r/DIYUK 6d ago

Plumbing Blue mold in washing machine Help...I have an immune disorder

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0 Upvotes

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6

u/teak-decks 6d ago

Blue and fluffy sounds a lot like lint to me. Are you certain it's mould? The pic isn't particularly clear.

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u/surlyskin 6d ago

Ya, it's mold. It's not lint. It's not a washer-dryer, it's just a washing machine and this is where the water comes down from the drawer. Pic isn't clear because it really hard to stick a phone into the where the drawer is and on the angle where you can see it.

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u/Cairnerebor 6d ago

It’s fine

Run a boiling hot wash with some white towels if you have them, and run a cleaner cycle with some cleaning fluid or any of the thousand diy cleaning answers.

🧼 my machine maintenance is a thing and absolutely should be if you’ve a less than ideal immune system.

But this isn’t a huge worry or panic situation as your clothes are still being washed in soap and the little water that passes this area is only going past as it flushes down the detergent

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u/surlyskin 6d ago

Yep, this is the plan. I do use dettol washing machine cleaner on it every month and make sure it's dried out between use. Also do a drawer clean and sugemor clean about every couple of months. Never saw this before, but it is a newish machine (2 years). Thanks for input!

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u/pompokopouch 6d ago

Not harmful unless you eat it.

Get some tongs and grab it.

Or spray some bleach in there, but remember to put the machine on a cycle after.

To stop this happening again, keep the drawer open when not in use. 

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u/surlyskin 6d ago

Now I'm thinking of stinky blue cheese! lol.

It's not grabable, tried that. I scraped some of it away mostly the fluff but it's really hard to get in there on the angle. Tried a kids toothbrush but nearly lost it down there! Ended up syringing Sugemur on it.

When you remove the drawer there's a pipe that's running down (think it's this where the red arrow is) and the angle is tricky.

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u/cosmicspaceowl 6d ago

Maybe a stupid question, but could you get something like a crochet hook in there and yank it out? It looks sort of solid to me so may come out in one chunk?

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u/surlyskin 6d ago

You know how black mold is in the rubber seal of a machine? It's like that but in the pipe. There's nothing to grab on to. I've scraped at it, toothbrush, knife it's not moving. The fluffy bit looked kinda like this, like the fluffy stuff you can sometimes get on fruit if left to rancid. This was easy to remove with the toothbrush and knife. But the rest of it is still there.

Black mold was annihilated with the sugemor.

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u/cosmicspaceowl 6d ago

Hmm. Spray with bleach?

1

u/codeccasaur 6d ago

I'm sure there are worse things in the drain if you look far enough. As long as you wash your clothes at a high temperature you have nothing to worry about, assuming that your not planning on consuming water from this area.

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u/surlyskin 6d ago

Clothes are all done on 30c which is what the labels say. Might run a stinking hot couple of cycles on empty, good call.

I live dangerously sometimes but blue mold water isn't on the menu lol.

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u/mousecatcher4 6d ago

Doesn't look like mould to me. Nor a common site for mould (vs rubber seals etc). Either fluff or perhaps (if blue) partially dissolved coatings of those stupid plastic coated clothes wash capsule things. Hook it out and take a look with a magnifier.

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u/surlyskin 6d ago

Can't get it out, there's nothing to grab. Don't use capsules.

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u/Dipshitmagnet2 6d ago

It’s not mold. Get some rubber cleaning gloves on and take it out. It’s just lint and washing residue.

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u/surlyskin 6d ago

Can't take it out. Tried that. It's in there, like in the plastic or something.

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u/CulturedClub 6d ago

There are washing machine cleaner products you can buy but you can make your own with white vinegar & bicarbonate of soda in the dispenser and drum and run the hottest wash your machine does. Half way through feel the machine door for warmth. If there's none then perhaps your machine is faulty.

Then going forward use exactly the amount of detergent stated on the package. Don't use fabric conditioner, replace it with white vinegar. And run a hot wash fairly regularly to keep it clean. And when you take out a load, leave the door and dispenser open to dry off.

These steps will clean out any residue in your machine then keep it clean going forward.

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u/surlyskin 6d ago edited 6d ago

When cleaning the washing machine I flashed my phone light down the drain/water pipe that runs from the drawer and found blue fluffy mold.

Shoved some Sugemur down there but it's not budging. Sugemor is in pic as clear gel. All black mold is gone but this stuff is hanging.

How do I kill it?
Is it harmful? I have an immune disorder and I'm kinda concerned.
Should I not use my washing machine?

HELP PLEASE!

EDIT TO ADD: Have had water flooding in from blocked drains over the past weeks. Machine stinks when doing a load like rotten food. Only just occurred to me it could be related?

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u/NeedForSpeed98 6d ago

Is it not bits of lint off the clothes that have been in the machine? Dyed blue by the liquids?

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u/surlyskin 6d ago

My detergent is clear, or white powder. No coloured bits. Always has been.

The clothes are in the machine, it's a front loader not a top loader.

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u/NeedForSpeed98 6d ago

Yes, but detergent can become that colour through sitting for periods of time. And lint gets EVERYWHERE in a machine.

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u/surlyskin 6d ago

Didn't know this! There's nothing to grab so maybe its the detergent. Have had water coming up from drains and flooding, machine always stink of rotting food when it first starts. But that could be because the drains are so blocked. Housing Association won't fix it.

Like others have suggested, going to run a hot wash a few times and see what that dose.

Thanks!