Measure out two cups of distilled white vinegar and pour them directly into your washing machine's liquid detergent dispenser. Set your front-loading machine on its longest cycle with the hottest water.
Fill the drum with a ½ cup of baking soda and a quart of vinegar and run a wash cycle containing just a couple of clean hand towels (many manufacturers don't recommend running the washer completely empty). Use the hottest water setting, largest load size, and the longest wash cycle.
For a front-load washer, put 2 tablespoons of oxygen bleach or borax and 2 tablespoons of washing soda in the tub of the washing machine. For a top-loading machine, put 1/2 cup of each of the powders into the wash tub. Run the biggest cycle at the hottest temperature or use the “clean tub” setting on the washer.
TL;DR: It doesn't take much to clean the inside of a washing machine. Home remedies are convenient and can be cheaper than buying ready-made cleaners. All that's needed is some baking soda and white vinegar set on a normal cycle to clean or remove smells from a front loader or top loader washing machine.
Add two cups of white cleaning vinegar to detergent dispenser. Run the washer through a complete cycle. Run another cycle on the highest level and at the hottest water temperature, this time adding 1/2 a cup of baking soda to the drum. When the cycle is done, wipe inside drum of washer with a damp microfiber cloth.
The two essential cleaning products are lemon juice and apple cider vinegar, which can be pretty effective against build-ups. Another effective natural product is baking soda, which can help fight that yucky grime. All you need to do is apply some baking soda on a piece of rag to wipe away that annoying gunk.
Solutions When a Washing Machine Smells Like Rotten Eggs
This is one of the most common causes of a front-load washer smell. You can clean the seal of your washer with a mixture of water and vinegar, which will remove debris without harming the rubber. The next issue could be related to your drain or pump.
Washing Machine
Vinegar is sometimes used as a fabric softener or for getting rid of stains and odors in laundry. But as with dishwashers, it can damage the rubber seals and hoses in some washing machines to the point of causing leaks.
Add ¾ cup of white vinegar OR ¾ cup non-chlorinated bleach (not both!) to the bleach dispenser or fill to its max level. Allow the cycle to run until it has completed. To ensure that no vinegar remains in your washer, manually select an additional rinse cycle if your washer does not have a 2nd rinse cycle selection.
Although vinegar and baking soda shouldn't be harmful to your washing machine if used in moderate amounts, extreme use can impact some of the coatings on the drive shaft components, which are the parts responsible for switching cycles from agitate to spin.
For laundry: Add 1 cup of baking soda into the drum, before putting in your dirty clothes and linens, Maker instructs. Then, add your favorite detergent and launder as usual.
Put 1 cup of baking soda into the washer and start a long, hot cycle. Let the agitator mix the baking soda into the water until it has dissolved (about 10 minutes). Pause the cycle and add 4 cups of vinegar to the hot water. Allow the mixture to sit for half an hour before resuming the cycle.
Baking Soda & Vinegar Wash
Another simple and effective way to get your washing machine to smell fresh is by using a mixture of baking soda, water, and vinegar. Of course, baking soda is a great odor remover, and by mining vinegar, it's a perfect cleaning solution.
Soak your detergent drawer
If your detergent drawer isn't regularly cleaned, soap residues can get stuck and go mouldy and smelly. Most washing machines will let you remove the drawer, which you can then soak in warm soapy water before wiping down with a cloth. Using an old toothbrush will help you get really stuck in.
Often, what causes odors to come from your washing machine is a buildup of soap scum, dirt, debris, and, in some cases, mold and mildew. Sometimes, even a sock or a rag will get caught in the seal of the washer, which in time will give off that distinctive rotten egg or sewage smell.
Pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup lemon juice in either the bleach dispenser, if your laundry machine has one, or if it doesn't, to the wash water with the detergent before adding your whites.
How It Works. The sodium bicarbonate of the baking soda reacts with the citric acid in lemon juice to form carbon dioxide gas. The gas bubbles are trapped by the dishwashing soap, forming fizzy bubbles.
To remove the limescale, it is recommended to pore a half cup of lemon salt or Sano Anti Kals specifically designated for washing machines into the washing powder compartment and to activate the machine on the boiling program without clothes.