Smell from Washing Machine

RacingSilver

Hi
We've had the same washing machine for about 8 years and have recently noticed that there is a smell when you stick your head in.
This might have been there for a while - we're not sure. The smell is not pleasant but it's not as bad as a sewer smell.
Anyway, our washing machine guy came yesterday, and did a lot of testing of the washing machine but couldn't find anything wrong with it.
But, he did notice unusual plumbing related to the dirty water coming out of the machine.
Basically, the flexible pipe coming out of the machine loops up about 2 feet and then fits into another downward pipe. There is silicon(?) around this opening so it is sealed. The downward pipe then goes into another pipe (coming from a sink) and goes out through the wall into another horizontal pipe which goes for about 4 feet before emptying directly into our sewer pipe.
The guy yesterday reckons that there is a smell coming back along this path into the washing machine. He said, he's never seen anything like this before and a quick solution may be to have a trap in the first downward pipe (a u-bend I assume), and this would prevent the smell coming back.
I'm no expert but his theory sounds pretty good to me.

Comments appreciated.

dazed+confused

This is more than likely a smell coming back up from your drain outside. Is there a smell from the shore? (Under your kithen window) where your wasing machine and sink come out through the wall and pour into a drain in the ground. I don't want to patronise but your technical knowledge seems limited.

RacingSilver

Thanks for the response.
You're not patronising at all, and my technical knowledge is limited.
The thing is, there's isn't a shore.
Everything is going on underground.
The pipe (where the washing machine and sink flow in to) goes down through the floor, into the horizontal 4 foot pipe
(this pipe is underground) which then goes directly into the sewer.
There is a manhole at this endpoint where I can see the horizontal pipe going into the sewer.

Billy Bunting

RacingSilver wrote: »

Basically, the flexible pipe coming out of the machine loops up about 2 feet and then fits into another downward pipe. There is silicon(?) around this opening so it is sealed. The downward pipe then goes into another pipe (coming from a sink) and goes out through the wall into another horizontal pipe which goes for about 4 feet before emptying directly into our sewer pipe.
The guy yesterday reckons that there is a smell coming back along this path into the washing machine. He said, he's never seen anything like this before and a quick solution may be to have a trap in the first downward pipe (a u-bend I assume), and this would prevent the smell coming back.
I'm no expert but his theory sounds pretty good to me.

Comments appreciated.

Sounds crap to me, all machines when empty hold water in the pumps in order to prime the pump for use this is why you will always find a small amount of water in the filter when cleaning it, this water also doubles as a type of trap, smells can't get passed that trap. It could be that the dirty waste water is traveling down the waste pipe into the machine, or a favourate, some small item of clothing, sock maybe, gone through the gap between tub and drum and it now wrapped around the heater or stats, smelling of rotten damp clothing.

misterdeeds

RacingSilver wrote: »

Hi
We've had the same washing machine for about 8 years and have recently noticed that there is a smell when you stick your head in.
This might have been there for a while - we're not sure. The smell is not pleasant but it's not as bad as a sewer smell.
Anyway, our washing machine guy came yesterday, and did a lot of testing of the washing machine but couldn't find anything wrong with it.
But, he did notice unusual plumbing related to the dirty water coming out of the machine.
Basically, the flexible pipe coming out of the machine loops up about 2 feet and then fits into another downward pipe. There is silicon(?) around this opening so it is sealed. The downward pipe then goes into another pipe (coming from a sink) and goes out through the wall into another horizontal pipe which goes for about 4 feet before emptying directly into our sewer pipe.
The guy yesterday reckons that there is a smell coming back along this path into the washing machine. He said, he's never seen anything like this before and a quick solution may be to have a trap in the first downward pipe (a u-bend I assume), and this would prevent the smell coming back.
I'm no expert but his theory sounds pretty good to me.

Comments appreciated.

Try a drop of bleach in d drum and put it on the shortest wash cycle ,Ido this once a month to my machine works fine at keeping it from getting smelly (one egg cup of bleach is the amount I use) Hope this is of help to you

dazed+confused

RacingSilver wrote: »

(this pipe is underground) which then goes directly into the sewer.
into the sewer.

Ah bingo! because there is no shore the smell is traveling back up from the sewer. A trap is the best idea, as your man suggested.

freddyuk

Grab the rubber door seal and pull the folds apart and see if there is any mould around the creases of the seal. If you don't dry out the water in this trap then it can go mouldy and smell. Using the bleach as suggested would help but once the mould is there it is better to fit a new seal.
Easy to check and eliminate.

RacingSilver

Thanks Billy Bunting, I'll check for that.
Having said that, is it unusual for the dirty water to be going directly into a sewer (via an underground pipe)
rather than into a shore overground ?
And even if that's not unusual, should there not be a trap there to prevent smells coming back up ?

freddyuk

The flexible pipe from the machine should go into a vertical pipe (which you say it does) and this has a trap (U bend) at the bottom before it enters the drain so there is no way a smell can come from the drain. However you say the pipe from the machine is siliconed which means there is no free airflow down this pipe which may lead to a problem if the trap is drawn out. You also say there is no trap?
If there is no 'U' bend at the bottom of the drain pipe then it is not correctly installed. Silicone also suggests a bodge job.
Either check the smell is not from the machine itself (as I suggested above) or remove the silicone seal and see what happens. As said above there is always water in the bottom of the machine so this will prevent smells coming via the drain pipe so that is the first place to check and then investigate the drainage side.

RacingSilver

Hi FreddyUk, thanks very much for the advice. No, there is no trap (U Bend) at the bottom of the vertical pipe. What would you expect if I remove the silicone seal ?
Should I get a trap fitted first ?

anuprising

as stated , water in machine can act like a trap

heres the proper version of what happens and the solution

washing at low temp ,30 and 40 degrees doesnt dissolve all detergent used all the time . this lodges in various parts of the machine and pipework . over time bacteria grows on this and causes a smell to occur .

the only way to eliminate this is to do a 'service wash'

place a quater cup of vinegar anywhere inside an empty washing machine .put on a 90 degree wash and let the cycle run right thru . this sterilises the bacteria and at 90 degrees its nearly boiling . you will have a fresh machine and clean pipes .
manufacturers now recomend you do this every 3 to 6 months

please never use bleach in a washingmachine as it can but not always reacts with the rubber and weakens it /causes leaks

freddyuk

The U bend is to stop the smell from the drains not from the machine!
That is likely why someone has filled it with silicone. Get a proper trap installed as per regs. and then see what happens. You can get a waste kit from any plumbers merchant. A cleaning wash as suggested would not hurt and then you can see if the problem has gone. My bet is it will have.