Preventing Front Load Washer Mold

I've decided to take a break from compiling reviews of front load washers to talk about one major trend I've been seeing. There are many people out there whose main complaint with their front load washer is that it develops either a musty smell, or even grows mold around the door gasket.

Luckily the prevention for this front load washer mold issue is quite straight forward. Between each load of wash in your front load washer, simply leave the door open. For the vast majority of people this seems to do solve the issue. What happens is water gets on the seal. Then when you close the door between uses, which for many people might be the better part of a week, mold can then grow on the seal because the water is trapped between the seal and door. By leaving the door open when not in use, you let evaporation run its natural course and dry the water before mold has a chance to take hold. If your laundry room is in a basement, many of which are naturally damp, you may need to take the added step of manually wiping down the door and seal between uses to prevent front load washer mold.

The solution if you already suffer from front load washer mold is somewhat more involved, as first you must get rid of what is already there. When dealing with this issue, it is best to be overly thorough once, but successful, than to try to cut corners and have the issue persist. The first step is to thoroughly clean your door seal, and the surface it seals up against. The best recommendation out there seems to be to use bleach and some sort of soft bristled brush. Next, to ensure that the inside of your washer is clean run an cycle, it can be the quickest one, with bleach. Following this a rinse cycle or two so you get as much bleach out as possible before putting a load of clothes in. Now wipe down the door seal, and anywhere else you might find water pooling again, and let it dry out.

Hopefully I've just helped someone either prevent or fix this issues with front load washer mold.