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I'm interested to learn how to wash a duvet, not a duvet cover. Previously I've washed my duvet in the bath-tub but it never seems to get it totally white. What's the best way to wash it? Is it possible to cram it into the washing machine and hope the water reduces its volume? Or simply use the bath-tub with washing powder?

Thanks, Washerhelp!

You're right, the taps under my sink are the small, plastic, red and blue ones. The cold tap is a little bit leaky whether it's turned on or off. I think the hot tap is water-tight though. However, I guess it must have been allowing water through despite the fact it was turned off. I seem to remember that hot-washes only use water from the hot tap.

What are the general rules when it comes to how many clothes you place in the machine for each wash? I'm always worried that the machine isn't washing at maximum efficiency because I'm either over-filling the drum with clothes or perhaps not putting enough in. Generally speaking, I tend to loosely pile-in the clothes until they are a little under halfway below the centre point of the drum, thus leaving them plenty of room to circulate in the wash. I have seen other people almost fill the drum with clothes.

I just did a normal wash at 95 degrees and when I opened the tray I noticed that the powder was still in there. When I removed the clothes from the machine they were warm, wet and looked cleaner. I assumed that they must have been washed in hot water but for some reason the function that deposits the powder into the water must be broken. After scratching my head for several minutes I noticed that the hot and cold taps under the sink were switched off! How on earth did the water manage to get into the machine and wash my clothes? Weird.

Pretty amazing stuff that white distilled vinegar. Now I just gotta find somewhere that sells it. I guess it must be available from a local supermarket.

The smell in my machine is definitely coming from the inside. When I place my head inside the drum the smell is extremely strong. @konradvg: My machine is exactly the same as yours in that 'there is some grime around the seal but not a huge quantity'. I suspect that the grime is what's causing the smell. I've done several hot-washes now but to little avail. I'm yet to try the white-wine vinegar treatment as soon as I purchase some.

I haven't used my machine for a few days and the rancid smell is emanating from it once again. I swear, there must be a dead rat in there or something. I'm presently doing a boil-wash with bleach and non-bio.

Thanks for your expertise, Washerhelp! I'll have a go at manually removing the gunge behind the seal. On with the rubber gloves! I couldn't help but notice this: Spooky!

Ouch; That poor tabby! Thankfully I don't have any children or pets to worry about. My flat, however, is damp, quite cold and suffers from a lot of cooking condensation. I guess a good strategy would be to leave the door slightly ajar at all times? The good news is that the hot-washes - of which I did three - eliminated the nasty smell. I honestly think that adding a squirt of liquid bleach helped the process. Unfortunately there's still plenty of sticky grease behind the seal. I think I'll try the white-wine vinegar treatment. Would it not be possible to remove the drum and seal and physically scrape off the grease?

Out of interest, is it just an urban myth that it's bad for your machine to keep the door closed between washes?

Thanks for the reply Washerhelp! I used bleach in last night's wash and it created enormous amounts of foam; so much so that the foam filled up the entire drum + the soap dispenser draw.

I recently bought a 2nd-hand Bosch WFF 1201 and the machine washes just fine. However, a nasty sulphurous smell is coming from the drum. I did some research and discovered this is due to a build-up of slime and gunk caused by the machine being used primarily for cool washes. I checked behind the rubber seal, behind the door, and there's a nasty build-up of thick slime. It's not making my clothes smell bad but the idea of washing my clothes in there is pretty unpleasant. Put simply, is there a way to clean the machine? Last night I ran a 90 degree hot-wash with no clothes in the drum and only using non-biological powder and a liberal squeeze of liquid-bleach. This got rid of some - but not all - of the smell but has done little, if anything, to remove the slime. I'm presently running the same process again.

Hi Washerhelp and thanks for the reply!

I'm new to the forum so let me start by saying 'hi'! Last week I purchased a 2nd-hand Bosch WFF 1201 washing machine. This was quite a relief as for the past six months I've been hand-washing in my bathtub. The machine itself was actually repaired by an engineer and sold-on to me for £50. Upon installation/connection to the pipes under my sink, the engineer informed me that my hot-water pressure is very low. In fact he's right; the water from the hot tap only runs at about 1/3 the pressure of the cold tap. He then blurted-out something like 'don't wash at higher temperatures than 40-60'. I wasn't listening properly at the time and I don't really know what he was trying to say (Not being the most technically-minded person myself). I've done two washes so far at a temperature setting of 40 and both washes have turned-out very well. However, the reason I'm posting here is to ask if it will be okay for me to wash at higher temperatures, such as 70-90, particularly for bed-sheeting and towels? how will the low water-pressure affect my washes generally? Also, is a certain amount of water heated inside the machine or does it rely entirely on an external source for hot water? How should I tackle this problem generally? Any help is greatly appreciated!