Washing machines and liquid washing gel

Fiskar

Word of warning. don't use non bio gel or liquid in your washing machine. you would not believe what a Zanussi 4 yr old jet system looked like when taken apart and the drum split open to replace bearings that went noisy.
The casing. drum and seal were gunked solid. This led to poor or little drainage of the water and into the bearings it went,
Never ever had this and I have been through a number of washing machines with rentals etc.
Unfortunately no photos but take my word for it, every orifice was gunked even the drum pores. The front casing was especially bad. the pores in the door seal were all blocked.
It looked like a 10 yr washing m/c.

Roen

Did you do a monthly service wash to clean it out? Usually bio powder in the drum on the hottest setting with no clothes in there.
Some people use vinegar or baking soda.
Only asking as most people don't realise you're supposed to.

Sleeper12

The little blue blocks you put in the cistern of the toilet cause a lot of problems with the filler valve or siphon too

Fiskar

Roen wrote: »

Did you do a monthly service wash to clean it out? Usually bio powder in the drum on the hottest setting with no clothes in there.
Some people use vinegar or baking soda.
Only asking as most people don't realise you're supposed to.

No, I am not the prime user!
Will discuss options with SWMBO but believe it is gel related and using too much of it. Anyway, I changed the rear bearing,front bearing, seal and drum casing seal. It was a long tedious job, a mans jigsaw puzzle
I put it all back together and done on a wash, strange to see water able to squirt into the drum where it was blocked before. Seems as good as new.

bungaro79

Roen wrote: »

Did you do a monthly service wash to clean it out? Usually bio powder in the drum on the hottest setting with no clothes in there.
Some people use vinegar or baking soda.
Only asking as most people don't realise you're supposed to.

I am one of those people Roen!

Roen

Fair play Fiskars. That sounds like a complex enough job!

Fiskar

Roen wrote: »

Fair play Fiskars. That sounds like a complex enough job!

Cheers, there ain't that many of us about that can take on such a job and get the machine back running better than before.

Something though has been bothering me about the machine, the heater element had very little scaling. When it was back together I ran a 30 and 40 degree wash but did not feel any heat through the glass door. Going to run a 60 degree wash and electrically check the heater from the rear. That may be the original issue and that all washing has been on cold water!

Fiskar

Heater element is working and heating, SWMBO indicated she put a 60 c wash with Dettol washing m/c cleaner through it a few months ago. So I am back to use of excessive gel washing powder and conditioner.

volchitsa

I've been looking for information about this too, I've just had a single quilt come out of the washing machine far dirtier than it went in with grey gunk on it.

This happened me with my last machine, but it was old, this one is only about three years old, and I've also tried to use powder more than liquid for washing (because I was told that could cause stuff to build up) as well as systematically using vinegar in the water softener drawer for the final rinse. And yet it seems to be worse than before.

I have just used a washing machine cleaning product at 95 degrees, and it seems better but there's still gunky stuff under the rubber seal (where you can see the drum itself, if that's clear enough) When I stick some kitchen paper in and rub, it comes out a bit yucky.

Is there anything else I can do? I've got clear vinegar, how should I use it?
Is baking soda more effective?

Thanks for any tips.

The Red Ace

volchista, your problem is more than likely related to poor installation of the w/m, the emptying hose where it enters the standpipe must be loosely fitted and when pushed down must not be under the height of half way up the door glass otherwise it will syphon and leave the suds in the drum when rinsing causing this build up of gunk

volchitsa

Hi Red Ace thanks a million for the reply.

I'm not sure I entirely understand the explanation, but I'm certain you're right, all the same, because this is the second machine this has happened, and only in this house, even though we'd had the other machine in the previous house and it didn't happen there.

So, rereading what you said, the hose is loose enough I think, but do you mean I might have it pushed down too low inside the stand pipe? I probably have done, I thought it had to be as low as possible to avoid leaks.

That'd be fantastic if that was the solution - I actually changed my previous machine partly because of that, so when it started happening again I couldn't work out what the cause was.

The Red Ace

yeah the waste hose should only be down the stand pipe about 4 inches, once it is at a level below the height of water in the drum during rinses it will syphon leaving suds in the drum, whites will always show grey stains when this happens. your machine is probably filthy on the inside of the outer tub so it will probably need several really hot washes without clothes to remove the gunk, Milton I find is a great cleaner to do the job and will kill any bacteria, with reference to the previous posts re liquid detergent it is ever so corrosive to aluminium and all washing machine drum spyders are made of aluminium, I have seen the strongest of them disintegrate where liquid is used constantly, hope this helps.

Roen

I know I posted earlier about the service wash but I didn't realise that liquids were that bad.

So what's the alternative for people out the sticks like myself. Can't use bio powder as its a no no for the aerated non septic tank we have.

Would a bio powder wash every month kill off the bacteria breaking down the waste in the tank?
I'm careful to avoid bleach when I can and only use it where necessary.