I live in a high humidity area, ~80%, I learned to use a drying rack with an oscillating fan.

Take shower, dry, hang towel on drying rack, turn on floor fan to dry towel and shower.

I think towels get ”sour” when they do not dry. A neighbor would wash and dry their towels after each use.

What is the measured quantity of Line 4? Does the wash water feel slippery (before adding the other boosters)?

Also just to say, measuring is more consistent and controllable when done via a device of the desired amount that can be leveled-full (or a smaller device that can be accurately repeated for larger doses) ... such as a tablespoon or those 29.6 CC (2 tbsp) scoops included with some kinds of laundry aids (I've saved several) instead of eyeballing a line on a larger cup.

I use my bath towels several times, hung to dry over the shower stall or on the handle of the tub/shower door. They never develop an odor. My master bath has a ceiling fan which I run for a few hours to help dry both the towel and shower stall. The other bathroom, I run the ceiling fan in the adjacent bedroom.

dadoes, I use the scoops that come with the product. Line 4 is right at 4 oz. or half a cup. I have to say when I measured that yesterday, it seemed like not a lot of product for a full tub of water. The next time I do a load I'll make a note of the feel of the water. When I took my shower last night I used a towel that had just been washed and dried, and it did not have that sour smell. When i dried the load yesterday I used the Heavy Duty setting, so I think that is going to be the setting I use for towels and blankets going forward. Obviously the towels being completely dry is a factor. Cavimum, we also have hard water and have a water softener which works very well. I am considering what you, dadoes and A Mat have suggested and that is how the towels are hung after being used. We put towel hooks in our Master Closet which is steps away from the shower; even though it is very large and has a couple of HVAC registers in there, I am thinking that maybe we should put rods in there. We have the typical exhaust fan in the bathroom, and I never use it. I'll revise our methods and see if that improves this situation.

armjim - Towel hooks do not allow the entire surface of a towel access to air to dry out. Moisture is still trapped in the folds of all that terrycloth and will dry out only in a really dry climate. Perhaps this is the problem and your detergent dosing is fine. I know some people use towel hooks and swear by them, and they are great when wall space is tight, but they would never work in our home and climate. With wall hooks in the master closet there will be even less air circulation.

Before buying and installing towel bars, perhaps try a simple experiment? Buy one of those collapsible drying racks, use them for the towels for a few weeks or laundry cycles and see how it goes? These type racks usually have four dowels on top. Because those dowels are fairly narrow (3/8"?) drape the bath towels over two dowels so there is 4-6" of air space. Please do let us know how it all goes.

BTW, for softened water, that still seems like a lot of deteregent to me for a TL fully filled. We had a water softener at our previous home and cut all detergent dosing to 1/2 of the recommended amounts. I realize water softeners have different softness settings, or they used to, so yours might be softened down to what our tap water is here.

I never wash bath towels with kitchen linen. I wash kitchen linen alone. Maybe separate the two.

Tide Powder with hot water, SQ TL, and Heavy Duty cycle shouldn't be leaving the towels smelly. Warm water really shouldn't either. I actually think the amount of Tide you are using is fine. Are you using the dryer, or hanging them to dry?

I wash bath towels, kitchen linens, cotton socks and other such white/colorfast items together. The last mega-load was 6 bath towels, 6 sackcloth dishtowels, 4 hand/small towels, 15 bath/dish cloths, 2 t-shirts, and 60 (30 pairs) of socks.

I haven't used Tide powder in years, but am using Cheer on some loads. Also Persil liquid and what's left of a stash of Persil Power Pearls. Cheer, I dose two to eight tbsp depending on load size. I don't run many small loads. Persil one to 2.5 tablespoons. Unsoftened well water, so always spiked with STPP, 1 to 4 tablespoons depending on fill level. STPP is dosed per water volume, detergent for load size and soil level moreso than water volume. I have two kinds of HE toploaders and a non-HE toploader. One of the HE fills to a low level on all cycles except Bulky. The other has choice of both low and deep fill, with deep fill varying per the sensed load size so it's not always to maximum.

