This is a 1999 Kenmore that was given to me by a friend after a minor problem occurred that he thought was major. It sat in my garage for a few years until I fully refurbed it, it was pristine at that point. I used it a few times then passed it to my mother who used it for 6 years, from 2012 to 2018. Another problem developed so I pulled it down to repair again. Same as above, the inside of the basket is clean, not so much beneath. Mom has a bad habit of washing in cold water but that's largely at the instance of Dad :-(

I had wiped off some of the residue before the 2nd pic was taken.

This is a 2003 Whirlpool that I bought used. It also sat in my garage for a while until I refurbed it. These pics are from that project.

Just keep the lid open. I think it is a problem with the stainless. Never had that with my porcelain tubs. But, on my top loader, I just keep the lid open, just in case.

This is a 2002 Maytag that was given to me by my aunt & uncle after it developed a problem at 10yo. She wanted a frontloader :-) so they bought a new set. I refurbed and sold her old set. She has a water softener and doesn't use cold water unless it's necessary for the fabric so this machine is appreciably clean.

Kathi Steele, stainless steel has no relation to the issue. The next two examples I posted are porcelain baskets.

This is someone else's machine. I saved the pic from a discussion on another board.

What causes the outside of the components to get so dirty?

So am I correct in thinking that since I keep the lid open all the time that the washer isn't in use and use hot water for everything except our good clothes and jeans (whites, towels, work clothes, undies), that I shouldn't develop any of the above issues? I also occasionally wipe the top rim and use my 50/50 water/alcohol home brew to clean the outside. What else should I be doing? Thanks for the pictures :)

BTW, my new washer is a HE top loader but I override the settings that makes it a non HE washer.

Use a good quality detergent, and a proper dose of detergent to keep laundry soils suspended in the wash water (and sequester mineral content of hard water) to be flushed away instead of depositing on internal surfaces. Using chlorine bleach occasionally (on the regular load of kitchen linens, bath linens, and white-cotton socks?) helps ward-off mold. If reluctant to use bleach on clothes, then run an empty cycle (highest fill level).

Ew. Thank you dadoes. Seeing is believing.

Years ago we had a top load Fisher and Paykel washer. We started getting that nasty smell and small bits of black stuff on the laundry. Everything looked clean until we opened it up to view the tub. The entire outside of the tub was disgusting. Mold and gunk. We had to carry the whole tub into our shower to clean it.

The trick about F&P EcoSmart washers is they don't run a full-fill of either hot or warm water on any cycle except Perm Press. The selected temperature (higher than cold) is filled-in only for the Eco Active pretreatment at the start of the cycle, the agitated wash is cold. That's an "Eco" part of the design. The user is supposed to run a tub-clean cycle monthly or however often is appropriate for the machine's usage level (more often if the Perm Press cycle isn't used on a regular basis). Instructions are in the user manual on how to do that ... but no one reads the manual. :-)

It's true. We had an old Kenmore top loader that cleaned really well. But sometimes I would see little bits of what appeared to be dirt and mold. I called it sludge. It was typically if I accidentally used too much detergent. I believe the soap would bubble up to the area under the rim and then when it drained would carry some of the gunk from up there with it. I took a wipe and wiped all under there as far as I could reach and a lot of it came out. It was quite disgusting. I always left the lid opened, too. I also (mostly) used warm or hot water. I only used cold on delicates.

dadoes, Persil.

Proper dosing...that's where I'm just winging it :( Right now I have the machine on auto dosing and "More" since I'm using more water than default amts and deep fill rinses on most loads. I put about half a bottle of detergent in the auto dispense. So I have NO idea how much detergent equals Normal, More and Less. I got so tired of forgetting to put the detergent in before the clothes, I got mad and just put it in the reservoir...something I hadn't planned on using but a detergent cup isn't offered since it can auto dispense. Think I'm just going to go back to using the cap on the bottle...to the bottom ring on the outside of the cap (more or less depending on load).

We have soft water.

I use chlorine bleach very seldom. I'll try to make it a point to use it on white t-shirts and socks. I usually use White Brite for that but I'll do bleach every once in a while.

