Rub a dub dub and so on.

December 8, 2008 9:14 PM

We have laundry maladies. It seems like my washer might not be draining properly, and it's lint central in my dryer. What can I do about this?

First Question:
We have an old stacked washer and dryer in our rental apartment. In the last week or so, it seems like laundry smells like stale water when it comes out of the washer. When I moved the agitator to reach some back laundry, I could hear (but not see) water sloshing around somewhere. Also, when it drains before the spin cycle, it backs up into our bathtub (and the water that backs up appears to have... um... dirty laundry residue in it, like lint, gritty dirt, etc.) It seems like there's some sort of clog somewhere within the washer. What could I run through a wash cycle to help clear some of that out?

Second Question:
Our dryer works just fine, but it's awfully linty in there. I clean the lint screen between every load, but it seems like lint builds up in the door (it's hollow with holes in it that lets the lint out to settle in our lint screen.) This horrifies me for two reasons. First, it seems terribly dangerous to have lint in various places in the dryer. Second, it gives me the heebie-jeebies to touch lint. Anything I could toss in a dryer cycle that will magically attract all the errant lint?

I know this is my landlord's responsiblity, but if I can just do something simple and safe myself, I'd rather do that.

posted by santojulieta to Technology (5 answers total)

Depending on how old your washer is, it may be cheaper to replace the washer than to get it repaired. I had one from the mid 1980s in my old place that had similar symptoms to yours for a few months before finally dying in the middle of a cycle, never to restart. The repairman who came to look at it said he'd have to take apart the washer and put it back together again to fix it. He claimed that newer washers are much easier to repair. Unfortunately, I don't remember what he said was wrong with it, but it was something wrong with the motor that drove the spin cycle.

We ended up paying something like 80 bucks (by the terms of our lease, our landlord had absolutely nothing to do with our washer and dryer) for a refurbished used washing machine that did our laundry in literally half the time of the old washer. I kind of wish the washers in my current place would die so we could get some more modern ones.
posted by crinklebat at 9:29 PM on December 8, 2008

"Also, when it drains before the spin cycle, it backs up into our bathtub (and the water that backs up appears to have... um... dirty laundry residue in it, like lint, gritty dirt, etc.) It seems like there's some sort of clog somewhere within the washer. "

If the water is backing up into your tub the washer is working fine; your blockage is down stream of the washer and the tub in your home plumbing. Also if your washer's drain hose has been sealed to the drain stand pipe instead of having an air gap the water backed up by the blockage could be syphoning back into your washer causing the smell/sloshing.

Your only solution to the lint is a vacuum. It's not particularity dangerous (I'd routinely see an inch or more of lint in the bottom of dryers and never saw one catch fire) but there is a minute risk that if something else goes wrong in just the right way you could have a fire. Orders of magnitude more dangerous, if you have it, is that white plastic flexible vent piping.
posted by Mitheral at 9:36 PM on December 8, 2008

The dryer -- it's got to vent outdoors somewhere. Check that vent. If there's a huge lint buildup on the external screen (and I'm betting there is), all the lint that should be leaving your dryer *won't* be.

Some dryers are better than others at capturing lint within the tumbler. If yours is like mine, a lot of lint will make its way through the exhaust duct and out into the wild. Hence, clean the external vent once a month.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:37 PM on December 8, 2008

Seconding Mitheral.
posted by flabdablet at 10:09 PM on December 8, 2008

Close to every single washer I've ever come across had a lint filter /lint trap. (And from the state of them in general it probably bears mentioning that washers have them too.) :) Google the manual and you'll be set.
posted by mu~ha~ha~ha~har at 6:13 AM on December 9, 2008