is there another way to get this done?

Run the longest, hottest cycle available (no prewash or soak) with either a dose of chlorine bleach or a washer cleaning product such as Affresh or Tide Washer Cleaner. No detergent.

If using chlorine bleach, add it at the start to the main wash detergent cup, not to the designated bleach dispenser. Bleach dispensers release either toward the end of the wash period or into the first rinse.

i recently bought an LG front load 10.5 kgs washing machine and it does not have a bleach dispenser. How do i use bleach on my whites? Is it safe to put the bleach in the soap dispenser?