Thank you for the helpful advice :)

What's that tenet? ... oil and water don't mix. Surfactants are required to "break" the water so it attracts oily laundry soils. My mother tends to buy lower-end detergents such as Arm & Hammer liquid, Xtra at the dollar stores, sometimes Tide Simply Clean (yellow bottle), and she's conservative on dosage being that A&H is high-sudsing. That brown gunk on the exterior of the basket is greasy. Dad believes they have soft water because it's city-utility but there's white mineral residue on the bottom of the tub.

Faith M, the higher dosage of detergent may have loosened bits of the accumulated gunk that was on the interior surfaces.

My aunt also favors A&H detergent nowadays but their water softener makes the difference. They're on well-water. Uncle's family operated a dairy and farming operation for many years, Tide powder was her choice back then, and lots of hot water so I imagine all of that steered her laundry habits to the present.

Dadoes, I do think it did loosen bits of gunk from the agitator, but it also had to have come from somewhere else. When I wiped the area I mentioned there was more of it there. I wish I had taken a picture of it now, but it looked like the gunk in several of the pictures you shared. So gross!

Faith M, gunk collects on and can loosen from the tub centerpost and inside the neck of the basket. This is an additional pic of the Kenmore's centerpost. The basket sits upon and anchors to the drive block at the top.

It really depends upon usage habits. Our 10 year old Duet has no residue that is visible, but the outer tub may have some residue though.

My grandparent's Kenmore 90 series has a BUNCH of visible residue. They mainly use cold (70ºF) and Downy. This has become much worse since they switched from Tide Powder (religiously) to Tide Pods.

I never had smelly washers until I started using liquid detergent. So last summer I cleaned with hot water and bleach. Still smelled. Tried vinegar, baking soda, and hot water. Nope, nada. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought citric acid with my coupon and used a recipe I found online. That worked. I bought powder detergent and borax. Hasn't smelled since even though my husband pulled out a wad of fibers, hair, and gunk out of the agitator. You can see the pics of the gunk that was removed on another thread I posted on.

Dadoes, that is completely disgusting!!

Many toploaders are in that condition ... users just don't see it.

Yeah, I have no idea what the hidden parts of my washers have looked like. I know I've never had any of them smell bad tho but I've always kept the lids up, used hot water washes, vinegar and baking soda and since it came out, oxi clean. One of our employees has our old washer that we just replaced. He likes to take things apart. I think I'll find out if he's taken the washer apart and if so, what condition was it in.

It's 2020 and we still haven't sorted out this whole debate? Why is this still an issue after decades? I just don't understand. Our dryer just died. I don't know what to do as I search for a new washer (because the wife has to have a matching washer and dryer).

I'm tempted to see how much a repair would be on the dryer even tho our set is 13 years old because I am stuck with which direction to go.

Also, if top loaders have the same issues as front loaders, why is the moldy smell typically only something that front load users complain about?

Yes, the debate continues. Many people refuse to buy frontloaders, and many who have bought frontloaders and caught mold go back to a toploader ... on the belief that toploaders do not collect mold/smutz residue, when clearly they do.

Frontloaders, contrary to popular belief, are NOT air-tight ... but they have much less ventilation airflow with the door closed/latched than toploaders so odor retention is stronger.

One of my sisters had a 1984 Maytag toploader for many years, always washing in cold water and never cleaning the in-agitator lint filter. I heard her complain a few times about trouble finding a detergent with a (strong-enough) scent to make their clothes smell fresh, plus the dryer sheets. I took a deep sniff of the washer's interior once when visiting (and pulled the filter out to clean it) ... musty odor.

Do I understand correctly that front loaders can be maintained to avoid the issue while top loaders cannot because the issue is hidden in toploaders? If a consumer is willing to do the maintenance mentioned below, is that a sure fix or are there still places where mold will grow? Can the bleach cleaning also help with toploaders?

I found this interesting maintenance criticism on a bestbuy review for LG 3900:

No one told me about the mold problem that will exist owning a front load washer I wasn’t aware of this until I read the book it said that I had to wipe down the drum every time or after every wash and then every few months you have to dilute bleach with water And rub on the drum to prevent mildew

are you kidding me !!!!!

after I mention this to several people they said oh yeah front loads are a total pain and you will get mildew I don’t know how they sell these machines

Both types of machines can develop residue on the exterior of the inner drum and on the interior of the outer tub ... which is not accessible on either type of machine for visual exam or physical scrubbing unless the machine is disassembled.

