How to Clean a Top-Load Washer

A top-load washer is a perforated basket spinning inside a solid outer tub. Water, detergent, soil and softener pass through the gap between the two, and you cannot reach that gap by hand.

Residue from detergent and fabric softener coats that gap and the surfaces above the waterline. Bacteria and mold feed on the film and form a biofilm, which is what you smell. Over time the film thickens into a waxy, gray-brown buildup, often called scrud, that also transfers onto clothes.

So cleaning has two halves that must both happen: hand-clean what you can reach, and run an empty hot cycle to flush what you cannot. A routine that does only one half leaves either the visible gunk or the biofilm behind.

The top-loader's trouble spots, in order of how often they need attention, are the fabric-softener cup on the agitator, the upper basket wall above the waterline, the underside of the lid, and the detergent dispenser.

A machine with a self-clean cycle may need nothing at all beyond running the cycle. Otherwise, gather:

• A washer cleaner tablet, or 1 cup of liquid chlorine bleach, or white vinegar. Pick one, not several.
• A soft cloth or sponge, and an old toothbrush for the softener cup and the dispenser corners.
• Warm water for wiping.
• Optional: a moisture-displacing spray for the lid hinge and control-panel seams after wiping.

The manual is the authority on which of these your machine allows, and on the dose it expects.

Many older and simpler top-loaders have no dedicated clean cycle, and that does not mean they cannot be cleaned. The substitute is an empty drum, the hottest water setting, the largest load size, the longest cycle and an extra rinse.

Add the cleaner to the drum, run the cycle, and if you want a soak, pause after the fill for about an hour, then let it finish. Finish with a separate Rinse & Spin.

If the smell is already established, run this routine once a week for three weeks rather than once.

Top-loaders use more water per load than front-loaders, so in hard-water areas they scale up faster. You see white crust on the basket, stiff-feeling laundry and dull whites.

Descale with an acid, white vinegar or a citric-acid descaler, only if the manual permits it. Otherwise use the cleaner the manual names. Descale on a separate cycle from the smell treatment, with a plain rinse between the two.

With hard water, clean on the monthly end of the range rather than every 2 to 3 months.

1. Repeat the full routine once a week for three consecutive weeks. An established biofilm takes more than one pass.
2. Check the drain hose. If it is pushed too far down into the standpipe, dirty water can siphon back into the tub and cause a musty smell. Pull it back so it sits just inside the pipe.
3. Check whether your machine has a pump filter. Many top-loaders have none and nothing to clean; some do, usually behind a small panel at the front bottom. Clean it if it exists.
4. Check the water inlet screens for grit if the fill is slow.
5. Call a technician if it still smells after three weekly cycles, or if you see thick black gunk you cannot reach. The buildup is in the tub gap.

• Unplug the washer before removing the softener cup, the dispenser or any part.
• Do not defeat the lid switch to watch the cycle.
• Water stays hot for roughly an hour after a hot cycle.
• Ventilate the room when using chlorine bleach.
• Never mix bleach with vinegar or ammonia.