Grey Spots On Clothes And Build Up Of Grey Mush In Drum
Bought a Hotpoint WMUD843P last year. We've only ever had Hotpoints. This is our third in 25 years. After a few weeks using the new machine we noticed the odd grey spot on washed clothing. The spots are on the surface of the clothing and are not grease because you can rub them off with your nail. Then after several months we noticed a build up of grey mush in the drum. It wipes off with a cloth. I recently cleaned the filter and found more there. In appearance it looks like mastic but was easy to pull off lumps which break up when squeezed between fingers. I could rinse the filter clean no problem. If left in the air the lumps dry out and shrink. I've run auto-clean. The machine does not smell and there is no mould. We've been in the same house for 20 years and are using the same powder we used in our last machine. The only thing that has changed is the machine. Any ideas what the grey spots/mush is.
Solution Summary
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This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.
Hotpoint WMUD843P leaving grey spots on washing and grey residue in drum
- The problem
- A Hotpoint WMUD843P developed grey surface marks on clothes shortly after purchase, and later a grey mush/residue appeared in the drum and filter. The residue wiped off easily, could be pulled off in lumps, broke up when squeezed and dried/shrank in air. The machine had no bad smell or visible mould. The user reported no overloading, no fabric conditioner use, and the same detergent and household conditions as with a previous machine.
- Likely cause
- The discussion most strongly suggests residue build-up inside the machine, possibly grime/slime from the machine or contact with the door seal area. A general grease-mark cause was considered in the accepted reply, but the original poster said the symptoms did not match that explanation exactly.
- What fixed it
- Recommended actions were to inspect the door seal near the drum for trapped clothing or residue, and to improve maintenance by avoiding low-temperature washing, using regular maintenance washes, keeping the door ajar between washes, removing wet laundry promptly, and continuing with powder detergent. No specific repair or exact cause was confirmed in the thread.
- Checks to try
- Cleaned the filter and found the same grey residue there
- Ran the auto-clean programme
- Compared symptoms against common grease-mark causes and ruled out overloading, fabric conditioner use and detergent change
- Advised to check the door seal close to the drum for trapping or residue
4 Answers
Could it be anything to do with this? Grease marks on clothes after washing
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Thanks for the link. It mentions overloading (we definitely don't), using too much fabric conditioner (we don't use any), use a good quality detergent (we use Fairy non-bio) and using enough detergent (we measure it out per Fairy recommended usage). It also says the stains are difficult to remove whereas our stains are not greasy and can be scraped off the garments after the wash has completed. It also refers to dark stains on coloured garments whereas ours are grey stains more noticeable on light coloured garments. So I don't think this is the problem. We were using the same detergent in the old machine (which was also Hotpoint) and never had this problem. Any more suggestions?
Check the door seal where it's close to the revolving drum in case clothes are catching on it getting trapped between the gap between the drum and door seal.The only source of grey is the door seal and grease and grime from the machine. Check this article out too Causes of grease, slime and black mould inside washing machines
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Hi Kevin,
A few thoughts:
- don't wash on low temperatures. Stick to 40 and above and run regular maintenance washes through your machine - keep the door ajar between washes and don't leave wet washing sitting in the machine for long periods of time - stick with a powder detergent. These contain oxygen based bleaching agents which will give you better washing results and keep your machine clean
Just a heads up, Hotpoint are no longer the company you remember. I have so many conversations with people saying "we had our Hotpoint for X amount of years so we bought another", but that company doesn't exist anymore. They were bought out by Indesit in the early 2000's and all their machines are now built to Indesit specifications.
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