Hi armjim,

Like shirlpp, I wash kitchen/cleaning towels/cloth napkins in a different load from bathroom use towels. Not sure if you are combining the two, but if you are, try givng them their own wash cycles. It might make a positive difference.

I'm attaching two photos of how we have to hang our bath towels in the master bathroom. We have limited wall space and only one towel bar can be had. Spouse gets the towel bar but has to double up the towel when hanging because the counter is right there and doesn't allow for an unfolded hanging. He doesn't get smelly towels though. I change out bath towels 2-3 times a week.

I have to use an over the door towel hook thing. for my towel. I bought one with 6 hooks so I can hang the towel across all hooks for better drying. (ignore the fraying on my towel--I have one of the SQs that likes to tear things apart)

When we had our poor performing front loaders, we still had smelly towels with this same drying arrangement, but that wasn't the fault of the how the towels are hung--we tried everything to not have smelly towels but it turned out it was the poor washing machines--problem gone with our Speed Queen.

It seems to me that you are using enough detergent and a good one.

Just putting this out there and you do what you like with the info...I do a pre-wash/soak on all towels loads, then I do a main wash after that. Seems like overkill to many, but it's a positive difference for our household. For as great as TL SQs of our generation are, they could be better rinsers and this process results in always fresh towels for us. I use half a cup powder detergent (sometimes Borax as well) for pre-wash/soak, letting it soak in warm water for 30-60 or more mins. Then I use 1/4 cup powder detergent in main wash with hot 140F water. I let that cycle run through without interuption.

For note, we have naturally fairly soft water. This makes rinsing a challenge for us. Good for washing, but rinsing is difficult, even when hand washing.

Sorry you are still struggling with this. That's frustrating.

Lack of heat is your problem. washer is not maintaining water temp high enough or long enough to kill pathogens and/or remove body oils.

Use some chlorine bleach in a load and see if rhe problem goes away.

our towels are all washed at 140F with tide and ecover peroxode bleach. Never a funky smell.

I have an LG front loader. I wash towels on either hot or sanitize cycle with Tide powder at the 3 mark on the little cup that comes in the detergent box, 2 Tblspns Borax and 1 Tblspn STPP. No musty smells at all. They smell fresh. I wash kitchen towels and bath towels together. We only use our kitchen towels to dry clean dishes.

And SEA SEA has shown us her favorite personal towel in that photo. I remember.

I wash bath and hand towels separate from kitchen towels.

I think you are using too much detergent and its build up is causing biofilm and the odor you are experiencing. Try washing them a few times to line one on the detergent cup and see if the odor goes away. Don't use any other additives like borax. Bath towels don't get "dirty" drying off your clean body so no need to use so much product to clean them.

I have a Miele W1 and wash bath towels at 105F using only 1 tablespoon of Tide Free powder and my towels NEVER stink.

I want to add that the amount of detergent will also depend on your machine. I had an Electrolux front loader. If I used more than 2 Tblspns of detergent it would be a sudsy mess and forget using those detergent pods. Just one pod and again sudsy mess.

I now have an LG front load and I can use more detergent without suds and the rinse cycle always rinses clear with no suds. No smelly clothes or towels where as with my Electrolux the clothes built up biostink. Not from too much detergent but I think from too little. I just dont think the amount of detergent was enougn to get out the sweat and body oils. Towels were fine.

I have read all of the replies and discussion and am examining everything about the methods I use. I frequently check the rinse water and it always seems pretty clear, so I feel good about that. I regularly wash the towels in Tap Hot, and when I say it is Hot, it is scalding hot to the touch. That being said, I do have a habit of doing a midweek load of just a few towels along with the clothes in the basket with them, and am thinking I am not letting those towels get completely dry and I use warm rather than hot on that mixed load. Also, the worst offenders are the towels that we have had for 6 years (and some close to 8 years old) or so. When I dried the load of towels on Heavy Duty, I could tell a noticeable difference.

We actually have towel bars in the bathroom, so I think starting today I am going to use those again, and maybe run the exhaust fan for about an hour after I shower and see if I can tell a difference. The portable drying rack I may consider too-we have the space for it in the closet and I am all for solutions! I'm going to make certain I am consistent with the amount of detergent for the size of the loads and be very diligent about drying.

armjim - more years ago than I can remember, our towels got a bit of a mildew-musty odor. Can't even remember which house we lived in. Some liquid Clorox (chlorine) bleach added to the wash took care of that. They were a light ecru color, so bleaching didn't affect them.

