5 Ways To Keep Your Clothes Washer In Great Shape

Your washer is a complex machine with a lot of moving parts, and when something goes wrong, it’s a unique kind of stressful. Your laundry’s delayed, and now you’ve got to worry about the cost of repair or replacement. While you can’t protect your appliance from every possible problem, there are some steps you can take to stave off bigger issues.

Today, we’re going to tip you off to five easy ways to keep your washing machine in great shape. Keep reading!

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1. Use The Right Detergent In The Right Amounts

Obviously, if you aren’t using enough detergent, your clothes might not get completely clean, but using too much detergent, or the wrong kind of detergent, will cause problems, too. Sometimes, it can have outright damaging effects.

High efficiency washers need low sudsing detergent in specific amounts because they use only as much water as is necessary to clean the selected laundry load size. If you use more detergent than is necessary, or use a detergent that isn’t for high efficiency washers, the washer will not be able to completely rinse or drain it all, and the appliance and your clothes will be left coated in a soapy, sometimes still dirty residue.

That left behind detergent can cause a number of problems:

• Your clothes may not actually come out of the wash clean, coated in a soapy residue and whatever grime may not have been rinsed off.
• Bacteria and mold can grow, especially if your washer’s tub isn’t dried out, leading to foul smells.
• Soap deposits can cause individual components to corrode or rust, leading to serious breaks.
• Clogs could form, leading to less efficient draining.

So make sure you read the instructions in your washer’s manual and on the detergent bottle before you do your laundry. Using the exact right amount each time can really prolong the life of your appliance and your clothes.

2. Want To Prevent Floods?

Don’t wait for leaks to happen. On average, hoses like the ones in your washer last around five years. So, every couple of months, inspect them. Check that the fittings are tight and rust free, and examine the hoses themselves for cracks, bulges, weak spots, and other signs of damage.

You can save yourself from leaks that could damage other components in the appliance (or your walls and floors) by checking on the hoses regularly, straightening any bends, tightening loose fittings, and replacing them if they’re starting to show damage.

Another option is to replace rubber hoses with stainless steel braided ones. Rubber hoses are more likely to burst than metal ones, though with age and extended use, even those metal hoses can start to fray or corrode. It’s all about keeping a regular cleaning and maintenance schedule!

3. Don’t Hate The Balance Ring!

When you move your washer or the interior tub, do you hear a sloshing sound? Don’t worry. That’s a feature, not a flaw!

It’s caused by a component called a balance ring. This plastic hoop is filled with fluid – usually salt water – and it keeps your washer steady even when it’s overloaded. If all your clothes have shifted to one side of the washer tub, the water in the ring will shift to the opposite side, offsetting the weight and preventing rumbling or “walking”.

So, if you hear water in your washer when you’re sure there shouldn’t be any, it’s probably not a leak. You don’t need to disassemble or fix anything. There’s a pretty good chance it’s just the balance ring, working as it should.

4. Less Is More With Laundry

It may seem most efficient to stuff as much into a single load of laundry as possible – you’re saving time and water, right? Not necessarily. Overfilling your washer and dryer won’t just cause them to potentially go off balance, it can leave clothes less clean, tangle them up and wear them out faster, and cause damage to the washer itself.

With heavy laundry loads, the washer’s components – the belt, the motor, and other moving parts – are all taxed more heavily, even when the washer isn’t thrown out of balance. Mechanical parts will wear down more quickly than they should when put under such stress. If you’re regularly stuffing the washer, you may find yourself in need of new pulleys or drive motors within the standard lifespan of your appliance.

So, less is more. Get cleaner clothes and protect your appliance’s parts by sticking to slightly smaller loads of laundry.

5. Clean Everything Regularly!

A regular cleaning schedule will prolong the life of your washing machine and save you from the dreaded old washer stink. About once a month, you should clean your washer, and if you keep a regular schedule, it doesn’t need to be a big to-do every time.

Here are some cleaning tips to help prolong the life of your appliance:

• After you’ve moved clothes from the washer to the dryer, leave the washer door open and let the interior dry out. This will help to prevent bacteria and mold from growing.
• Wipe out the interior after a wash, especially if you think you used too much detergent.
• Use white vinegar. You don’t necessarily need to bleach things. White vinegar is generally enough to deal with soap scum and hard water deposits. You can either wipe things down with a vinegar soaked cloth, or do a hot wash with just vinegar (around four cups of white vinegar should do it) to break up grime in your washer.
• Clean the washer door and the door boot. This is especially important on front loading models, where water can get caught and leak out or cause foul smelling bacterial blooms.
• Clean the detergent tray, too. It seems weird that the spot that holds soap could become a problem, but this really is another spot where bacteria can thrive if it hasn’t been cleaned in a while.
• Check the lint catchers every once in a while and clean those out or replace them if they’re damaged.

If you’d like more info on cleaning your appliance, you can check out some more guides about exactly that on our blog. If your washer’s already stinky, we’ve got a how-to for fixing it and a guide for deep cleaning your washing machine.

Wrapping Up

Follow our steps, and you could save yourself time and money down the road. Helping you to prolong the life of your appliances is just one of the things we here at AppliancePartsPros.com are out to do. Check us out if you need tips, tutorials, or genuine OEM replacement parts for your appliances and lawn equipment. Our storefront has FAQs and advice from do-it-yourselfers just like you, and our friendly staff is happy to help you fix your appliance yourself!

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