Stinky Clothes And Towels...please Help!

[jimmytheman]

Hello All,

I have an LG Top load HE washer I bought from BEST BUY about 2 years ago. I have recently noticed after washing my towels and clothes they have a funky oder. I can really smell it on the towels and hand towels after a couple of uses. It's almost like a bad rusty old pipe smell. I don't remember this smell being an issue when I first moved into my home 2 years ago with my new LG. I just started to notice this smell a couple of months ago. I have done everything I know to TUB clean my washer.

I've used bleach, cleaning cubes, vinegar....and nothing seems to help. I'm on about the 10th cleaning cycle and the smell is still there. I've even added vinegar to my wash cycle to see if that would help. Nope. Is this my washer internally? The pipes? Could it be my water? Today I cleaned my washer with Bleach, vinegar and then washed a load of towels. No help!. Do I need to call someone out to clean the washer?

Do I need an in line water filter? I live in an area where the water is soft. Please help, has anyone had this problem? Tired of stinky clothes!!!

[JetSystem]

Hi Jimmy,

I presume you're in the US or Aus? We don't have HE toploaders over here.

I've not used a HE TL machine, but are you washing on cold cycles with liquid? Try washing things like bedding and towels on a hot wash with a powder detergent and you might notice a difference.

To clean the machine, run it empty on the hottest cycle possible with some oxi bleach, that should help.

Failing that, it might be worth signing up to automaticwasher.org and asking your question there - the guys on that site are more US focused and have more experience with HE TL machines.

Hope this helps

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

It sounds like you've tried many things but check out my article here in case there's something you haven't tried - get rid of washing machine smells. One other possibility is something like a sock or some other item stuck inbetween the outer and inner drums and sort of rotting away. I've seen that before. Finally, make sure it's nothing to do with the plumbing - smells caused by plumbing faults

[jimmytheman]

It sounds like you've tried many things but check out my article here in case there's something you haven't tried - get rid of washing machine smells. One other possibility is something like a sock or some other item stuck inbetween the outer and inner drums and sort of rotting away. I've seen that before. Finally, make sure it's nothing to do with the plumbing - smells caused by plumbing faults

Thanks for the tips!. I spent all week cleaning my washer and used a gallon of stove top hot water added to my CLEAN cycle. I cleaned it with vinegar and bleach

all during the week so probably....7 cleaning cycles. My clothes are smelling better now. I also leave the lid OPEN after every wash cycle so air can circulate down

into the drum. I noticed an all around better smell on my shirts and towells. So....I think the lesson here is weekly or bi-weekly CLEAN cycle your washer to keep

mold and mildew down to a minimum in the washer.