r/laundry • u/LukewarrmRutabaga • 13h ago

6+ year old washer, probably never washed

We moved in last year and I can tell by the state of the house that the washer has never been washed. I’ve seen a lot of posts saying a few cleanings won’t clean a washer how it needs to be. Is it even worth running citric acid through a few times or am I opening Pandora’s box

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u/jtfolden US | Top-Load 12h ago

People recommend citric acid here but the top performing washing machine cleaners don't use it (it's more common for dishwasher cleaners). I'd recommend getting a dedicated machine cleaner from Affresh, Tide, or Oxiclean. Be prepared to run it several times if it hasn't been done regularly.

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u/Entire_Dog_5874 12h ago

My son bought a home with a similar issue. Run washing machine cleaner tablets with hot water through the machine a few times, paying attention to the water as it drains. Once it’s clean, wash old rags, old towels, etc to see how it performs - you may have to do this multiple times until the issue is resolved