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

[lockhrt999]

Another thing is the disc appears white here but the pic he posted later is grey. Could just be the lighting.

Like I said, it's the scaling that makes it look grey. And the white cracks are not cracks but the original white plastic under the grey scaling.

It makes ZERO sense to use a different plastic for the impeller and that disc which for all purposes looks identical to me.

There are aftermarket manufacturers of the impellers. Maybe samsung sourced from them? That could be a case.

Or maybe impeller doesn't get any scaling as it rotates at a high speed. The friction between water and impeller descales it.

 

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Maybe it's designed not to be kept for long hours.

Why don't you run it a second time and tell us what happens? same procedure

Like I said, it's the scaling that makes it look grey. And the white cracks are not cracks but the original white plastic under the grey scaling.

I think it's just wear and tear. The white cracks are only seen on the raised parts which means they got abraded.

But the lower areas of that disc show no damage at all. If it was ABS then the whole disc would have shown damage and not just the raised parts.

I doubt the citric acid in that descaler has done any damage here at all. Not after just one application.

I used only one packet for each cycle.
my machine needed 4 cycles to remove every bit of scales/gunk etc.

If your machine has not been cleaned for many years or scale buildup is heavy, you can use 2 packets per cycle.

Use with warm water, it increases the efficiency.

Since you have used a similar descaler that too four times in a row can you examine the disc around your impeller and see if there is any damage like in post #127?

Mention also how old your machine is, its brand and model#

 

[gokul.ece22]

Since you have used a similar descaler that too four times in a row can you examine the disc around your impeller and see if there is any damage like in post #127?

Mention also how old your machine is, its brand and model#

There is no damages in my machine after using the descaler.
Mine is LG 6.5 kg top load machine. Nearly 8 years old. Still going strong.

No service or repair work done so far.

 

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There are aftermarket manufacturers of the impellers. Maybe samsung sourced from them? That could be a case.

In theory this is possible.

Let's settle this once and for all and the way to do it is simple.

All @6pack has to do is get a medium size screwdriver and then tap the impeller with the handle. Note the sound it makes. Then do the same with that disc and see if the pitch is the same or higher.

How about it @6pack? simple non-destructive method to tell if the plastic used is different or not?

 

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Won't using citric acid damage the rubber gasket?

Cleaning the washing machine

Citric acid to clean washing machine.

www.bosch-home.com

Ah, so when you can pay Rs.700 and get six times as much they will only sell you 250gm of this which you are supposed to use in one go. Am I right?

Why don't I see similar warnings from other manufacturers or is this only a Bosch problem? Others don't have a product to sell.

Same reason IFB recommends liquids for their machines and then you realise they don't sell powder detergent only liquid detergent.

With your 600ppm water, you need to descale once a month. No way is their descaler going to be affordable. People end up running it once a year. So scale builds up, it turns into a cement and that can be hard to remove later, at least not without using larger amounts of descaler per session than normal.

The magic number is 00311921, plug that into website of the company they outsourced this from and see attached for what the ingredients are. Having seen other descalers ingredients you can presume Bosch's own descaler is 90% citric acid with the remainder maleic and a pinch of the last one.

Seven years in my gasket looks brand new and there are no leaks in the machine. I don't know if that would have been the case if I had used vinegar instead of citric acid.

Something else citric acid is suitable for. Cleaning Toilet commodes. Western type. Put 50gms in stir the water so it dissolves and leave for a couple of hours. Brush a little after. Cleans well

In fact, pay attention to the rate at which scale builds up in the sinks and around the bathroom and that will give you an indication of what is going on inside your machine.

So how do you manage to use citric acid to clean your machine internals? Do you directly add it into the detergent dispenser, or mix it in hot water and pour it inside the drum, as mentioned by LG?

Just put two scoops of the powder in the drawer. Run tub clean. It dissolves very easily. This way it runs into the machine and cleans out the drawer and pipes.

I'd add half a kilo of some mops as well to swirl the water around the tub.

They say not to put any fabric because during a tub clean cycle, the imbalance sensor is disabled so if the machine goes out of balance it can cause a problem.

Half a kilo or even a kilo isn't enough to send the machine out of balance. More might.

You mean the big scoop which we get with 2kg powder detergent? Won't that be a bit too muc? That too 2x. I am assuming the total quantity would be 120gms.

That's the scoop yes. It isn't much when the water used is 15L so the concentration is under 1%. I'd double it for a top loader full of water.

