Healthcare workers who wash their uniforms at home may be unknowingly contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals, according to a new study led by Katie Laird of De Montfort University, published April 30, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One.
Healthcare workers who wash their uniforms at home may be unknowingly contributing to the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals, according to a new study led by Katie Laird of De Montfort University, published April 30, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One.
This entire thread is about using chemicals like Vanish, percarbonate or Lizol to kill/remove biofilms that form in washing machines. Biofilms developing inside the machine and left untreated is the leading cause for drum support failure in a front loader.
So these biofilms are not good to have in the machine and is it's good to do regular maintenance.
Your article raises a valid point but didn't offer a solution.
One way is to use laundry sanitiser. But it's needed for each load and entails a cost.
In hospitals, scrubs are usually autoclaved where temperature can reach upto 150°C which is enough to disinfect them.
Washing machines on a hot wash might not be enough. You would need to do boil washes.
But @blr_pThis is causing shrinking. You see this used to be a 1000ml bottle, but now the variant option has shirked down to 890ml only. ( Though the title still states 1000ml )
Jokes aside, can we please create a new summary of this thread. One for Top Loaders and another for Front Loaders.
Well, the first post is for front loaders and toploaders are covered in a post on the second page.
I've since proposed Lizol with citric acid as a 2 in one an alternative for Vanish. Dosage you can find by searching the thread for either top or front loaders
Foams more than dishwasher tablets. Which is expected as the percarbonate releases oxygen. Also on LG'S tub clean there is 15 litres of water sloshing around whipping up the lather.
This is acceptable so long as foam is no higher than the half way in the drum
^that's what it looks like half an hour into the Tub clean program on LG.
30gms of Labogens percarbonate + 10gm of Surf powder with no mops or other fabric on LG's Tub clean
Twenty minutes later the foam is much higher. This will have to be used with some mops or fabric to control the foam. Not acceptable otherwise.
Looking at percarb dosages to use for cleaning. I found some recommendations for cleaning beer brewing equipment. Exactly the same kind of organic gunk that needs to be removed.
^Posts like these are only good to confuse people.
Yes, Affresh is owned by Whirlpool and the brands Whirlpool owns recommend using Affresh.
Companies that don't make their own washing machine cleaner recommend hot water which helps but isn't as effective especially if you use fabric softener.
Just because the user manual doesn't say to use a cleaning product doesn't mean you should not use one. It will always be more effective to do so provided it actually works for the purpose
To my surprise the last packet of Vanish I used foamed like crazy using the directions from the first post even with the mops I added to control the foam. I wonder what changed.
So now need to find an anti-foaming agent to add.
Asked chatGPT and it came up with some interesting suggestions.
Best Antifoaming Options for Washing Machine Cleaning:
1. Silicone-Based Antifoam (Most Effective)
Reduces foam instantly.
Very stable across a range of temperatures and pH levels.
Help break foam but may not be as fast-acting as silicone.
3. Mineral Oil-Based Antifoam
Less common in household cleaners but still effective.
Can leave residue, so usually used in industrial settings.
4. DIY Alternative (Quick Fix)
A few drops of cooking oil can kill foam in a pinch.
Works by breaking surface tension.
Not ideal long-term—can leave greasy residue or interfere with cleaning.
What Not to Use:
Borax, as we mentioned, won’t help much with foam and could cause buildup if overused.
Vinegar or baking soda—good cleaners, but not defoamers.
Recommendation:
If you're making or choosing a washing machine cleaner, look for a product with a silicone-based antifoaming agent (often labeled as "dimethicone" or "simethicone"). Or, if you're DIY-ing, keep foam under control with small amounts of a silicone defoamer made for cleaning products.
Only the first is suitable. And it recommends using a defoamer used with cleaning products.
Where to find a silicone anti foaming agent. I would need to look for other products that had this defoamer either dimethicone or simethicone.
Then chatgpt asks whether I want a cleaning recipe that includes this silicone based antifoamer?
Why not
Awesome! Here’s a DIY washing machine cleaner recipe that includes a safe and effective antifoaming option:
---
DIY Washing Machine Cleaner with Antifoam
Ingredients:
1 cup baking soda – cleans, deodorizes, and softens water
1 cup white vinegar – breaks down grime, scale, and kills odors
5–10 drops tea tree oil or eucalyptus oil (optional) – for antimicrobial power and scent
2–3 drops of silicone-based antifoam (dimethicone or simethicone, optional but effective)
You can use baby gas drops (like Mylicon or similar) if they list simethicone as the active ingredient
Baby gas drops eh. Mylicon isn't available but the Indian equivalent is Colicaid
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Says it's got simethicone. Its cheap and available from any pharmacy. Perfect.
Comes with a dropper. Put one dropers worth of Colicaid into the drum. Like through the holes of the steel drum. Added the fabric and Vanish to the drawer and fired her up.
