Clean your washing machine once a month, or every 30 washes if you do laundry most days. That means an empty cleaning cycle for the drum, plus a wipe of the detergent drawer and, on a front loader, the rubber door seal. Hard water and heavy use mean going more often. A musty smell means you're overdue.
Whirlpool's washer care page recommends at least once a month, and more often if you have hard water or use the machine a lot. Many newer washers count cycles and show a reminder (LG's shows "tcL") when a drum clean is due. If yours does, go by the reminder.
What needs cleaning, and how often#
The drum cycle gets the attention, but the smell usually comes from the parts it doesn't reach.
| Part |
How often |
Source |
| Drum (empty cleaning cycle) |
Monthly or every 30 washes |
Whirlpool, LG |
| Door seal (front loader) |
Wipe dry after each wash day, clean monthly |
LG |
| Detergent dispenser |
Monthly |
LG |
| Drain pump filter |
Monthly to every 2 months |
LG, Samsung |
| Outside, lid, and controls |
When it looks grubby |
|
LG says the drain filter should be cleaned at least once a month; Samsung suggests every two months. If you wash a lot of pet bedding or towels that shed, monthly is the better habit.
How to clean a front-loading washing machine#
- Empty the drum. Pull back the folds of the door seal and pick out hair, lint, coins, and the odd sock.
- Clean the seal. LG's instructions use 3/4 cup of bleach in 1 gallon of warm water, wiped into the folds with a cloth, and warn against straight bleach because it wears the rubber. Rinse with a damp cloth and dry it.
- Pull out the detergent drawer if it's designed to come out (there's usually a release tab). Rinse it in warm water and scrub the softener compartment with an old toothbrush. Wipe inside the drawer opening too, where black gunk collects on the roof.
- Run the cleaning cycle with the drum empty. Use the machine's Tub Clean or Clean Washer program if it has one. Otherwise pick the hottest, longest cycle. Whirlpool says to use the hottest water available.
- Add the cleaner the manual specifies. A washer-cleaner tablet like affresh goes in the drum, not the dispenser, with no detergent. Some manuals allow liquid chlorine bleach in the bleach compartment instead.
- When the cycle ends, wipe the drum, glass, and seal dry, and leave the door and drawer open for a few hours to air out.
How to clean a top-loading washing machine#
The steps are the same minus the seal. Run the cleaning cycle with the highest water level and hottest temperature, and add the cleaner your manual names. Then wipe under the rim of the drum and around the lid hinge, where detergent and fabric softener residue builds up out of sight. If your top loader has an agitator with a removable fabric softener cup, take it out and rinse it.
Don't mix vinegar and bleach#
Use one cleaner per cycle, the one your manual names. Vinegar and baking soda get recommended a lot, but some manufacturers don't approve them, and the cycle is designed around the products they test. The bigger danger is combining things. The CDC says never to mix bleach with other cleaners, because the mix can release fumes that are dangerous to breathe. Bleach in the drum and vinegar in the softener drawer counts as mixing.
How to clean the drain pump filter#
Most front loaders have a small hatch at the bottom front. Behind it is a filter that catches coins, hair grips, and lint before they reach the pump. Samsung's instructions are typical:
- Turn the washer off and unplug it.
- Lay down towels and put a shallow tray or baking dish under the hatch. If you just ran a hot cycle, wait for the water to cool.
- Open the hatch, pull out the small drain hose if there is one, and let the water run into the tray. It's often more water than you'd expect, so empty the tray as needed.
- Unscrew the filter counterclockwise, clean it with a soft brush, and screw it back in firmly.
- Replace the hose cap, close the hatch, and check for drips on the next wash.
Top loaders and some front loaders don't have a user-serviceable filter. If the manual doesn't show one, leave the panels alone.
Why your washing machine smells#
A musty or sour smell usually comes from damp residue in the seal, the drawer, or the drum's outer surfaces. The usual causes:
- The door is shut between washes, so the drum never dries.
- Wet laundry sits in the machine for hours.
- Too much detergent or fabric softener, which leaves a film for mold to grow on.
- Only cold or quick cycles, so residue never gets washed out.
Fix those and run a cleaning cycle. Leave the door ajar between loads only if children and pets can't climb in. A smell like sewage, standing water after a cycle, or a leak points to a drainage or plumbing problem, and cleaning won't fix that.
Can a dirty washer make clean laundry smell?#
Yes. A moldy seal or drawer passes a musty smell on to whatever you wash, and flakes of old residue can come loose and stick to dark clothes. If your towels smell after washing, clean the machine before you blame the towels.
Set a monthly ChoreLists.com reminder for the drum, seal, and drawer, and note your model's cleaner in it so you don't have to look it up each time. The dryer next to it needs a separate check: see how often to clean your dryer vent. The dishwasher has its own filter-and-seal routine too.