Plumbing problem?

[Dawn]

I posted last week about a sour smell coming from our washing machine when it runs. After the advice I got here and searching the web, we concluded it was the washer--possibly something stuck somewhere that rotted. Rather than spend our time trying to fix it (I'd already tried bleach, baking soda, vinegar, you name it...), we took the opportunity to buy a new washer. The old one came with the house and never was what we wanted, anyway.

Well, $700 poorer and a new washer hooked up today, the sour smell is still there! We just ran a load and it reeks. Thinking it might be some problem with our water softener, we filled the sink with cold water (we wash only in cold) to see if it smelled. No dice.

Could there be some problem with the plumbing to the washer? This house is only 7 years old. That's all we can think of, though. What the heck would be causing the cold water to smell sour? The whole area around the laundry room reeks right now.

Any ideas? I would really appreciate any help.

TIA,

Dawn

[Dawn]

Addendum--we just ran some water from both taps to the washer, one at a time, into a bucket, and smelled it. Nothing. The water is fine. This is insane. Now we'll try a different detergent, but after that we're out of ideas.

Help!

[Photon713]

Evening, Dawn...

Did you check out the vent to the roof? You might consider that. We had a similar problem that turned out to be a bird that had died in the vent. We had to drop a fishing line with hook into the vent to clear it. Are you sure that the smell was coming from the washer and the washer plumbing? I would also check out the dryer and the dryer vent. Good Luck...

[Dawn]

Thanks for your reply. As it turns out, it may have been....wait for it....the detergent! This is the craziest thing I've ever heard of, but we're washing the same load again, with a new detergent, and it's not smelling this time.

The culprit detergent is Cheer color-guard linen scent liquid. The weird thing is, it smells fine in the bottle. Perhaps there was some weird chemical reaction between the detergent and our softened water?

Gee, I'm sure glad we bought a new washing machine in a year when money is tight because of a stupid detergent :-). Well, we could always send it back...but it's so nice and quiet and so many clothes fit in it.

Thanks again. I'm glad you got that bird problem fixed because that sounds really disgusting. I'll keep that in mind should we ever have this problem again. Off to write a nice letter to the makers of Cheer...

Dawn

[Cheri]

I don't know if it has anything to do with it or not, but I bought a room freshener in linen scent, and it started stinking the whole house up, sort of like rotten bug spray or something. It was really nasty until I found out what was causing it. Maybe the same type of thing in your detergent.

Cheri

[Dawn]

I just told your anecdote to my husband and he came back with a hilarious explanation. I commented on how much of a misnomer it is to call something "linen scent" and have it smell bad, when linen scent is basically the smell of freshly washed clothing. He came back with, "Maybe it's not l-i-linen, maybe it's Lenin, like the dead communist leader. That would explain a lot."

At any rate, I think you're onto something. I also think P&G owes me $700. Well, at least I got a laugh out of it.

Dawn