What is causing smelly clean laundry?
mommyof5
17 years ago
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fordtech
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agolooser
16 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Cleaning old smelly sheets
Comments (32)Hello. I worked for Fisheries and Oceans on the Trawl Fleet. I was head to toe in hydrolic grease, fish slime, guts, blood, fish oils, food stains especially cooking oil used way to much by cook. I would have several changes of cloths, stow dirty in my duffle bag until trip end about 2 weeks on average, the smell was overwhelming! As a group, my collegues and I stunk to high heaven, our cloths permanently stained and smelly after several washes of most of your suggestions here. Cloths were an expensive comodaty over time. We also tried soakind over nite in ammonia and cold water in garbage bucket outside, this worked much better, most stains including grease would dissolved away with longer and stronger soaks. Finally we hit on the very best, first time remedy...Pine Sol, the REAL origional stuff, in cold, then rewash with hot water if needed. It smells very pinesolly when washed but an air dry outside or a cling free sheet in drier, smell gone, all stains gone. We used about 3/4 c per load plus granular Tide in top loading washer. If really heavy stain of oils usually fishy grime, we would make paste of 1/3 pine sol with granular tide, work well into unwashed cloths stain, the granuals gave abrasive action as well as being a sufficant as it dissolved deeply with Pine sol into fibres. Pine Sol plus detergent or water softeners, are now the only washing method of most Fisheries officers and fishermen. It works that well and will work on your sheets too. Granular is cheaper and works better than newer liquid products for Tide in this case. You get just as many loads. If worried about soap residue in cold wash, dilute granuals in hot water in a small container then add to cold wash....See MoreHow dare OXI clean laundry detergent have no oxygen bleach
Comments (20)LoL Sparky..yes some of us get to involved lol. I wouldn't have to do overnight soaks, but with a 6&7 yo grandsons ( I'm raising) there's always juice, koolaid, pizza, and numerous other crud on their clothes that I have to do long soaks. Than my 34 yo son likes to drop clothes off once in a while that lord are so dingy they need to go in a rag bag. Little story..my son dropped off a bunch of stained and brownish grey white tank tees ( wife beaters) that he works in, anyway I soaked for a week in hot water, biz, and tide/ bleach changing the water ect 2 times a day, when I was done they were gleaming white...a few days ago I seen him and ask why he was working in one of his good tees he said ** mom I don't know which ones are work shirts anymore they all look the same** I think this is one reason I am obsessed with laundry, its a challenge, and at my age I don't have many challanges...lol...See MoreWill an appliance repairman clean my smelly washer?
Comments (34)Yes I was talking about a traditional top load with the dispenser on/in the agitator. Most time when you add softener, then water, you fill it to top(most folks). Then when the first spins gets going it has to sling that out and when that happens some of it goes out between the inner tub to the top of the outer(drain) tub. There it stays, what doesn't run down the tub until after many uses, builds up more and more over time. That also will be worse if it is not diluted much or none at all. No one ever sees that cause who tears there machine apart normally. Then when you do, you can scrape it off with a putty knife or something like that. Also if you do not want to remove the wash tub, take off the balance ring and there is room to spray it with cleaner and use a long handled, narrow brush like a toilet brush(new) and scrub all the way around the tub and pour water around to rinse. Not as good as removing tub but a lot easier and most if not all the stink may be gone. Then replace balance ring(snaps on) and run through a cycle with cleaner to help clean out the bottom. You can wash in boiling water but it isn't going to prevent this. Not using the dispenser is what will stop it. If you want a clean machine use the downy ball if you use softener, otherwise use sheets or none at all. JMO...See MoreWith recent talk of smelly washers, thought I'd clean my old Maytag
Comments (13)My water is softened then filtered. I have some suds no matter what I use. Some detergents I can't use at all because the amount I can use and not have excessive suds just isn't enough to clean anything. Having HE on the package really doesn't mean much in terms of suds. The lowest sudsing detergent I've ever used is Sunlight powder, not HE. Or maybe they didn't want to pay for the symbol? I often think moldy washers aren't just the result of fabric softener alone but FS and not enough detergent to compensate for it. There is extra oil left in the washer and on the fabrics after the cycle from the FS....See Morepeggross1
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