Frontloaders typically present mold/residue/staining on the tub/door boot which can be seen and accessed (at least partially) by the user for cleaning. But cleaning the boot and wiping the interior of the drum does nothing to deal with residue in the other areas that are not accessible.

Hot water washing, bleach in the wash (not rubbed on the drum interior), and cleaning products such as Affresh and Tide Washer Cleaner can reach those areas ... but those usage habits must be implemented at the start to ward-off the residue. It's sometimes too late to properly clean the machine (either type) without disassembly after odor has developed.

So does that mean that this topic is irrelevant if the owner maintains their TL or FL from day 1? Do the same maintenance tips apply to TL? The #1 reason that most people wont buy an FL is because of the odor issues. Isn't that really a non-issue if its maintained properly? It sounds like the noxious odor is specific to FL because the mold is not "sealed" in like in an FL.

Leave the door and dispenser drawer open/ajar on frontloaders after use.

Dadoes, I have a 2013 Speed Queen. I used to use bleach on towels and sheets, and I never do cold washes. I have copd and cannot use bleach or scented products. What can I use to clean the washer? I use Tide F/G liquid and powder, sometimes I'll use borax and clorox2 f/c pod and vinegar in the first rinse with downy f/g in second rinse.

beaglenc - can you use oxygen bleach? That's what I use, no LQB, and after nine years our FL smells good.

Another old-style toploader I cleaned up for someone yesterday. Yes, it had an odor, LOL. Didn't get pics of the basket exterior, it's dark porcelain and wouldn't show the smutz very well. Some of the residue wouldn't come off with a scrub brush, required attack with a scraper.

That is disgusting.

Let's guess...cold water only washes?

My Whirlpool top loader never had any gunk on the inside tub.

Cold water washes really don't save much and cause early failure and not to mention filth not being washed away.

Oh my gosh Dadoes... that looks like it would smell like the bottom of a pond. Lol

Yikes! You scare me when I see these photos of the washing machines you work on Dadoes. I really hope my TL washer is not like this on the inside! Going to be 5 years I've had it this summer. Anything could be going on in there.

The machine above is 8 years old. It's a coin-op at an RV park. Whirlpool continued the direct-drive design for a few years longer on commercial machines after the new mechanism was put on the home market in 2010.

Warm is controlled to 80°F average. Hot 115°F. I haven't been onsite, don't know what is the hot water supply there ... and of course no way to know about the user habits.

I have a Bravos XL - we did a bearing & seal replacement on it for the second time this year earlier today. It was in much better shape inside than it was in March when we last did the bearings - I was shocked how bad the inside was last March - it was worse than Dadoes picture. A pressure washer was needed to get it clean!

I started using a Ahhh-some I had for my hot tub on the Bravos every few months. This time after taking the thing apart again I was surprised how clean it was (I did a Ahh-some treatment this morning).

I would like to find a washer that completely empties the tub after each use - not sure if that exists.

Unbelievable. You can't tell me those tubs did not stink. I only do several lukewarm washes a year when I am laundering really delicate things. Otherwise it is warm or hot routinely. dadoes when you repair your friends' machines do you show them the gunk? That has to change their thinking.

Our Speed Queen quit working. So, we called the repairman who came and took the thing apart. I did not see any of the build up that dado came across. It is ~12 years old.

PS, have no idea why it quit. It started right up as soon as the repairman came in!!!

Kathy Steele, I'm curious why your repairman disassembled the machine if "it started right up" when he arrived.

I have had a front loader for about 10 years. No smell but I did research before I bought front loader so I have always kept door and dispenser drawer open when not in use. Never used fabric softener in it and almost always use hot sanitizing wash, especially for towels and sheets.

To see if there was a reason it quit. Could not find one!! He plugged it back in and it started and ran thru a cycle fine. We had done that also and it would not start.

But, he said while he was here, he would open her up to make sure there was not a reason it would not start. Said we paid for a service call, we might as well get our money's worth. It was $75. He lifted the top, took the front off, checked all the belts and check the transmission. Everything was fine.

And, knock on wood, continues to run fine!!!

Raising the top and removing the front does not provide access to see buildup of residue in the tub on a Speed Queen. The outer tub is porcelain AFAIK, not translucent plastic, so further disassembly is required to see the interior of the tub and exterior of the inner spin basket.

So Dadoes, which brands of washers are easier for you to work on?