How-to: Deep Clean a Top-Loading Washing Machine

If you are anything like me you are still learning how to be an adult. At 30 years old I still don’t know everything that I probably should. I certainly know a lot (I can fix cars, motorcycles, I have built a house from the ground up, I was a cable television and internet installer, and dozens of other things) but not everything. As the saying goes, I am a jack of all trades but master of none.

One thing that I never even considered was our washing machine. We were given a washer and dryer by my mother-in-law a few years ago. When we finally got the washer to our house in Maryland we found out that the drum had cracked in the move after I had hooked it up and it flooded our laundry room. 

We got another washer for free from a family that was moving away and couldn't take it with them. This one worked great. I never even thought about just how dirty it might be on the inside, especially down where you can't easily see.

When my wife and I found out that we were expecting our second child, about 2 years after we got the new-to-us washing machine, we started looking into more chemical-free, green ways of living. One of those changes included switching to a completely detergent free laundry system! If this sounds absolutely crazy to you, I encourage you to read her review on Smartklean Laundry Ball) 

One of the very first things on the laundry ball's instructions is to clean you washer! Along with dirt, and mold/mildew, even laundry detergent itself leaves behind a residue buildup like you wouldn't imagine. 

After doing a couple days of research I found some very basic cleaning methods for washing machines but I couldn't find anything for our specific machine, nor could I find anything other than “soak, rinse repeat” so I decided to dive in a little deeper. Here is what I found and the process I took to get there:

So it turns out that our washing machine was a disgusting mess. You would be surprised at the nasty stuff that lurks inside your machine as well. 

The first step I took was to do a good soak to help to strip the chemicals and gunk from the machine. 

Set the washer for hot wash on the largest capacity setting. Turn machine on and as it is filling add one cup of bleach. This will help to kill any bacteria hiding deep in the machine. 

I left the lid open so that once it was full it would not continue through the washing cycle.  While that was happened, I cleaned the visible surface area above the rim.  Later, we'll be getting into corners.

Let the machine soak for an hour. Then I closed the lid and allowed the full wash cycle to run.

Once that is complete, you may want to run the machine once with plain hot water to completely rinse out any residual bleach.  At this point, you will be switching to white vinegar, and it isn't a good idea to mix bleach and vinegar.

Once the plain water cycle completes we are going to do another soak to begin stripping the set-in chemical residue from the machine. 

Just as before, set the machine to hot wash on the largest capacity. 

This time, as the machine begins to fill, add 2 cups of distilled white vinegar. 

I noticed almost immediately that the water had a strange color to it. It was a greenish-blue and extremely cloudy. 

The water here on Fort Irwin does have a high chlorine content but not this high.

The vinegar started working almost as soon as it was introduced into the machine. What you are seeing here is the buildup of years’ worth of laundry detergent and whatever other chemicals you may use to keep your whites white and your colors bright. 

You will want to allow this water to sit and soak for at least 2 hours. I actually let mine sit until the water was room temperature. Then, close the lid and allow the washing cycle to complete. 

I was thoroughly amazed at the crap that came out of our washer. It was horrible-- embarrassing even!

Once the wash cycle completes you will want to run another plain water cycle, again on hot and the largest capacity, but don’t add anything to the water. This will ensure a clean rinse. No soak is needed at this point. Once the rinse is complete its time to get down to the really nasty stuff.

Our machine is a Maytag Performa. The following steps may be a little bit different with your machine but should still be mostly the same unless you have a front loader. 

The first thing you will want to do is to clean around the splash catch on the drum. 

On most top loaders the drum will be able to rock from side to side. This helps the machine to balance itself during the spin cycle. Rock the drum to one side and look in the channel around the top of the drum. 

This was especially gross on our machine. 

The picture I took was actually done after it was cleaned because I had forgotten to take it as I was cleaning. 

But it will still give you an idea of what the splash catch will look like.

I used a mixture of vinegar, baking soda, and hot water along with a sponge, dish brush, and q-tips to clean the groove. 

Once this is complete you will want to begin disassembling the agitator. For some readers it may seem like a rather daunting task but it was actually very easy to do. 

The agitator on our machine has a cup in the center for fabric softener. The cup will need to be removed in order to pull the agitator. On our machine, all you need to do is to turn the cup about a ¼ turn and it lifts right out. 

Once the cup is removed you will need to remove the bolt that holds the agitator in place. 

I didn’t have the proper tools on hand but with a little ingenuity was able to come up with something that worked. I used an angle-head socket wrench with a 4” extension to reach the bolt. Again, some of these pictures were taken as I was reassembling the machine because I had forgotten to take them as I was working. It was not even close to this clean as it was coming apart.

My socket wrench was still not quite long enough so I stuck another wrench on the end of the socket wrench to be able to loosen the bolt. 

Once the bolt has been removed the agitator will lift out. It might be a little tough at first if it has never been cleaned as the gunk built up on the drive shaft will work like glue. Just wiggle it back and forth as you pull up and eventually it will come off. The picture below shows just how gross it was underneath the agitator.

Seriously, this is what's going INTO your clothes!

