If you're like me, you hardly ever think about cleaning the appliances that are responsible for cleaning other things. I mean, a washing machine sounds like it would be self-cleaning, right? But think about it; You clean yourself in the tub, but you still have to wash the tub itself otherwise you get a big, dirty ring around the top. Same goes for your washer. I found this super easy technique here and it makes the whole thing seem so much less daunting. I try to clean my washer every couple months, especially with the hard water build-up we deal with here in Utah.
I hope you can see in the pictures how gross my washer was cause it was pretty bad. That ring around the top of the drum in the right picture was just disgusting.
I set my washer for the hottest water, longest cycle, and biggest load size. I even added water I'd brought to a boil on the stove to get it super hot. Then I added a quart of bleach, let it agitate for a minute, and let it sit for about an hour. After that, I let let it run through the rest of the cycle.
After the bleach cycle, I immediately started my washer again on the same settings, adding some more hot water from my stove. I then added a quart of white distilled vinegar and, after letting it agitate for a minute, let it sit for an hour again before letting it run through the cycle.
While I waited for the vinegar to finish soaking, I did a little bit of scrubbing. Seriously, though, a very minimal amount of scrubbing. There were a couple places that the water didn't quite reach so I grabbed my scrub brush, dipped it in the vinegar water and went to town around the top of the drum and that thing in the middle (does anyone know what that's called?) Then I grabbed a rag and did a little bit of detailing around the nooks and crannies and outside the machine.
Here is the after shot. It looks so shiny and white and new!
And here are the pictures next to each other so you can hopefully see the difference. I know I can!
What appliance do you have that you thought should be self-cleaning but isn't quite hitting the mark? How do you get it clean?
I used this method on a dirty, dirty used washer that I assumed was stained permanently from hard water. It was not. I used a brush on it and didn't wait an hour. I didn't use the vinegar soak either. I used a micro fiber towel and wiped the oily residue off the drum. It looks brand new! Thank you for sharing this. I didn't know you should wash your machine once a year either. I will from now on though.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had such success! Thanks for sharing your experience.
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