stains from washer?

Question

I have a 8 or 9 year old kenmore washer. For the last year or two items are occasionally stained with one or two inch long brown streaks. Sometimes the stains come out on rewashing but not usually. My wife thinks the inside of the washing machine is dirty and has cleaned the clothes tub and the surfaces that could come into contact with clothes - but the streaks still occur. I found a
build up of some kind (not really the same color as the stains) on the agitator. It was a little waxy. I thought it might be a build up of detergent. I rubbed at it with a cloth and it came off with some effort but it is hard to see the underside of the agitator particularly the lower part so I'm not sure if I got it all. We pretty much always use Tide Liquid Unscented detergent. Another fact that may be pertinent is that our water comes from a well and is moderately
hard.

We're at the point where we're considering buying a new washer even though this one has no other problems. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Take a gallon of white vinegar....set your washer on a medium load size...run the vinegar thru the machine and change your hose lose. What you describing is hard water stains.

Answer 2

Regarding your last statement that you use well water, I think that's a great idea and that you have this available to you. Do you have any filters in place so that mud/dirt/dirt balls are not pulled into the washing machine? This leads me to believe that maybe you have dirtballs that somehow got into your washing machine and causing the marks on your whites. Someone had suggested running vinegar / CLR in the washing machine. Another alternative is water softener power (which you can pick up at the local supermarket. Since you did not mention that you have filters from the well water, I would suggest you install one, like a lint trap, and see if you these dirt balls are gathered there.

Answer 3

since you have hard water, you most likely have a rust build up. try running some CLR in the washer without any laundry. let it go for the full wash, rinse, spin cycles and see what happens after. if you still have a problem, you may need to invest in both a new machine and a water softener.

Answer 4

how old are your hoses? have you checked the screens in them? we are on a city well and we get rust in the screens from them. at 8 or 9 years the hoses should have been replaced 3 or 4 years ago. one broken hose will teach that lesson, or know someone it happened to. the white vinegar is a good idea too. good luck

Answer 5

I had the same problem and I bought a washing machine cleaner from Lowe's...you just pour in the liquid and run the machine for a full cycle. It worked for me.Good luck

Answer 6

wd40 on the stains before washing will get them out.

Answer 7

I had that too. Is it rust?