Clothes smell and I feel like I've tried everything
Hi.
For the past few months, my clothes continue to have a foisty smell after washing. Before this happened, I'd hang my washing on the landing and my whole house would smell of clean washing. Now it smells of sewage (maybe exaggerating).
The washing machine is only about 3 months old.
Things I've tried
Washing at higher temp, moved the waste from underneath the sink trap and located above the trap, put the waste pipe in the right position up and over and facing down (as per pic), used washing machine cleaner, tried biological powder instead of non bio, cleaned the filter and hose at the front near the bottom.
I really am out of ideas and need some help. I have a really strong sense of smell and feel really self conscious about horrible smelling clothes.
Solution Summary
AI-generated from this discussion
This thread was marked as solved. Here's a summary of the problem and the fix, generated from the discussion below.
Clothes smell after washing despite a new machine
- The problem
- The washing machine was only about 3 months old, but clothes were coming out with a strong musty/sewage-like smell. The owner had already tried higher-temperature washes, repositioning the drain hose above the sink trap, using washing machine cleaner, changing detergent type, and cleaning the front filter and hose.
- Likely cause
- The discussion leant away from a clear machine fault. The sink waste trap appeared to have a proper U-bend and the drain hose routing was judged correct from the later photo. The strongest supported possibilities were wash/performance-related issues or clothes drying too slowly and staying damp, rather than a confirmed plumbing defect. The exact cause was not confirmed.
- What fixed it
- Suggested actions were to run a proper empty maintenance/drum-clean cycle with no detergent or laundry, avoid relying on quick washes, and check whether laundry was being removed promptly and drying too slowly indoors. A further suggested check was to observe the washer drain flow into a bucket and check whether sink waste water was backing towards the washing machine connection, to rule out a blockage. No single repair was confirmed.
- Checks to try
- Confirmed the sink waste had a U-bend
- Checked the washing machine drain hose was routed up and over, then down correctly
- Confirmed water supply was cold mains water, not from a tank
- Confirmed a hygiene wash had already been done
- Checked whether the smell was inside the machine or cupboard; it was only on the clothes
- Suggested checking drain pump-out flow into a bucket
- Suggested checking for sink waste backing up at the washing machine spigot
13 Answers
Hello there. I'm presuming that it is the grey hose that is the washing machine hose. Before I advise any further, can you just confirm that the waste pipe under the sink has a proper U bend? I can't make it out properly from the photo, if it does have a U bend it looks quite shallow? Would the whole pipe in the U bend remain full of water at all times?
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
This is the waste. It does have a U bend. I've tried to draw it how it is.
hi there I see you say you have tried washing at higher temp but have you actually initiated a maintenance wash since having the machine ?
Most machines have a 'maintenance wash' or Drum cleaning setting. - This is a wash cycle very hot (around 90'c) and lasts a long time (could be up to 3hours) and spins the drum around very quickly as to "scrub" the inner and outer drum , hopefully getting all the sludge from previous washing detergent loose and then thoroughly rinsing with clean cold water.
you should initiate this drum cleaning without any garment whatsoever (so empty drum) and using no soap detergent or powder and no fabric softener.
and lastly is the water that is entering your machine entering from the cold water mains and nice and clean, and not from a tank in the attic or from a well?
Hi. It may not be anything to do with the u-bend, but it's worth ruling it out first. Is it like this one?
Ideally it should be fairly deep like this -
The u-bend should be completely full of water when all water has stopped running through it. No air should be able to get past this water, that's what prevents smells from the drain coming back up. I'm just wondering if it's not a proper u-bend then air could get past the water.
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
Smells could be caused by the washing machine inside but you seem to suspect it's related to drains and plumbing so I'm concentrating on that for now. Check out my article here for possible help - Smells caused by plumbing faults
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
It doesn't look particularly shallow. What do you think?
I've done a hygiene wash. The water is from the cold and it's from the mains, not a tank. The water inlet is connected under the sink and it's right next to the mains feed.
So for a certain time have you had the waste pipe from the washing machine machine pointing up then? - this definately would have mean that everything that has gone down your sink has ended up going down the grey flexible pipe heading towards your washing ... which would not have been good!
No, I just wanted to confirm it's pointing down as well as it being positioned correctly.
That's a much better photo thanks, aye it looks deep enough. The drain hose is attached properly too and going up and over before running down to the washing machine. Can you smell the smell inside the washing machine, or in the cupboard?
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
No, the smell is just on the clothes.
Assuming the washing machine is functioning OK, and agitating the drum, finishing without errors in the expected timeframe, and assuming you are not using quick wash cycles (which are rubbish), the answer is likely to be somewhere in the following articles -
laundry not being cleaned properly
5 things you need to know about washing at 30 degrees
washing machine smells causes
washing machine detergent issues
Need Professional Help or Spare Parts?
are you removing washing immediately from the washing machine when the cycle has finished?
you say you dry them on the landing ... is it possible that they are taking so long to dry now its winter and they are remaining damp then start to smell , like a damp cloth does or damp mop? - have you a Tumble dryer? , not only will they dry quicker but also as they tumble through the hot air they will deodorize and (if the heat is enough) will help kill the germs and bacteria. - if a vented dryer through a wall then the odours will expel to the outside air with the moisture.
Could also try taking off the grey waste pipe from the washing machine under the sink and put it into a big bucket and do a rinse cycle, at emptying it should be a nice strong stream of water coming out of the grey washing machine pipe into the bucket.
then put a bucket under the sink where you have taken off the grey washing machine waste pipe and run the tap into the sink. Is the water going straight out to the sink waste on the left there? - there should be no water at all exiting at that pipe where the grey washing machine waste attaches to. if there is you could have a blockage in the u-trap under the sink or a blocked drain after the sink at your house.
Just a few other things you could try/take into account.
good luck.
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