How to clean the inside of a washing machine and keep it that way

TEUser2K1 said:
@blr_p May be interested in this:
www.eurekalert.org

Home washing machines fail to remove important pathogens from textiles

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.
www.eurekalert.org
Click to expand...
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.
 
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blr_p said:
Of interest is the dosage Savlon & Dettol recommend. Savlon says to use 80ml (or two caps full) per laundry load in the last rinse which is around....
Click to expand...


But @blr_p This 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
 
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TEUser2K1 said:
Don't washing powder used specifically for front loading loading machines help in this situation as those tends to be non-foaming.
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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

30gm percarb 10gm Surf powder No mops Tub Clean.jpg
^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

20250517_40 min later 30gm percarb 10gm Surf.jpg

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.

1) https://angliancraftbrewers.org.uk/...rcarbonate-to-clean-your-home-brew-equipment/

They say to use 1TBS (15gm) per gallon (UK gallons are 4.5 litres or a litre more than US gallons).

That would make for about 50gm of percarb for 15 litres used in Tubclean.

2) Now a seller of percarb recommends more.

1 tsp (5gms) per litre.

For an example we have been using just a tablespoon full to three litres of hot water in a soiled AEB keg with sparkling results!

No doubt. That means
75gm percarb for LG's tubclean that uses 15 litres water
25gm percarb on any wash program that uses 5 litres water.

Hmm, looks like I need to at least double my dosage of percarb when using with LG's tubclean cycle.


Demo using percarb vs Oxiclean (Vanish equivalent)

The percarb at 5gm/litre cleans quite fast. He uses double that to clean some more dirty items.

Oxiclean or Vanish will do the job too but takes longer as it's only a third as concentrated as plain percarb
 
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