That, folks, is years of built up mold, mildew, chemical detergents and other nasty stuff. Now that the agitator has been pulled out you will want to clean it and the fabric softener cup thoroughly using the same mixture of hot water, vinegar, and baking soda mentioned earlier.

 

Once you’ve finished cleaning the parts of the agitator its time to move on to the drum. 

Again, use the same cleaning solution as before and just scrub the entire drum from top to bottom with the dish brush.

All of that nasty stuff will begin to melt away as you clean. 

Once you have loosened up all the grime use a few paper towels to get that gunk out of there. 

After it has been wiped up close the lid and set the machine to rinse. Let both the rinse and spin cycles run. 

This will get out any grime that you weren’t able to wipe out and then drain the water from the drum. 

You may want to use a damp paper towel after the drum is empty to wipe up any remaining loose dirt. 

Now it’s time to get to the tedious detail work. Use the same cleaning solution and some q-tips to get the tight spaces around the hinges on the lid and such. 

Once you are finished we can put it all back together. 

Begin by replacing the agitator on top of the drive shaft. You may need to twist it back a forth a few times to get the splines on the shaft to line up with the grooves on the agitator. 

Once it has been lined up and seated replace the bolt that we removed earlier. Then replace the fabric softener cup. 

Fill the machine one last time with just hot water and let it run a full wash cycle. Now your washer should be nice and shiny again. Just like the day you got it (or better in our case)!

Good luck, happy cleaning, and welcome to much more healthy laundry care!

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Review: Click & Carry

I happen to be male, at least last I checked, and as such I occasionally fall into a "male" stereotype. In this case that is a good thing, because I tend to go for the "knight in shining armor" approach... but we are low on dragons to slay (...grumble grumble, protected species, grumble grumble...) so I deal with more mundane ways to save my lady fair; like dealing with spiders, things on the top shelf, putting furniture together, and pickle jars.

Her most dreaded chore, however, is groceries, especially hauling them inside.  And every time this task falls to me, I take it upon myself to carry at least eight bulging shopping bags per hand.  Because somehow making two or more trips from the car to the house is a travesty against mankind!  Any pain or funny lines that may form on my hands, and seem to last forever, were thought to be the necessary sacrifice.  Boy, was I wrong.

Allow me to introduce the Click & Carry - the tool of my grocery hauling dreams.  The idea for this nifty device actually came to its creator, Kim, in a dream.

It measures in at 5.25″ x 1.37″ x 1.96″ and 65 grams and holds up to 50lbs.  That translates roughly to fits nicely in my hand, weighs less than half a banana, and holds more than I can comfortably carry in one hand (or about 131 bananas).

To use just grab the base and spin the center section so you can hang all your shopping bags from the hooks on both sides, then spin the center section back in place with a satisfying click and you're all set.  It can be used in hand or over the shoulder, and has a padded gel grip to keep it comfy.

I really like the Click & Carry. It's simple to use and exceeded my expectations. When I first saw the product and held it in hand, I thought it felt flimsy and almost expected it to break.  In an attempt at self-fulfilling prophesy I clicked it open and shut hundreds of times.

Also, when I wasn't using it, my three year old boy decided to play with it, because it's made of shiny brightly colored plastic and therefore must be a toy of his.  After weeks of this toddler torture, it is unharmed.  It even still has its high gloss shine.  The only sign of use I can see on it, is that it opens a little easier than it used to, which the missus actually likes, and a small scratch which I almost didn't notice (thanks little guy).

It felt good and comfy in my hand for small loads, and for the big loads I'd put it on my shoulder and get all 40lbs of groceries in one trip.

Let me tell you, after tossing it on my shoulder just once, I was sold forever on the Click & Carry. The gel grip made it surprisingly comfortable on my shoulder and my hands were free.  And most importantly, I will never need to know the feeling of my fingers being nearly severed by plastic bags again!

 All in all I'm very happy with the Click & Carry. It saves my hands, and it's built to last.  Its small size makes it really easy to keep on hand in the car for unexpected shopping trips.

The Click & Carry is available on their website in four colors; blue, green, purple, and grey for $9.99 each.

I strongly recommend the Click & Carry for anyone who is sick and tired of having their hands mangled by shopping bags. I know I was.



Click & Carry Website
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Review & Giveaway: Green Cycler Compost Bin Shredder

My husband and I live in an older residential neighborhood just a few blocks south of the Washington, DC border - one of those in-between suburban-like areas very near an urban community.  A few decades ago, people here took good care to plant a lot of trees so that today our yard resembles more a forest floor than a lawn - grass only grows in patches, and it is difficult for us to get anything that likes much sun to grow.

We've made a few ventures into gardening, but the challenges of our yard have proven more challenging than our skills so far.  Even so, a couple years ago, we acquired a good compost bin for outside that has a drawer in the base where we can extract rich compost when we need it.  Yard and table scraps go in the top and when we think about it, we try to make sure to layer it properly so it will break down.

We don't do a whole lot with it to speed up the process, and since we make more compost than we currently use, we're mostly ok with that, but still, it can be frustrating to see how very long it takes most scraps to break down, and I worry sometimes about the scraps attracting critters we don't want to feed.