After twenty minutes on tub clean its generally choking with foam but this time it wasn't. So the simethicone in the baby drops worked
Foam was a little over halfway which I still find is too much. Next attempt will be with two droppers full of these baby drops. So around 10 drops. Doesn't take a lot of silicone to reduce foam.
Now nobody can complain about this anti foaming agent since it's intended for internal consumption by babies
Another non targeted product in the mix. Yay.
Amazed. Never would have figured this out on my own. Good stuff chatGPT.
PS this is only for front loaders as percarbonate alone (without an activator like TAED that is in Vanish) will not activate below 50C which is close to the max any top loader can handle. This is why I don't like top loaders as they are harder to clean.
This time tried with two droppers worth of baby drops. Instead of adding to the drum I added the drops on top of the 30gm of Vanish powder in the drawer.
Added the mops and was quite amazed with the result. Foam was well controlled thanks to the Simethicone.
With all the above cleaners ., I want to know something . Do these cleaners react with the seals at the back of the drum ? The drum is held by a steel spindle which has aluminium hands for fixing the drum . Most of the cases the washing machine goes for a toss because the aluminium gets eaten or its mechanical properties change due to the detergents , cleaners and they break after a few years . Are the cleaning solutions safe ?
With regard to pathogens and germs , there is more in the air than on the clothes . So I am not convinced about the dettols and savlons usage .
Seals at the back of the drum are hard rubber. Neither Vanish, Lizol or citric acid will affect them or any other seals in the machine.
Vinegar isn't good for seals and should be replaced with citric acid for long term use.
As pointed out in the first page, what is not good for those seals is too much foam especially when it rises above the halfway mark or fills the entire machine. Only then is detergent or cleaner deposits on the seal not good for longevity. Because you don't get much water passing through there. Otherwise there wouldn't be a problem. But with these energy efficient ratings, the trend is to use less and less water to get the wash done. So water never reaches the half way mark or higher. That's when the seals will be affected.
The drum is held by a steel spindle which has aluminium hands for fixing the drum . Most of the cases the washing machine goes for a toss because the aluminium gets eaten or its mechanical properties change due to the detergents , cleaners and they break after a few years .
Cleaners and detergents don't cause the problem. But cheap detergents will provide a rough surface for the fungus to attach itself. So you want to avoid cheap detergents.
The whole point of the cleaners like Vanish or Lizol is they remove any fungal buildup that occurs naturally. It's this buildup that will in the case of front loaders weaken the drum support over time. Average is about 7 years for people who don't do regular maintenance.
People don't do regular maintenance because they are ignorant or otherwise it can become expensive using the official targeted stuff. So I've come up with non targeted products that are more affordable and can be used frequently as is required. Think every 2-3 months instead of half a year or once a year. The buildup is slow and if not attended to in time will require several cleaning attempts as mentioned in the first post. Well, if you're using targeted products the price is going to go up and likely you stop before you should after throwing your hands up.
I think so. Oxygen bleach is commonly found in commercial cleaners. As is citric acid in descalers.
Lizol is to disinfect the machine and go after fungus. It doesn’t descale or otherwise clean. You can also use water purification tablets linked earlier for the same purpose.
Easy to prove this because the odour in the clothes will be gone. To test it just smell any towel after it has been washed. If you notice a funny odour it's because bacteria inside doesn't get killed in regular washing with detergent. But after you use a laundry sanitiser like the above the smells should be gone. Very helpful especially if you do not wash above warm which is 40C.
Something else that compounds the odour problem is fabric softener. This is adding a layer of grease to your clothes that traps bacteria. So what do people do? Use more fabric conditioner to mask the inherent smell. When instead they should use a sanitiser to get rid of the smell and STOP using fabric conditioner !! It can take upto seven washes to remove any fabric conditioner residue that is on clothes after you stop using it.
Where the misunderstanding comes is you cannot have germ free laundry all the time. There will be microbes in the laundry but the only ones you care about are the odour causing type. You don't have to use a laundry sanitiser for every wash only when needed.
Or during the pandemic they were trying to push these products to disinfect clothes. Not needed as detergent alone or even soap was enough to weaken the corona virus. Regular detergent was good enough to deal with corona virus.
Can we do dry cleaning in a normal machine ? I tried reading up on dry cleaning but I could not really understand and it was over my head . I have a lot of whites to clean and I felt dry cleaning is way much better than these detergent washing machines . A dry clean machine also costs 4-5 lakhs .
The whites fade over a few cycles on a normal detergent washing machines . The stains on a white shirt or pant do not go away completely , especially if it is a cotton blended fabric . I hate paying Rs.100 for dry cleaning job which I believe is too much . I did rather get it done at home .
Have used Henko , Ariel solid as well as liquid ones . Mostly for cotton I was at 60 C . I use a Midea one . Most of the Midea ones are white labelled . Model is with heater , no steam though . It is hardly a year . I have had Midea for over 10 years now .
Every few weeks I do the normal clean .. at 90 C .
Most people who use white shirts especially the stiff minister white ones get it dry cleaned . So the problem is not limited to mine .
