Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Continuing on the Appliance Theme -- Washers and Dryers

After writing yesterday’s post about the importance of maintaining the refrigerator I began thinking there must be a way to do similar, easy maintenance to the other appliances in our homes. As I was waking up over my morning coffee and blog postings I read the most recent post from ecogeneration and was completely blown away. It was as if she reached right into my brain and wrote the very thing I was hoping to find information on. Nothing is cooler than when things like that happen.

The story regarded the issues she faced with a yucky washing machine situation and just what was required to fix it. Here is a small snippet of the post:

My clothes started to smell like mold and mildew. Towels and my husband’s favorite soft worn out t-shirts started to smell worse after I washed them. I thought it was due to my son’s athletic socks. My husband thought I didn’t use soap. He even brought home flowery smelling fabric softeners, thinking that was the problem – not using strong enough fragrant detergents and fabric softeners. I admit, I rarely used fabric softeners because I was so sensitive to strong odor and my kids had very sensitive skin but I didn’t think not using fabric softener was the cause for bad odor. I knew I did everything that the manual said - I used High Efficiency detergent and I didn’t overload the washing machine so I was perplexed as to why newly washed clothes smelled so bad.

It turns out, the problem wasn’t any of the things I did. It was what I didn’t do. I found out, through an exhaustive search on the internet - because the manufacturer or the place where we bought the machine were not helpful at all - that the machine that was cleaning my clothes also needed to be cleaned!! What? I need to “clean” the washing machine? I scoffed. But a further research revealed the following reasons why I needed to do that.


Awesome, no? She goes on to explain not only how to clean out the problem but exactly what eco cleaning product used to really get the job done with super powers. Not to mention there are before and after photos that will blow you away as well.

To continue reading this fantastic story and maintenance tutorial for laundry appliances (some dryer tips too!), please head over to ecogeneration’s post Laundry Maintenance.

Leave her a comment or two if you like what you read!

♥love♥

7 comments:

TERI REES WANG said...

Very interesting.
We have a front loading washer, that lately has a terrible mildew odor in the rubber ring that lines and seals the door. Another friend has the same issue. Both of us trying to toss a little vinegar in the rinse cycle anyway to equalize the alkaline content from the soap.
(sensitive skin)

I feel the need to leave the washer door wide open but, then the interior light stays running; ugh.

Checking site to see what step we are missing. Thnx.

Karen said...

Great article. I've been hating my washer (which came with the house last year) because our whites aren't as white. Wondering if the dang thing needs cleaning! Am going to take a look. Thx for the link!

Unknown said...

Thanks for the link!! I so love this blog, and now I am adding that one as well!! You always have great info here.

Julie said...

Thanks for linking to that post. We've been having the same smelly problem even though we have a top loader. Going to have to try those tips tonight.

Anonymous said...

Jenn,

Thanks for mentioning my post here. You have a great eco blog. Love your post about refrigerator maintenance. It's amazing how little TLC can make a difference...just like us. :)

Unknown said...

So glad everyone is enjoying this series! Every little bit will help keep the planet running smoothly. Funny enough, our building super does not read this blog but he just cleaned out everything (including the accumulating lint from the dryer ducts) yesterday afternoon! Hooray!

Suzanne I just read your interview over at Audrey's place today, fantastic!

Anonymous said...

Wow..between my posting about the washer and your refrigerator, his ears must have itched! lol....