100gm is standard in the descaler packets sold. It seems like more because you paid for that much but now you can use more for less.

Btw can you post the hardness test of your borewell water? This time of the year I expect its at the hardest

 

[Rockfella]

This gearbox has gone bad, will be replaced for Rs. 1600. Glad I circumvented a 32k front loading unwanted upgrade.

 

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@blr_p It will be 6 months now and I haven't yet done drum clean-up job. It was advised after 30 usages or 6 months whichever earlier and obviously the machine got used more than 60 times!
Which drum cleaning powder to use? LG does has their own.

1) How hard is your water? You need to measure hardness to know the frequency of descaling.

The general rule with descaling of washing machines as well as dishwashers depends on water hardness
For hard water or hardness over 250ppm, descale every month
For medium water or hardness between 150-250ppm, descale every two months
For water hardness under 150ppm descale every three months

I use ppm to indicate the total hardness CaCO3 measured by that aquasol kit and not some TDS number.

2) I've not used LG's Scalgo so you tell me how good it is. What you need to do is measure its acidity. I've shown how to do that with IFB. You just replicate it with LG's version and tell us whether LG's descaler is acidic or not. If it is then you can use it. But if it's not acidic like IFB then you need something else.

To start with I'd do a general clean with 200 gm of Vanish in Hot water. Fill the machine to the top with hot water out of your geezer. Let it the machine run for fifteen minutes. Stop it. Let it sit for an hour. Run it again for a few minutes and see what comes out of the tub. If you see stuff coming out. Let it sit for another hour. Run it again and scoop out any debris. When nothing more is coming out, let the cycle complete and cleaning will be over.

That is not the same as descaling, which depending on your hardness may need to be done after.

 

[SkyWreak]

Just Came across this guide , this is actually amazing I have been cleaning my IFB front Loder with the IFB descal but had the smelling issue , Now will try this method instead .

 

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Just Came across this guide , this is actually amazing I have been cleaning my IFB front Loder with the IFB descal but had the smelling issue , Now will try this method instead .

I don't trust IFB's descaler to even do descaling. See this post

Cannot figure out how IFB's descaler works and concluded it doesn't

@blr_p Do you think its time for a descaling session? Should I just buy citric acid and run? Or buy descaling powder?

How often to descale depends on your hardness. You have to test your water and then use the formula in post #147. Ignore the dosage as that was for a top loader.

For front loader general cleaning see posts #1 & #5 to understand why to do it and how to do it.

The general rule for cleaning is once every 40 washes. If you wash 3-4 times every week then you need to do a Vanish clean once every three months. If you use fabric softener then do it every two months.

I like to do a boil wash with nothing every month with some fabric and no product just to see how the water looks in the machine at the end of the wash cycle. Is it clear, cloudy, foamy? Does that foam break away soon or linger? gives an idea of whether the machine has detergent residue or not.

 

[kuduku]

@blr_p Is the Amazon link you gave earlier for citric Acid good option for the descaler job ? - https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B0192R6I5M?th=1

I have a sideload LG fully automatic

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@blr_p Is the Amazon link you gave earlier for citric Acid good option for the descaler job ? - https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B0192R6I5M?th=1

yes

Use two scoops or 100 gm and about half kilo of fabric in the tub clean cycle.

I have a sideload LG fully automatic

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This model has a heat shield. Dual panes that too outer one is tinted. Not my choice. I prefer a clear view of the inside of the machine.

 

[Kaleen Bhaiya]

Use two scoops or 100 gm and about half kilo of fabric in the tub clean cycle.

Er... Why should fabric be needed when tub cleaning? Shouldn't the drum be empty during tub clean cycle?

 

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Er... Why should fabric be needed when tub cleaning? Shouldn't the drum be empty during tub clean cycle?

You should read posts #1 , #5 and #41 of this thread to get a general idea

Because it swishes the cleaning solution upwards and that will clean the drum better. Take a look at the tub in this post

Notice the deposits are halfway and even higher in the tub as well as behind the drum?

How is that possible when the water level in a front loader is so low? Because during the wash cycle, the drum rotates and whatever dirt is in the clothes sprays all over the tub. So this is to counter it. If there are smells then this is the only effective way without dissembling to have a chance at reducing smell. Without this fabric, the water won't get sprayed very high. This is how I ended with a smell problem in the first place despite being regular with tub cleans and once I did a few cycles the smell was completely gone.

I thought why not also do the same with a descale? You will get scale deposits on the tub too. They will be rough, attracting dirt easier so better if it is not there. Vanish will not remove scale.

