Vent mould

[nathfoley]

Hi everyone,

We have had an issue with our washing machine smelling when on a dry cycle, wash has been ok, although a little bit smelly.

Got round to removing the seal today to deep clean it and noticed the vent thing (with a fan in) is clogged up with mould.  The vent seems to be in 2 parts, bonded together with some sort of sealant.

Any tips on this?  Can I prize it apart and reseal?  Or does anyone have any tips for cleaning it without prizing the top and bottom part of?  I can't actually remove the fan/pump without separating the unit, otherwise I'd just bleach the thing

The mould seems to have spread down into the drum, for which I have scraped out as much as I could, assume I can pour some vinegar down there?

 

Pictures attached for context

Edit: I can't upload photos, I get an error, not sure if this is because I am new to the forum?

Washing machine is a John Lewis JLWD1613

 

Edited October 29 by nathfoley

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hi. It’s normally sealed with special heat resistant sealant which would need to be used to reseal. You should be able to buy it from a spares website. If washing machine is covered in it though then it may not be possible to get rid of it. 

[nathfoley]

Thanks for your reply.  Last night I split apart the dryer heater/fan unit, cleaned it up and re-sealed with some sealant.

For anyone who comes across this post in the future, the unit was a nightmare to separate, I had to prize open the back, cutting the seal in small sections and using shims to move round the whole unit, then spent about an hour and half removing the old sealant.  It was absolutely caked in crap so was good to get all of that removed.

On further inspection, the inside of the sealed tub is also caked in gunk.  I can't see a way of cleaning this, its obviously not a serviceable part.

Apart from splitting the seal with a dremmel (or circular saw if I get angry ), cleaning and then plastic welding back together, I cant really see how it can be cleaned.  TBH, I don't really fancy boding back together the drum and causing damage too our hardwood floor, should it leak

Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas of how the inside of the exterior tub section can be cleaned?   If not I have a decision to make, new drum unit is 180 quid, similar washing machine is ~600.  🤔

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Thanks for the update. Did you use heat resistance sealant? Unfortunately, as I mentioned I've found once infected with gunge and mould etc it's usually too late. I think the stuff gets really embedded in the plastic and rubber. If none f the following article helps, at least its knowledge may prevent it from happening on the next washing machine - washing machine smells and gunge

Unless you have to, I wouldn't bother with a washer dryer. They've been out for over 40 years and still rubbish (washer dryer verses separate washing machine

[nathfoley]

Yes, I got hold of some heat resistant sealant.  Thanks for signposting to your washer/dryer post, good info in there and I defo would get sperate units, but alas, we don't have the kitchen space.

As I spent the best part of 3 hours cleaning the dryer heater/fan unit, I have pulled the trigger on a new drum ( and a replacement wire which tends to snap on these appliances .  Hope fully that will see us though the next 2 years, when we get our kitchen extended we will get separate appliances.

Thanks for replying to my thread, at the very lease, I now know how a washer dryer works :).  Dishwasher stopped working last night so onto that whilst I wait for my new drum to be delivered

[MelS]

I would try a very hot wash cycle using sodium percarbonate (aka oxygen bleach), which reacts with water to make hydrogen peroxide, and is also one of the main ingredients used in stain remover, and should be available quite cheaply on amazon and ebay. 

As far as I recall from looking up msds a few years ago, some of the commercially available washing machine cleaners contain sodium percarbonate as their main active ingredient, and  some also have TAED, in addition to that, which converts the hydrogen peroxide to peracetic acid, which is used as a biocide.

 

Mild acids, such as citric acid and acetic acid (vinegar) are also supposed to be very effective at killing mould and bacteria. As I recall one of the commercial products contained citric acid and maleic acid (not to be confused with malic acid) maleic acid I believe is used as a corrosion inhibitor, probably to protect the aluminium spider. I think the product was sold more as a cleaner/descaler. I use a large scoop of anhydrous citric acid on a 95°C wash cycle to get rid of the scale in my washing machine.
 

