If your laundry room stinks, it’s probably your washer. Water and soap and dirt can linger in the hoses, trays and other pockets of your washing machine. Here’s how to stop the stench and clean it out.
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We purchased:
1 gallon bleach
We brought with us:
Nitrile gloves
Eye protection
Step 1
Empty your washer. Open up the little trays and caps and doors. When you run the sanitizing cycle, you’ll want to make sure the sanitizer gets into all of the crevices.
Step 2
Pour bleach (or vinegar) into your washer. Some people prefer bleach for tough jobs, others prefer vinegar because it’s not as harsh. It’s your choice. We used bleach to clean this washer because it was nasty!!! Add about a cup to wherever you’d pour in your detergent. Make sure to pour some of the bleach into the softener tray if you have one and the cap in the center of the agitator if you have one.
Step 3
Run a full cycle, hot, extra rinse. Select “heavy duty” load or similar on your washer. You’ll want to swish around that sanitizer into all parts of your washer! Select “hot” and “extra rinse” or “2nd rinse” if you have it. If not, just make sure to run another cycle after this one finishes.
Step 4
Wait. Let your washer run through the entire cycle and let it finish on its own. If you don’t have an extra rinse setting, run it again to make sure the bleach is out and doesn’t damage your clothes.
The pros at Ace Hardware recommend running a sanitizing cycle (with bleach or vinegar) once to a month to keep your washer looking and smelling clean.
That’s it, you just got results at home!