The reason they say not to use anything in the tub clean cycle is the imbalance sensor is disabled and if the spin goes out of balance it can damage the machine. But half a kilo or even a kilo but no more isn't enough to make it go out of balance. I've done more than twenty tub cleans since this thread was created and the machine never went out of balance. There are about six items I use so they distribute themselves easily when the machine goes into a spin. The fabric I use is thin and absorbent like mops and small towels. It's not heavy bathmats or anything though I'd imagine two might work. One will not.

Oh, and it's best if the fabric used is clean. Not dirty as the objective here is to clean the machine and use all the product for that purpose. Don't put dirty fabric in there expecting to get a free wash.

 

[Kaleen Bhaiya]

From what I have seen during a tub clean cycle is that the water splashes inside the drum everywhere.

I can't describe the exact situation but it's like putting a baby in water and it is splashing water everywhere. The hedges with its design along the drum does kick the water to great heights while creating a splashing effect. Something I found IFB seems to do better than my other LG machine.

This is just my observation. It may vary from machine to machine. Hence my question.

I understand you are trying to create the "splash effect" with water reaching at greater heights with some load in the drum.

 

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From what I have seen during a tub clean cycle is that the water splashes inside the drum everywhere.

I can't describe the exact situation but it's like putting a baby in water and it is splashing water everywhere. The hedges with its design along the drum does kick the water to great heights while creating a splashing effect. Something I found IFB seems to do better than my other LG machine.

Right, this is what I want to see. Can you post a short clip of your tub clean in this thread as I have here?

Want to see the water level IFB chooses for their tub clean cycle also its movements

Use a torch or bright light when you video so the water level inside is visible.

This is just my observation. It may vary from machine to machine. Hence my question.

I understand you are trying to create the "splash effect" with water reaching at greater heights with some load in the drum.

Not splash, that will happen anyway. But there are times when the drum rotates a few times and the fabric is on the walls spraying out water.

This happens more in a regular wash cycle though which can also be used for drum cleaning on a boil setting.

 

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Thought I'd flag this video because of the number of mistakes in it

1) The quantity of either ingredient used is too little to be of any use.

2) He makes the classic mistake of mixing bicarb and vinegar together. Why is this a mistake? because bicarb is alkali and vinegar is acid. They are natural enemies and will annihilate each other if mixed. So while they are fighting WHO is doing the cleaning? NO ONE

So now the war has begun the machine foams up thoroughly. See on page 1 what I said about this disaster and why you must avoid this at all costs. Further reason I advocate to AVOID tinted glass window as you won't even see it otherwise



But he mistakenly thinks this is deep cleaning

The machine goes into suds lock because it is now getting choked and the pump must work overtime to empty the foam. If this happens regularly it will lead to premature failure of your drain pump.

So not only has he neutered his cleaning agents now he is putting unnecessary strain on his machine.

The only positive I got from this video is I discovered a cheap source of bicarbonate

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A kilo for under Rs.100? Wonder how pure it is.

 

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Just Came across this guide , this is actually amazing I have been cleaning my IFB front Loder with the IFB descal but had the smelling issue , Now will try this method instead .

Any feedback? what you did and results

 

[blr_p]

So after 6 months for the first time I performed drum descaling on my LG TL using Samsungs Afresh descaling powder.

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No ingredients are mentioned on the box. See the dodgy things about this product which might cause one to question its quality

- This company has copied the Affresh brand name and removed one f calling themselves 'Afresh Products'
- And they have a Samsung logo on the box which I wonder why Samsung has not sued them for.
- Affresh is made by Whirlpool, not Samsung.
- The machine on the box isn't even a Samsung but actually an LG model with the Samsung brand copy pasted. Samsung AFAIK never sold direct drive machines in India.
- Finally, Affresh as in the original product, see attached, is not a descaler. It's the product I set out to find an affordable alternative for and ended up with Vanish.

The instructions on the box are fine for the purpose of descaling. The point is whether this product does the job it claims. And the only way to know that is to test its pH.

I have not tried this one before. If it's acidic then it will work for the purpose of descaling. It would have been good if you tested for that with the pH indicator. This is the kind of info that tells people whether this product is legit despite the above-mentioned fakery.

You could still try if you have more packets and have the peace of mind that the product works.

Machine took 1hr45min (std time) and the end result: No dirty/silt/greasy type water got drained out but only clear water.

