Help!

jane8188

Ok so this is kinda of cd related. I have an he fl, and it gets moldy on the inside rubber rings around the opening. We'll I had loaded my washer with dirty diapers, and decided to put a little bleach on the rubber ring. None of the bleach touched the diapers. I do this quite frequently and then just start the diaper load as normal.
We'll I let it sit for about 5 minutes and went back to check and make sure the mold was going away and it was "smoking" ? I'm assuming it was fumes, so I immediately shut it and started a rinse cycle. Has this happened to anyone else? It really freaked me out because I do this a lot and it's never happened. What should I do now?

freezorburn

Has never happened to me, but could there be trace amounts of ammonia coming off of your diapers? 

Mixing ammonia and bleach can be dangerous. Open your windows and ventilate your laundry room. And rinse, rinse, rinse.

ETA: I could be totally off the mark. But if you think you have an ammonia + bleach situation, you might want to call your local poison control center for advice.

jane8188

Thank you, I mean I had the washer open for about 3 seconds and closed it right away. I'm sure everything will be fine, I'm just super paranoid. There's also no windows in or by my laundry room. But there is a bathroom right there and I turned the fan on.

jane8188

I feel like adding the water to wash it should make it a lot better? I mean you can bleach your diapers normally with out issues?

freezorburn

I don't normally use bleach in my wash routine. I've only ever used it to disinfect diapers that I purchased used. When I was stash-building almost 2 years ago. 

But I think if you were to use it, it would be after your main wash cycle, when ammonia and other nasties have already been washed away. You wouldn't do it during your initial rinse. You said that you put the bleach on the gasket, and then put diapers in the machine. That's what makes me think that ammonia and bleach could have come in contact with each other. Ammonia gets airborne easily. The diapers may not have touched the bleached surface, but ammonia in gas form may have.

jcwinsto

I don't think it would leave any lasting effects but I would probably to do my regular wash and a couple hot water strips just to make sure all the chemically-ness is gone.

musicalsilver

I don't have any insight about your weird fume problem - but with my last he fl - I left it open after every load until the gasket dried out to avoid mold problems (I also took out the soap dispenser drawer to allow it to dry fully).

It worked great, and I never had mold.  I never got to shut the closet doors that my washer and drier lived in, but I figured that was a price I was willing to pay for a lack of mold!

blondolphn

I try to leave our washer open as well. every now and then I will bleach the machine, but I do at least one rinse cycle afterwards to make sure its out.

abby8279

Another vote for leaving the door open.  My instruction manual for the washer says to do so.  And we have a cycle just for cleaning the washer.  For that I add bleach only again according to the manual.  Maybe check your features out to.

jane8188

Yeah, I insist on leaving the door open, but my h is a controlfreak and always shuts it. Even when I tell him not to. It's pretty irritating. Thanks ladies!

Mandmeesh

I agree with leaving the door open. Once mold is in there, it's nearly impossible to get rid of.

blondolphn

Tell your husband it's like $75 for the piece to reseal the door. And that he gets to replace it if he keeps shutting it! I looked into it because we got ours used and dh didn't take care of the washer when I was gone. So I got to deal with cleaning it. And it will smell if we don't keep it open. ugh.

beccaxrad

I try to leave mine open as well, but it blocks another door in the basement if it's open so DH usually closes it and forgets to reopen it when he's done in there...