Smelly towels!

[Katy131]

Why do my cleanly washed and dried towels sometimes smell "oniony"? What is it in the process which might cause this?

[shinkypink19]

I have no idea but the same thing happened to me last week and I couldn' t work it out at all!!!
Will be interested to read answers :-)
xx

[joko]

could be that you leave them in the machine a bit too long after the cycle has finished - they will go musty quite quickly

or
that if you hang them on and airer, you are putting them too near the oven to dry - my mum does this and every time she opens the oven, all the clothes get a blast of food smell which seems to stay on the clothes

or
the drainage of your machine is full of gunk and has gone 'off'

or
the the door seal is full of gunk and has gone 'off'

or if you put things in the dryer while they are still very damp, some elastic in the materials can start to be affected by the heat and smell odd.

[Katy131]

Hi Joko

OK - although they smell oniony, it's not an onion smell from cooking, so it's not the oven/cooker thing. Anyway, if that was the case all my clothes would smell the same.

My washing machine is only a couple of months old and I've had the problem before and after buying it so its probably not something to do with that.

The only thing that rings a bell is leaving them in the washing machine too long sometimes. I do have to own up to doing that - I hate hanging washing! But I would have thought that would give the towels that "wet" smell when they don't dry quick enough. This is a different kind of smell.

Ho hum .... I will try and keep note of when this occurs and what I've done with the relevant washing load.

[what..the?]

I found my clothes smelt all the time esp. bath towels as once used ...re-wet this smell came out of them I think the problems may have been down to:

It is a washer drier, I have found the drier function on all washer driers does not work well however long i have them in to dry.

My fabric softener, I changed from a sainburys own make to Lenor and they smelt better.

Due to the the long drying time, towels and other clothes would be left a long time while other clothes were drying. This made them smell damp.

I have not had the trouble since I have got separate washer and tumble drier as the clothes dry faster and come out completely dry.

[balearic]

get them out of the machine as soon as it stops and hang them in the fresh air or infront of an open window, trust me they wont smell then