Some washing machines have a drum cleaning cycle that spins the drum at low speed to help clean it. As yours is probably an Electrolux, if it doesn't have that, then you might possibly be able to use the leak test program in diagnostic mode after filling, then heating the water first (or pausing a 95C wash shortly before it pumps out), although as I recall it is a very short program.

 

Edited November 1 by MelS

[nathfoley]

Ive just been told by Ransom Spares that the drum isn't available for delivery until mid-Jan 2024, extremally frustrating as they displayed it as "in stock" with a delivery date of 2-3 days.  TBH, some other spares I have ordered (switch for dishwasher anti-flood device, new wiring parts for the washing machine) have taken over a week to get here, so I'll take delivery times for appliance spares companies with a massive inch of salt.

I'm now in a position of having the old drum out and stripped of all parts cables.  I'm thinking as its out, and I don't have a new drum on the way, I could block off the inlet holes and fill it up with a water/sodium percarbonate solution and leave it for a time.  Could even get the jet washer in the inlet holes afterwards

Do you have any thoughts on the danger of doing that (i.e. fully submerging the tub in water/sodium percarbonate?  I guess the bearing would be of concern?

My partner wants to order a new appliance, but given the time spent stripping it down and cleaning the TD Heating unit, I'm kinda determined to plod on with rebuilding it

 

EDIT: Guess I could open the sealed drum up with a large hacksaw, clean, apply sealant and bolt back together.  I'm guessing RTV gasket maker (used on car sumps) should do the trick

 

Edited November 6 by nathfoley

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

Hello there. I'm not remotely surprised that it is not in stock, though I agree that it is out of order to be listing a part as in stock when it isn't. To be honest I would be surprised if any spares company anywhere stocks them. I wouldn't be surprised if even the manufacturers don't have them. This is simply because they are usually priced at such a ludicrously high cost that no one would buy them.

They are usually almost as much as the cost of a cheap budget washing machine, so once you factor in any labour costs, or all of the time and hassle if doing it yourself, it's extremely rare for anybody to want to buy one. How much is the drum listed for?

[nathfoley]

Drum unit was £175, which was a marginal decision to order it in the first place, as you say pretty damn expensive given a comparable machine is only 650.

TBH, I just don't like throwing things that can be repaired away.  What a crazy world we live in where mold build up in a sealed unit means throwing away a 600 quid appliance.

I have, as you would expect, cancelled that order and requested a refund.  I'm gonna plod on and get this fixed some other way, not just for the cost savings, but simply because I refuse to be a victim to the manufacturing process of the machine! 

I am going to pick up some m4 bolts/nuts, some hi-temp gasket maker sealent, and saw it in half with a hacksaw this evening, clean and reseal... Non-serviceable part my arse!

I also had an issue with our dishwasher (constantly trying to drain), which I found a continuity problem in the anti-flood switch and a snapped wire under the door.  If I can both of these bad boys running again, I will have avoided spending £1,100 on appliances, for a £5 switch, 10p of solder, £2.00 bolts and £18 of high-temp sealant... 

When we extend our kitchen in a couple of years, I will defo be taking your previous advice of getting a separate washer and dryer though.

[MelS]

I would be concerned that it might get in the bearing, would be better to tilt the tub so the bearing would stay above the water line and roll it over to the other side after a while.

Sodium percarbonate needs quite hot water to work well,  the better oxi-bleach products like vanish stain remover include a bleach activator as well (as does regular washing powder for that mater) to work in lower temperature washes.

Not something I would particularly recommend, but my late mum used chorine bleach to clean a washing machine once after trying milder stuff, we'd been using a liquid detergent of the time (around 1990) and the machine stank to high heaven and was in quite a state. 

One thing to be aware of if you do cut it open, is that regular adhesives and sealants don't adhere well to the type of plastics used to make tubs. They are low surface energy thermoplastics like polypropylene (Polyolefins), there are specialist adhesives available, and also primers and other treatments can be used to allow regular products to stick.   

[Whitegoodshelp (Andy)]

I honestly don’t think it’s worth all the trouble and risk.