The thing with descaling is the lack of visual feedback unless you can see the scale through the holes in the basket. Hence the need to know the product will do what it claims to.

Six months old the machine is still relatively clean. Do a maintenance wash every three months instead of six and it will remain that way.

Next time try Vanish. You could try it straight away and see if there is any difference. No need to wait. May be you will see some detergent residue come off like others mentioned that this product could not remove.

No odor or any bad smell after cleaning but it smells as if its a brand new machine and it was her first washing job!

You don't mention whether you used hot water. 50 degrees at least out of the geezer. I would not go more than 60 degrees in your TL.

Hot water is required to get a proper job done in a top loader that cannot heat water by itself.

Smelling fine when there was no smell, to begin with, does not mean much.

If you try Vanish your drum will gleam like it was straight off the factory floor. But to know it did the cleaning you need to use enough of it and not cheap out otherwise no point.

 

[nRiTeCh]

You don't mention whether you used hot water. 50 degrees at least out of the geezer. I would not go more than 60 degrees in your TL.

Hot water is required to get a proper job done in a top loader that cannot heat water by itself.

Smelling fine when there was no smell, to begin with, does not mean much.

If you try Vanish your drum will gleam like it was straight off the factory floor. But to know it did the cleaning you need to use enough of it and not cheap out otherwise no point.

I consulted 2 LG service personals and they didn't mentioned to use hot water as its only required for FL even when I asked if I can use it.
It was a straight forward simple method, pour the powder in detergent tray, select Tub clean function and rest is automated procedure.

I also referred to few YT videos for LG and procedure was the same.

He even suggested for LG scalgo powder but actually any descaler will work and when I mentioned Afresh he said thats the most common one used and will be fine too.

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Next time will try LGs own descaler and see.

 

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I consulted 2 LG service personals and they didn't mentioned to use hot water as its only required for FL even when I asked if I can use it.

Does that answer make sense? Why only for FL's Do TL's not get dirty? A FL can heat water and does so in the Tub clean cycle. A TL cannot and needs assistance. This bit of extra info those two guys you spoke to did not know

I posted a video from Japan where you can see with your own damn eyes. I consider that the best video ever made on the subject considering the effort taken in rebuilding the machine three times just to show what works.

Hot water cleans better. Just take that as a general rule. And keep in mind the temperatures. If you have a food thermometer use it.

To its credit, your bogus product mentioned using hot water in the instructions.

I also referred to few YT videos for LG and procedure was the same.

heh, the knowledge of people in these videos on the topic is no better if actually worse. This is what happens when you do not know what the ingredients are. There is total and complete ignorance as to what to do and how to do it.

He even suggested for LG scalgo powder but actually any descaler will work and

Any descaler that is acidic will work. But we don't know if these products are acidic. To my surprise, IFB's is not. A simple pH indicator test is enough to verify that.

when I mentioned Afresh he said thats the most common one used and will be fine too.

Affresh is not a descaler. It's cleaner. A well-known one that is unaffordable in India these days. Hence I came up with an alternative that will do the job.

LG ScaLGo - The Antiscalant Powder (Scale Remover) For Washing Machines | LG India

Improve the performance and life span of your washing machine with all new LG ScaLGo, the powerful scale remover that removes unwanted scales from your washing machine in order to give it more life.

www.lg.com

Next time will try LGs own descaler and see.

I want a pH test of whatever descaler product you use.

I'm surprised you did not try Vanish as directed and instead go searching for other products that might not do as good a job.

The packet contains 100gm. When you fill your TL to the brim as I recommend there is 60L of water in there.

What is the concentration when dissolved? 0.15% How much do you think that can descale

In a FL without using tub clean but a regular hot cycle. There is 5L of water.

What is the concentration when dissolved? 2%

So concentration is 13x times more. Will it descale better? Yeah, it will. That too with hot water.

With tub clean and 15L, the concentration will be a third at 0.6%.


another example, is I descaled a pressure cooker. Capacity is 6L and had food stuck to it over the years that it was affecting the heating

Since it was aluminium couldn't use Vanish and instead used citric acid.

Filled it to the brim, and brought it to a boil. Put 50gm of citric acid in it. Let it sit for two hours. No scrubbing. And the pot was completely clean after, all the residue came right off and collected at the bottom. It now reaches whistle in much less time. In fact, any time you get food stuck to a pot because it was on the stove too long, use citric acid and it will remove everything with no work.

Citric acid definitely works to descale. I'd use 250gm of it in a TL filled to the brim with hot water. Every three months.