One of the biggest problems that every washer or washing machine face regularly is the growth of mold. Molds are responsible for the weird odor we can smell from the inside of the machine. In a worse case, even the clothes that we take out and which should supposedly smell like a meadow filled with flowers, have an unpleasant smell.
In this article I’d like to spend some time on this issue and its possible solutions. First we should realize that the fact that mold grows is because we allow it. We simply make conditions that make its life possible. So what should we be doing differently?
First of all we should use a lot less of a detergent we normally use. I don’t know about you , but in most families the amount is far exceeded the necessary portion for a normal washing cycle. How is it going to help us? You might be surprised, but it is actually the detergent that we use that gets stuck inside the tubes, etc, in our washer and dryer combo or any other washer that the bad molds feeds on.
Together with the damp environment, it is a really cosy playground for them. The mold has no chance to grow on the seal in the absence of water. For example the growth of the mold on the door of a front load washer is caused by water drops or moisture trapped on the seal of the door which promote the growth of bacteria and mold.
If the door is left opened in between every washes, then the water trapped on the seal will evaporate until any water inside the machine go away. This way is to prevent mold growth on the seal. I’ve never had an issue with a top loader getting mold. That said, in order to tackle this problem, the prevention of the mold growth on the front loader door is pretty simple and straight forward. Make sure that you open the door after the load of washer finished washing.
One period of time I used to have almost all my washes, especially hard materials, like towels smell really bad. You know the typical mold odor. But after some searching on the internet I found and tested some solutions.
The following worked well for me:
- If you want to speed up the cleaning process, you may use the bleach and the soft bristled brush to effectively remove the mold of the seal.
- As I mentioned earlier in this article, try to minimize the mount of detergent you’re using.
- To be honest with you, I switched to a more health and environment friendly solution, which is no detergent at all. All I use is a little bit of apple vinegar, which is known for its extraordinary effects on killing yeasts, molds and bacteria. The second thing I use is the classic baking soda. You might not know that but this is a real miracle powder.
If you only take a quick look on the internet, it will spill out a ton of uses. Some of the I think not everybody knows are: it’s a great antiseptic, best odor neutralizer I could find a very convenient substitution for a tooth paste.
I hope you found my article useful and remember, try to avoid mold growth as not only makes your combo, and clothes smell bad, but it’s not very healthy either. When you imagine that the clothes you put on you are full of some yeasts, I think it’s not a really good feeling, is it?
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