How to clean and maintain your front load washing machine
Let’s talk about cleaning your front load washing machine. The poll results on this were not surprising at all to me! Maintaining our appliances regularly will not only give us better performance, it will also extend the life of the appliance itself. Drop me a comment on which one of these you ignore the most!
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WHAT AREAS TO CLEAN IN A FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE?
There are 6 key areas we need to clean in the front load washing machine.
The lint trap / filter,
The gasket,
The washing drum,
The detergent container,
The inlet pipe and
The exterior.
HOW TO CLEAN LINT TRAP IN A FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE?
The first is the lint trap has to be cleared out atleast once a month - more frequently if you wash more frequently. Just remove the lint trap, let the water drain, remove the lint, wash and scrub it with normal dish soap / vinegar. Ofcourse you can use a the pipe provided to be gentle about the water, but I took the easy way out. If there are any buttons or coins that were collected, remove those as well from the trap.
HOW TO CLEAN RUBBER GASKET IN A FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE?
The second is the gasket - if not maintained right, you can start having mould / fungus under the gasket and it is also an area where lint gets stored.
If you just have lint, pour some water in the gasket to ease out the lint, take a wet cloth and remove the lint.
If you have mould (or fungus) - place a few tissues and use a cleaning spray like Mr. Muscle or use equal parts dish soap & vinegar and leave it there for a few minutes. After that take a cloth and wipe it clean.
If mould is tough, you may need to repeat this for a few times or call a professional to clean it out. To prevent mould - leave the door open for about ½ - 1 hour after wash to dry out the inside of the washing machine.
Since I clean it regularly and my machine is fairly new (about 3-4 months now), it does not have fungus, yet.
This is something you may need to do on a more frequent basis - atleast once a week or once in 2 weeks depending on how often you wash - as I have seen that after every wash, some amount of lint gets stored in the gasket.
HOW TO WASHING MACHINE DRUM / TUB IN A FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE?
The third is the inside of the drum. If you leave the drum wet - over time, you can have mould or fungus on top of the drum. A general best practice is after washing, leave the door open for a minimum of ½ hour. If you are using a washer-dryer - it will be dry after your cycle anyway, so this may not be absolutely necessary but a good to pursue practice. Add 2 cups vinegar directly into the tub, approximately 30 grams of baking soda and some water in the detergent tray and run the hottest cycle available or the tub clean cycle. The vinegar and baking soda do a great job of removing smells, any deposits and mould/fungus from the inside of the washing machine.
HOW TO DETERGENT CONTAINER IN A FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE?
The fourth is the detergent container. If you use detergent, it sometimes does not dissolve completely and leaves a residue. You can also have water stains or salt deposits in this container. To clean this - remove the container and use regular dish soap or 2 parts vinegar with 1 part water to wash it. Use a brush if required to get to the delicate areas. You may also need to clean the inside of the detergent container as it could have detergent or salt water deposits there too.
HOW TO THE INLET PIPE IN A FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE?
The fifth is the inlet pipe - now this can be done once in 6 months or so. If you have hard water or water is not too clean - you may have deposits on the inside of the inlet pipe filter. You need to clean this out to make sure the flow of water to your washing machine is not hampered.
HOW TO THE EXTERIOR OF A FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE?
The last is the exterior - depending on how dirty it is - you can just use a wet cloth only or use a cleaning spray or equal parts vinegar and water to clean the exterior.
BASIC MAINTENANCE OF A FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE?
The last two things I’d like to mention that you need to do on a frequent basis:
If you stay in an area with hard water - make sure to descale your washing machine once a quarter atleast. Use a descaler like this Bosch one that I use and run a wash cycle. This helps to remove the salt deposits from the inside of the washing machine and also the outlet pipe. Yes if you use vinegar frequently - it serves a similar purpose.
If your machine has an auto clean functionality - then you can run it as per your machine’s instructions. Mine is a samsung washer dryer - and needs to be run every 40 washes. It gives an indicator when it needs to be done.
HOW OFTEN TO CLEAN A FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE?
So what’s the frequency of cleaning? It depends on how often you use your washing machine. I try to do it atleast once a month - but if I see it getting dirty, it may be more often. An important tip I learnt recently - leave your washing machine door and detergent tray open for a while after cleaning - and if possible all the time to prevent bacteria and mould deposits.
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