Smelly Water

Hi, We are on our town's water supply. I've noticed a smell in my clothes when I wash them (smells like when you leave them in the washing machine for too long ... almost musty smelling - but I can smell the "smell" as soon as they are done being washed). We moved to our current house 4 years ago (we lived in the same town prior to that and had no water "smell" problems) and right from the start I could notice a smell in my dishclothes, towels etc. especially when they got wet. Other clothes just don't have a fresh laundered smell unless i use a ton of fabric softener. We did have a water softener hooked up so we disconnected it to see if it was the softener's problem but it didn't help. They changed an annode? in the water heater and it didn't help. Since then we changed from oil to gas so we have a new different water heater (and water softener isn't hooked up yet) but so far haven't noticed anything different. I even washed my clothes at my mom's house (which is her own well in the country) and clothes smelled great until I washed them in our water again. My washing machine was brand new when we moved so the only thing i haven't tried is getting a different washing machine in to see if that gets rid of the smell in case it is something with my machine. You can't smell the water in the shower or anything...it's just in the laundry. Now that I've rambled on do you think this could be water related?

Thanks,

Do you live on a dead end street?

nope but we are near the edge of town.

My guess is it is the washing machine itself. Hard to tell without being there.

Call the town water department and have them test your water. It is fairly common near the ends of a system to have water sitting in pipes for long periods of time. What can happen is that the water uses up its residual chlorine over time. In some cases bacteria can then start to grow in the main. If that’s the case they will need to chlorinate then flush out that section of pipe. Periodic flushing (turning on hydrants) as part of their maintenance of the system will prevent the problem from reoccurring.

Is it a front loader? There are lots of horror stories out there about front load washing machines. When you're finished using them for the day you're supposed to wipe the gasket dry and leave the door open. Otherwise nasty stuff grows in the standing water and it's then hard to get rid of. I think you can run an empty load with just bleach added to the water and it helps to clean the machine.

No, it's a top load washing machine (Maytag).

Well, it was worth a try. Best of luck. I don't have suggestions beyond that.

Does the washer smell by itself after a cycle? There could be lint and soap scum caught up somewhere in there that is supporting mildew or other nasty growing things.

Fill up a glass of water, put your nose right in it and let us know if you have a hint of the same smell. If you do, its not the washer, but the water itself.

izzy2,
Using "a ton of fabric softener" could be contributing to your problem. Fabric softeners work by leaving a coating of chemicals on your clothes and towels so that they feel "soft." That coating can build up so much that it then prevents your towels from properly absorbing water, leaving them smelly.

I have very hard water and a front loading machine so I have plenty of odor woes. I use vinegar in the rinse cycle and I use some 20 Mule Borax every now and then in the wash. (Careful with the Borax - it is toxic to animals and kids.)

Also, you may have smelly gunk built up in the machine or in the drain hose, especially if you use a lot of detergent and/or softener.

You could try to run a load with a bit of bleach every now and then to see if that helps eliminate the smell.

Good luck - I know how frustrating this can be.

Yes, try about a cup of white vinegar in the rinse (not the wash cycle) as a temporary odor fix until you can get the problem solved; it works great (your clothes won't smell vinegary unless you use way too much) and will cut much of the fabric softener and detergent residue, too. Those residues weaken fabric over time. Also, using hot water will make any smell more noticeable; cold water does a fine job, doesn't set stains, and of course is a lot cheaper to use. Drying laundry outside in the sun will eliminate nearly all odors and germs, whereas fabric softener and dryer sheets merely cover up some of the smells. Give each item a good shake-out before hanging or placing in dryer; it will dry faster with hardly any wrinkles. I would also try running a good amount of bleach through on the longest cycle to see if that cures the problem. Good luck!

I use mostly cold water (hot for my whites) and it still had the smell. I had some problems with my dryer so i had an appliance repair guy come in to check the dryer...while he was there i told him about the smell problem. as soon as he opened the lid he said the problem was mildew behind the drum. He said they are known to have this problem due to soap build up etc. and to run a load of water with vinegar or to use "Affresh", a product that whirlpool endorses for their front load washers because of odour problems. He said to cut back on soap...I use what they say on the container and he said use half of what they say.

I told him that i had run a few loads with bleach and that didn't work...he said bleach will just mask the odour and vinegar kills or the affresh kills it. So I did the vinegar (had ordered some affresh and was waiting for it to come in the mail) and did a load of towels/washclothes. When i used a washcloth it didn't have as much of an odour. I used a tablet of affresh this morning and am waiting for another load to wash to see how it smells.

Thanks everyone for your replies and suggestions. I will keep you updated as to whether the Affresh works. Fingers crossed!!

Even though it's only four years in the house sounds like the best bet is to just get a new washing machine. Or move the old one somewhere and get a rental and see if there is a differance.