I did everything to take the musty odor out of our front loader washing machine. I took everyone's advice as to what to do. "Guess What"
The other night I was standing in the kitchen looking into the pantry at the washer. Mind you
I was going The smell kept coming back after a day or two.

I just happen to see a compartment that you could open on the bottom left side of the washer.
Here lies the problem Read the directions completely. We opened the compartment and it said,,,,, clean periodically. This was the drain which just happened to be clogged with a dime. You all it was a,doggone, dime that kept the water from flowing. Most likely the water was just backing up into this small pipe and not completely draining the machine water out.
We ran a load of hot water with some Borax and walla. No smell at all. We made a promise to check that drain once a week. Hoooooo Knewwwwww
it could be as simple as that.

Great, good for you!
What brand of washer do you have, so maybe others with the same type, can also look and benefit?

Conrad our washer is an LG purchased in 2006 from Home Depot.

We have a 2007 LG dryer, and whenever our Maytag Neptune finally washes its last load, will probably get an LG FL washer.
I really like all the LG items I have had.

Okay I admit it I just wanted to bump you up from what I just posted. But I will use this chance to say thank you Conrad the vinegar you recommended works great as fabric softner and you were also right about smell going away when the wash dried.

Glad you found a solution, (still tryin)!

I feel brain dead...what's an LG?

LG is Life's Good, a brand.
They make all kinds of home electronics, phones, appliances, etc. My LG cell phone has lasted trouble free, way longer than sometimes I would like.

quote:

Originally posted by conrad:
LG is Life's Good, a brand.
They make all kinds of home electronics, phones, appliances, etc. My LG cell phone has lasted trouble free, way longer than sometimes I would like.

Really! I've never heard of them. I'll pay more attention next time I'm in an appliance store.
Thanks!

I have a LG microwave... I concider it indestructable as 2 PPL have stuck silver trimmed plates in it creating a sparks show and my 4yo cooked a corn dog into a birket (and filled the house with smoke) and it still works good as new (course it took a while for the smell to go away)

Rachel that is too funny. I just heard on DIY the other day to take vinegar and water in a microwave bowl of course turn your micro. on for 3 mins. Let the steam fill the oven. They said it generally gets rid of odors and baked on food.

Not sure about corn-dog birket's

I also have a front loader. Where do you put your vinegar? I use liquid detergent. Should I put the vinegar where the bleach section is?

Justwaaaa, I put my vinegar in the liquid section with my detergent. I think either would work.

Thanks so much, Lights! but ya know what I realized last night in bed? I could probably put the vinegar where the fabric softener goes. DUH! LOL

Vinegar where softener goes.
If put with detergent, it won't do any softening.
I love vinegar for towels.
Anyone know if other brands have the "dime" drawer?

Thanks M-ma for the info. I have to say if you use it for softener it makes more sense to put it in the softener area.

My Dog--
Just in case it matters to you, LG is an international company, headquartered in, I believe, South Korea.
It doesn't mean the appliances aren't good, though.

Have any of you had problems with mineral buildup on the inside of your dishwasher causing streaky brown stains on the inside of the compartment?

My mother had that problem, and found a solution in her subscription to and old periodical, Mother Earth News. Add a 1/2 cup to 1 cup of Tang instant breakfast drink to your dishwasher soap compartment. Run the appliance for a full cycle without any dishes.

It took all her stains right off, including the plastic coated racks. She usually repeated the sequence about every 3 months or so. And it may not matter as much with the new stainless steel interiors, but the old porcelain enamel ones marked badly otherwise.

Folks, mildew Smell is a problem of most front load washers. It is from water laying in the rubber boot.There should be several holes in boot to let water deain out but some designs do not fully get water out. If you don't use the washer for a few days the moisture contributes to mildew and mold if left wet long enough. Maytag had a major lawsuit on thier first front loader model to get them replaced.Maytag didn't have enough hole in boot. They have since increased holes but moisture lying in and around boot can still be a problem. There are high efficiency top load washers which can almost equal the water savings and still spin out up to 1100 rpms to get most of the water extracted . Then drying time is decreased dramaticaly. A model that is very good and has very few parts is fisher-pykel from Australia. The fisher model has direct drive motor so there is no belt to break. the drum is vertical so you don't have oder issues. Servicng is easy, the whole machine can be disassmembled in 30 minutes with just a phillups head screw driver.It even has a self diagnostic to tell you what part needs attention.Front load machine need to have heavy weights to keep the machine from taking off,the fisher is light enough one fairly strong person can carry up or down a set of stairs.Front load machines spin on bearings which when they wear out you will find that it costs almost as much as the machine cost originally to fix it.Fisher costs about half what a front loader costs.Just observations after 30 years in appliance business,Don

Thanks optimizer. I always abbreviate but it is hard to abbv. your name. I followed all the advice from people on the board and conquered the problem. Our front loader is an LG which I love. Thanks a bunch for your input.