I once received a quilers' cotton fabric order from a vendor down on the Gulf Coast. It had a slight mildew scent just because the store probably was musty smelling and fabrics will pick up any odor/scent in the air if it lives there long enough. I soaked for several hours it in a weak liquid Clorox solution in the old full-fill TL washer; no fading to the fabric and the odor was gone.

We are lucky we have the floor space for one of those collapsible drying racks within our closet/MstrBath space. It stays set up 7/24/365. All hubby's golf shirts and shorts go to finish drying there after he gets home because they're still damp. Yard work & athletic clothes go there to finish drying completely before they go into the laundry basket. I take mildew and mold seriously. A long time ago, Hubby used to throw those still-damp-from-sweat cotton knit golf shirts into the laundry basket until I showed him the small black mildew spots that set up, when I did the laundry a week later. Those stains were permanent. Seeing was believing for him and he stopped tossing damp clothes into the laundry basket.. (He needs visuals. LOL)

armjim, humidity isn't a factor here but I hang towels to dry on the towel bars overnight before putting them into the hamper. Then in the morning when we're going to shower, we'll each take a clean towel from the closet and drop the dry used towel in the hamper. We're just two adults, do understand someone with a house full of children could find that inconvenient.

I've used nothing but Tide Original in many years. Pastel towels (mine) are washed in warm, white towels (DH's) are washed in hot. Thoroughly dried in the dryer.

I've never noticed any odor from a towel or washcloth, not ever.

We don't have hard water.

I dose the Tide at half the strength suggested on the box directions - little tip given me by 'our own Maytag man' the years I worked in an appliance store. (this was back when most appliance stores had a repairman on staff - and they kept an inventory of parts!) He told all of us, the soap companies are in the business of selling product and the more they sell, the happier they are. ....they don't care about your clothing or machines ;)

I am keeping my dosage for a full load at just under line 4 on the scoop; I like littlegreeny's suggestion that maybe I should back off the borax for a while. Had wondered about using more but I am convinced now not to do that. I did check the water the last load I did and it was slightly slippery to the touch. Towels and similar are all being dried on the Heavy Duty cycle (high Heat). Cavimum, l have bleached the towels and used vinegar on them in the past after i quit using FS. Because I used FS on them from purchase until last year, I am wondering if the fibers will never recover from that. The only thing I use now is a Snuggle dryer sheet. The heat and humidity is setting records here in Texas, so even though I think of our home as being well insulated, I suppose the humidity may be more of a factor than I thought it would be. morz, we always use a fresh towel each morning for the day (we each take two showers) and the towels from the day before get put into the dirty clothes basket. The water here is extremely hard, but we have a very good WS, and I keep its salt always filled.

We have white towels and wash cloths that we got at Christmas, and nary an odor on them, so I think our other towels which are the ones we have issues with, are suffering from years of being washed with FS and me not always being attentive to them being completely dry before I store them. I really have learned a lot this week just from this thread alone. I may hunt for the bleach product luna mentioned, I like to experiment in the quest of completely freshness. This is one of the nice places on this crazy world to seek comradery.

Another hard and fast rule given us by our Maytag man was that nothing goes into the dryer but wet clothes. No fabric sheets as over time they can cause a build up in the dryer. I will use a half dryer sheet maybe twice a year if I am washing and drying a load of DH's polar fleece outer wear. Static on clothing coming from a clothes dryer is rare here, happens only if we happen to be having a few days of very dry very cold winter weather. I realize our weather here in cool coastal washington is different than most other places where homemakers experience more problems than we will have.

We had some old towels that had a funk to them. I think it may have been from having a top load Whirlpool washer (no agitator) at the time. I was about ready to toss them but then experimented by soaking the towels overnight with some Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and did a second wash the next day. The smell was gone and the towels are back oin use.

