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ErrBase

Generic Washer HOW-CLEAN: How to Clean a Washing Machine

Quick Answer

The HOW-CLEAN process involves removing mold, odors, and detergent buildup from your washer. The best fix is running a hot water cycle with vinegar or a dedicated cleaner followed by scrubbing the door seal.

If you ignore this, you're basically washing your clothes in a petri dish. I've walked into homes where the washer smelled so bad it was making the laundry smell worse coming out than going in. Mold in the door seal, sludge in the dispenser, mineral crust on the drum. Do this cleaning routine every month or two and you'll avoid all of that.

GenericWasherSeverity: moderateDifficulty: intermediate75% DIY Success
Time to Fix
15–90 min
Difficulty
intermediate
Parts Cost
—
Tools Needed
Old toothbrush or small stiff-bristle scrub brush, Microfiber cloths, at least 3 or 4

What Does the HOW-CLEAN Code Mean?

OK so here's the deal. Your washer is basically a warm, damp box that never fully dries out, and that's a perfect environment for mold, mildew, and bacteria. This isn't a real error code, it's a maintenance guide. But honestly? Skipping this is how people end up calling me because their machine smells like a locker room or their clothes come out with a weird funk. Takes maybe 45 minutes total and costs almost nothing.

Common Causes

  • The door boot seal on front-loaders is basically a mold magnet. That rubber fold at the bottom collects water, lint, and detergent every single cycle and it never fully dries out. I've peeled back seals with half an inch of black mold sitting in the groove.
  • Using too much detergent, or the wrong type like regular detergent in an HE machine, leaves a sticky residue inside the drum and hoses that builds up over months and eventually starts stinking.
  • Fabric softener gums up the dispenser drawer really badly. It dries into this waxy film that traps bacteria, and eventually the drawer stops dispensing properly or gets stuck.
  • Hard water deposits leave white crusty mineral buildup on the drum, heating element, and spray jets, which reduces washing efficiency and can eventually clog internal components.
  • Leaving wet clothes sitting in the drum for more than an hour or two after a cycle ends, especially in front-loaders where the door seal traps moisture.
  • The pump filter on front-loaders collects lint, coins, hair ties, and whatever else falls out of pockets, and when it's full of standing water it smells absolutely awful.

Symptoms You May Notice

  • Clothes smell musty or like mildew right after washing, even though they just came out of a clean cycle.
  • You can actually see black or pink spots on the door gasket, especially in that bottom fold where water pools after every wash.
  • The detergent drawer has visible slime, discoloration, or a white crusty buildup and it's getting hard to pull out or push back in.
  • There's a noticeable sour or sewage-like smell when you open the washer door, even when the machine's been sitting empty for a full day.
  • White or gray residue showing up on dark clothes after washing, which is undissolved detergent buildup flaking off the drum walls.

Can you reset a Generic washer to clear the HOW-CLEAN code?

There's no error code to reset here since this is a maintenance procedure, not a fault. After you finish the cleaning cycles, unplug the washer for 60 seconds to clear any diagnostic flags that may have tripped. Plug it back in and run one short empty cycle on hot to flush out any leftover cleaning solution before you wash clothes in it again.

Tools Required for Diagnosis

Old toothbrush or small stiff-bristle scrub brushMicrofiber cloths, at least 3 or 4White vinegar, 4 cups minimumBaking soda or commercial washer cleaner tablet like AffreshShallow pan or old towels for pump filter drainageSpray bottleRubber gloves

Diagnostic Checklist

Follow these steps in order. We start with the easiest external fixes before opening up the machine.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should I clean my washing machine?
Once a month is the standard recommendation and honestly that's about right for most households. If you're running a ton of laundry, like a family of five, or you live somewhere humid, bump it up to every three weeks. If it's just you or two people doing a few loads a week, every six weeks is probably fine. The door seal and dispenser drawer though? Wipe those down every couple of weeks no matter what. They get gross faster than anything else in the machine.
Can I use bleach instead of vinegar to clean my washer?
Yes, and bleach actually kills mold more effectively than vinegar does. Use half a cup of liquid chlorine bleach in the bleach dispenser and run a hot cycle. Just never use bleach and vinegar in the same cleaning session. Not the same cycle, not even back-to-back without a plain water rinse cycle in between. That combination produces chlorine gas and it's genuinely dangerous. Pick one or the other for each cleaning session. I usually use vinegar for routine maintenance and only bring out bleach when there's a real mold problem.
Why does my front-load washer smell worse than my old top-loader did?
Because front-loaders have a sealed rubber door gasket that traps moisture, and the drum sits horizontal so water pools in that bottom fold of the seal after every cycle. Top-loaders let air in from above and drain more completely. It's just a design difference. Front-loaders wash better and use less water, but you've got to stay on top of that door seal or you're going to have mold. Leaving the door cracked open between loads makes a big difference.
What's the best store-bought washer cleaner?
Affresh tablets are probably the most popular and they work well, you can find them at basically any hardware or grocery store. Carbona Washing Machine Cleaner is another solid option. Honestly though, plain white vinegar and baking soda do a great job and cost almost nothing. The main advantage of commercial cleaners is convenience and they sometimes have surfactants that cut through grease a little better. If your machine is really bad, do one commercial cleaner cycle followed by a vinegar cycle. For regular maintenance, vinegar is totally fine.
My washer still smells after I cleaned it. What's going on?
A few things to check. First, did you clean the pump filter? On front-loaders that thing can smell terrible even after you've cleaned the drum. Second, the smell might be coming from your drain hose or the standpipe it drains into, not the washer itself. Pull the drain hose out of the standpipe and smell it directly. If the odor's coming from there you might have a sewer gas issue or mold growing inside the hose. Third, sometimes heavy buildup takes two or three cleaning cycles before the smell fully clears. Run another hot cycle before assuming something's wrong.
Does it matter if I use too much detergent?
Way more than most people realize. Detergent companies want you to fill that cap to the line, but for most loads you need about half that. HE machines especially are designed to rinse with very little water, so excess suds don't rinse out completely and they leave residue inside the drum and hoses every single cycle. Over months that residue builds up, traps moisture, and starts smelling. If you've been heavy-handed with detergent for a while, that's probably a big part of why your machine smells. Cut back and do a couple cleaning cycles.
MS

Written by

Mike Sullivan

Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 20 years experience

Last verified for technical accuracy on March 17, 2026