Comment by lathiat | Hacker News Reader

Comment by lathiat | Hacker News Reader

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While you obviously don't want to leave washing wet for many hours all the time, if they are getting stinky within a few hours you likely have notable bacteria and scud build up in your machine that could be resolved. That has been my experience. Do you do a semi-regular hot cleaning cycle? (My washer has one built in and prompts you to run it every 40 cycles) but you can just do a hot, empty load as a substitute. Possibly ideally with some washing machine cleaner though I don't use that often. There is also the option of pulling it apart for a deep clean.

It doesn't work with every laundry layout (luckily does for me) but I have found leaving the door open so it can dry out is very helpful to prevent mould built up on the doors etc at least. Not sure how much it effects the bacteria/scud/etc - could even make scud worse to some degree since deposits dry out I guess.

Another tip that I only recently learnt is that you can dry washing with a dehumifier at a rate not that much slower than a clothes dryer (6-ish hours). Also at a rate cheaper or comparable to a heat pump dryer. That may be a good option for your staged washing if you're happy to hang the clothes out.

On my washer at least the hour cycle does a pretty good job of things though in theory you're supposed to only wash like 3-4KG instead of 8-11 like in the 2-3 hour cycles.

Two things I am reasonably sure matter but have not looked into the research and need to get around to doing is: - I have to wonder about the impact of long washing loads on clothes longevity and wearing out of the fabric, especially with fuller loads.. that's a lot of rubbing. - The washing powder I currently like the most definitely gets caught and leaves residue.. in particular it builds up -inside- the detergent drawer and becomes so glued on even a pressure washer and screwdriver takes a lot of effort to get it off (clearly needs CLR or some such). I am sure some detergents are much better at not building up SCUD compared to others but this seems to be a not well discussed/reviewed fact.

Thanks for your kind and detailed reply!

I didn’t really mean “immediately” so much as “you can’t leave it overnight then possibly forget about it the next morning,” but yeah, it seems to depend on the weather and other things (more on that below). Hasn’t happened in a while. The washing machine is clean, I scrub out the mold in the detergent tray regularly and have always left the door open. I used to run the cleaning cycle from time to time but don’t think it is necessary since I do whites with plenty bleach at scalding hot temps often enough. It happened with our old top loader, too. More than anything though, you can smell a moldy washer and ours doesn’t smell and a freshly washed load normally doesn’t either.

It seems to be the Lake Michigan water we are hooked up to responsible for the stinky occasions. I read up about this a few years ago and they actually monitor for the levels of the molecule (I don’t think it was bacteria?) that gives wet clothes their stink since it is rampant in the Great Lakes and they are constantly adjusting because it’s expensive to counteract more than they feel they need to. My guess is that they got their act together in recent years. Another point in this direction is that it happens some summers to towels used after a shower while they’re hanging to dry. I’m pretty sure it’s just the water.

Oh, and in answer to your question, we definitely noticed the euro-style front-loader was harder on the clothes than the old American top-loader – though it also did get more stains out. But yes, we too fill it up properly to capacity to avoid the waste of running it empty or mostly so - and I guess the increased friction would contribute.

I found the link I had archived three years ago (when I mentioned researching this some years back): a Chicago Tribune article from 1994 [0]! There are lots of other search results that discuss the byproducts of various algal blooms contributing to a particular stink in Lake Michigan water, some mention the active carbon filtration and another [1], the use of ozone to neutralize the responsible compounds, but only the 1994 article actually names the responsible compounds: geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB). (I remembered geosmin – the sometimes nice, sometimes not, smell of the earth after a rain – while writing my reply yesterday but could not recall the second compound for the life of me and I knew/know geosmin wasn’t solely responsible for the smell on its own.)

[0]: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-11-20-941120... archived at https://archive.ph/qV723#

[1]: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-06-25-990625... just archived at https://archive.ph/wip/ybQ9N

—-

There’s also this 53-page survey of contributors to taste and smell in water supplies from the Illinois State Water Survey out of UIUC that I would love to get around to reading (or at least skimming through): https://www.isws.illinois.edu/pubdoc/C/ISWSC-127.pdf

Another drying option is hybrid-mode.

Drip-dry (usually whilst completing other loads) on a drying rack. This often removes most moisture.

If still damp, put the laundry in the dryer for a quick cycle.

This maximises the efficiencies of each mode: drip-drying tends to quickly shed the initial bulk water through, er, dripping. A warm-air dryer is relatively ineffective when laundry is dripping wet, but is quite good at removing final traces of moisture.

If you have time, a fan blowing over a drying rack will also speed drying.

Outdoor lines can be quite effective especially in hot, dry climates. Less so in rain or fog.

> A warm-air dryer is relatively ineffective when laundry is dripping wet, but is quite good at removing final traces of moisture.

I thought that’s what the centrifugal action was for (even with no heat involved); basically emulating gravity to get the clothes to “drip” outward into the perforations. I imagine it achieves greater than 1g making it actually more effective than traditional drip drying?

High-speed spin is a feature of top-load, or even more so, front-load washing machines. The latter will spin at 900--1200 RPM, and the resulting laundry is best described as "damp" rather than the "wet" of a top-loader, which typically spins at about 800 RPM.

<https://www.hunker.com/12003102/how-fast-does-a-washing-mach...>

The tumbling motion of a hot-air dryer is more to circulate the laundry and expose it to airflow than to generate centrifugal drying.

Note that airflow alone will dry clothes (though more slowly), and that leaving your dryer on a low-heat setting is not that much slower, whilst it tends to be far less harsh on fabrics. Much of laundry wear occurs in the dryer rather than the washing machine.

Related:

From an Appliance repair/reseller "Bens Appliances and Junk" "Clean a Washing Machine Inside: How to Remove Mold, Soap Scum and More with a CHEAP Organic Cleaner" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOXM81Zk_As

"How The Insides Of Washing Machines Are Deep Cleaned | Deep Cleaned | Insider" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I45FqVN-PjE

> Possibly ideally with some washing machine cleaner though I don't use that often.

For the record, those cleaners are usually pure sodium percarbonate (commercially sold as Oxiclean/Napisan). When combined with a hot cyle (60 degrees Celsius or higher) it does a good job sterilising your washing machine.

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