The only way to really prevent that is to chop up items for the compost into small bits - but I can't think of much that makes me feel more tired and put upon than having to chop up my scraps after I've already chopped everything up for dinner.  Chop up a banana peel? Uh, no.  Not happening.

Sometimes this means things are going into our composter that we know good and well are going to sit there for months.  And worse, it sometimes means we just toss it into the trash where it will sit entombed in a landfill forever.

Since we are composting mainly to reduce our landfill waste rather than to garden, that seemed really counterintuitive, but I didn't have any answer to it until I read about the Ecotonix Green Cycler.

Basically, the Green Cycler is a manual garbage disposal for items you can put in your compost pile, and it is brilliant. Instead of grinding up produce scraps in your sink and sending them into your water supply, they're cut into small bits and put with your compost. The smaller size breaks them down much, much faster then leaving them as big chunks.

MUCH faster breakdown

When our Green Cycler arrived, it was very carefully packaged, with just a couple of simple things to do to put it together  - adding the end of the handle was about it, along with inserting the filter pad (which I'll explain in a moment.

The construction of  the Green Cycler is quite impressive to me - the blades are housed in a unit that is quickly and easily removed to tuck into the dishwasher for cleaning, and so is the drawer that holds the chopped bits until they can be taken outside to the compost pile.

The handle scared us at first - the very first night, after looking at their chart about what can be composted, we tried to put an avocado seed through it - on feeling some major resistance, we were afraid it might snap the handle, so we stopped.  It would have been terrible to break it on it's first run!

But since then, we've successfully chopped up several challenging items without any trouble - the key is to push the handle forward, then backward, and keep rocking it like that until the tough items break up.

I'm no longer worried that the handle will break - this thing is tough!

The Zeopack filter is a bit of brilliance all its own - packed with Zeolite, a toxin-absorber, this pad fits into place behind the choppers and, unlike filters in other appliances that have to be replaced often, this can be recharged by hanging it in sunlight for awhile. How cool is that??  If you decide it's gotten worn out, you can buy replacements for a mere $7.99 - but it's reusable for YEARS, so likely if you buy one, it'll be to put it to work in other places, like your stinky gym shoes or cat box.   Whenever it does go belly up, you can just cut off the metal hanger, and the rest of it can be tossed into the composter!

      
To use the Green Cycler, you simply put the scraps from your produce and meal preparation into the top of the appliance.  The window on the lid lets you see what's going on.  The handle can be turned either forward or backward, and it works best to rock it back and forth until the scraps fall into the tray below.

As a left hander, I'd love to have the ability to have the handle on the left side, but I didn't find this to be a huge concern - this is a large motor issue and I haven't had any trouble dealing with it on the right side.

A slightly larger issue was the suction cup feet - our counters are old, cheap formica, and it didn't hold very well. But this again wasn't a huge problem - I never had much luck with suction cups, and holding the Green Cycler still was a simple matter of putting my left arm on the top of  the machine, while cranking with my right.

After chopping, scraps come out about the size of a nicely chopped salad.  The tray at the bottom holds a large amount (enough to deal with a bunch of kale that got away from me), and pulls out very easily to take outside.

Both the tray and the chopper are quickly removeable to tuck into a dishwasher for quick and easy washing, and I recommend doing so as often as possible.

Being able to easily keep the parts clean, along withe the filter, has meant almost no unpleasant smells or issues with fruit flies, which I honestly can't say was the same with our last composter pail.

In addition, it's so simple to stuff scraps into it as a part of meal prep that it doesn't feel like any extra work at all.

We've used our Green Cycler every day since we got it, and I'm not even exaggerating when I say it's my favorite countertop appliance.

With all the fantastic information Green Cycler puts on their website about composting, worm farming, gardening, and why you want to keep your compostible items out of landfills, using Green Cycler has really inspired me to try to be more proactive about our compost pile.  I am thinking that we may be ready to add some worms come next spring, and really start preparing the soil in our yard to handle some actual planned gardening.

Even if you're living in an apartment and can't do any gardening beyond potted plants, the Green Cycler can help you out - because it turns scraps into compost so much more quickly than a traditional compost pile, you could turn your chopped up scraps into a plastic bin, and quickly have enough rich compost to feed your plants, without taking up too much space.

I seriously cannot recommend this tool enough - it is one of those rare inventions that is a total game changer. If you don't know why you'd want to compost your scraps, think about this:

Green Cycler is available in a few different models that cost between $99.00 and $139.  The one I have is the Green Cycle Garden Cycler V300, and after using it regularly, I find it to be very sturdy, easy to clean and an absolutely essential tool for our kitchen.

I am really excited  to announce that Green Cycler is letting us offer the Garden Green Cycler (the same model I received) as a  Giveaway for one of our readers!  This Giveaway is open to Continental US residents only, and will end just before midnight on September 25, 2014.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment in this entry as instructed by the Rafflecopter, then leave the name you commented under and your email in the box in the Rafflecopter entry. (This lets us contact you if you win!)  This will open up additional optional entries to increase your odds of winning.

Good luck, everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Green Cycler Website
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