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smelly laundry

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shivvy | 19:02 Fri 06th Oct 2006 | Science
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when I do the laundry the dark coloured clothes seem to develop/retain a bad smell however the light colours are fine.
Can you think of any reason for this?
Could it be something to do with the type of water going through the machine? (I didn't notice the smell in my previous house)
Or could dye in the clothes be having an impact? My theory being that there is prob more dye in dark clothes as opposed to light ones.
Any thoughts would be very welcome.
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I think you may possibly have hit on something with your theory that there may be more dye in dark clothes than light clothes.
Whether this causes the 'smell', I'm not so sure.

Do you use different cycles, for example, the one marked " 2 - (whites) - 85�C" and the one marked "5 - (coloureds) - 30�C" by any chance?
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I generally wash the darks at 40.
I wash the whites at either 40 or 60.
Do you think the temp is significant and if so, any ideas how to solve the problem?
-- answer removed --
Question Author
I use fabric softener in both washes.
This is most likly caused by the bacterias in your wash the hotter the wash the less remaining bacteria. Especially if your dark wash also contains things like socks and pants!! It might also have something to do with the different types of fabric it probably isn't all your dark cloths which smell just the heavier ones, again due to their ability to hold on to oders! Although bio products are better than non-bio IMHO non-bio do get rid of smells better. I still use bio products better for the skin and enviornment, however sometimes have to double rinse and line dry this helps. Also unloading the wash as soon as finished prevents to remaining bacteria from increasing!
i only wash my clothes once a week or as required and when i do wash them i send them down to the choggie man who washes them for me with rice and dirty water. they come up a treat. any problems contact me and il send il send yours down the next time i send mine

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