Forget the washing soda. Forget the Liquid Detergent. Add two tablespoons of Borax, plus a quality powder detergent (No more than line 1), and wash the towels on the hottest cycle available on your machine. Preferably, anything other than the "NORMAL" Cycle -- which uses the least amount of water.

In addition, do not forget to engage EXTRA RINSE. You should always be turning that on anyway, for washing Towels.

If Borax & Powdered Detergent can not get the smell out, after one or two washes. They are gone. Seriously. The towels are just gone. I've seen Borax pull out the smoke smell and soot from a house fire, in a single wash. IF - the towels are surviving the treatment, they are hopeless.

Mich I have not used liquid detergent since 2001. I am convinced that the FS I used for decades created the problem with those particular towels. I did the vinegar soak and have routinely used Borax. I always use warm and hot water. These towels are also very old now and are starting to look frayed, so I guess the fibers have had enough and are indeed hopeless. I learned my lesson with FS, though I do miss it. I never did overdose on products as like most washer geeks I always checked the rinse cycle and the water was clear. The newest towels we have launder fine; I have not used FS on them and that seems to be the common element.

Maybe the smelly towels can be cut up and used for cleaning rags now. I do that with our worn out bath towels.

Really glad the newer towels have no issues. Must have been the fabric softener build up with the old ones.

I was going to suggest checking the sacrificial anode in your water heater a few weeks back, but you didn't say that attire or sheets had the odor issue, so it's probably not that.

Thanks SEA SEA-they will be colorful rags! In my experience textiles have deteriorated in quality over the years. I have rags that were once kitchen and bath linens that are up to 50 years old and are not frayed or tattered. They were all routinely washed in the Top loaders of the day (for my family Kenmore, Maytag and GE).

Yes armjim. Same! I too have towels from the 1960s and 1970s that still look wonderful. I don't have them in rotation anymore only because they are keepsakes at this point, but they were in daily use for decades--were hand-me-downs gifted to me when original owners tired of them. Quality of textiles has decreased, but I have had good luck with Charisma towels from Costco. I got the white ones since I launder pretty harshly and dyes are not what they used to be.

Costco still has some of the Charisma towels available on their website, in two colors: gray and ivory. I haven't seen them inside our local Costco store for almost a year. I have been very pleased with our two sets. Maybe I'll buy more, but I think these towels will outlive me at this point...

When I google them, amazon has them from third-party vendors, so caveat emptor.

SEA SEA some of the towels and cloths I mentioned are from my Grandparents and are circa the 1960s. They are not in style now, yet I get thrilled when I see them. I guess it is childhood memories associated with them. If I washed them now I would be very careful with them as they are keepsakes for me too. I tend to just keep those in the cabinet, just because. The towels you and Cavimum talked about sound like we need to check them out. We tend to go to Sam's Club as there is one just a few miles from us. We are members of Costco but seldom go there as it is much further. I really believe that linens produced now are inferior to those from years past. I never had problems like this when I was starting out on my own.

Linens really are not what they used to be. Finding good sheets is hard to do too.

Well, Cavimum says white is scarce or not available anymore. Gray or ivory seem to be your choices for the towels armjim. Website then...

Glad the towels are working out for you Cavimum. That's great! Sounds like I missed the white Charisma towel boat. At least we do have what we have.

armjim - I agree that linens, etc, are not what they used to be. We just got back from vacation and one of the hotel sheets had the infamous accordion pleated hems that many of us have complained about here. I couldn't believe it.

We have some old bath towels from the late 1970s/early 1980s that are not in the daily use pile, but have held up beautifully and are still soft. They are that old style of "velour" on one side, terry loops on the other style. Perhaps that is the key to soft towels.

ETA --- I bit the bullet and ordered two more sets of those towels online, in the Ivory color. I have been very pleased with them. Only wash in WARM and dry on Delicate.

So we went to Home Goods today and bought two sets of Calvin Klein bath towels, hand towels and wash cloths. Getting ready to wash them now so we can start using them. No liquid FS will touch their fibers. My partner wants me to just toss the ones they are replacing, reasoning we have more than a sufficient amount of cleaning rags. I will probably sneak them into the garage as you never know when you need to grab an old towel.