Help me with smelly laundry.

no, she is in Glasgow.

Doesn't necessarily mean a thing what area of Scotland she lives in.  I had a house less than a mile away from my current one and the water was so hard it was almost like milk ( grim)  but in my current house its crystall clear.  Only difference being this house has newer plumbing.

ETA: Always good to use some Calgon once in while to get rid of limescale building up.

Doesn't necessarily mean a thing what area of Scotland she lives in.

That's me tellt, then.   

Doesn't necessarily mean a thing what area of Scotland she lives in.�  I had a house less than a mile away from my current one and the water was so hard it was almost like milk ( grim)�  but in my current house its crystall clear.�  Only difference being this house has newer plumbing.

ETA: Always good to use some Calgon once in while to get rid of limescale building up.

It doesn't? 

Scotland's water is different as far as I know - lived in several flats in Edinburgh, old, new, council, what have you - didn't notice much difference.  Moved to another part of the country, yep, same thing.

No hard water.

Guess it might exist somewhere, but I'm no' interested in moving just the now.

Doesn't necessarily mean a thing what area of Scotland she lives in.

Oh for Pete's sake. The vast majority of Scotland has soft water. That's the geology of the area - it's largely granite.  The water supply tends to come from surface water as well, which is less likely to be hard. England is more prone to hard water due to the chalk (esp in the southease where I htink you are living?) and water being pumped from underground.

Doesn't necessarily mean a thing what area of Scotland she lives in.�  I had a house less than a mile away from my current one and the water was so hard it was almost like milk ( grim)�  but in my current house its crystall clear.�  Only difference being this house has newer plumbing.

That doesn't mean that the water is different.  It means that the new plumbing has an in built water softener.

Vicky

First, since you are renting, don't assume that anything has been maintained or connected propery. Most UK washing machines do NOT hook up to the hot water tap. They heat the water internally. So see if you can verify how it should be hooked up with that manual you found.

According to the manual (and verified by pulling the machine out), it is connected to both taps.  I'm not sure if it heats the water or not, but the water was warm when I touched it (ran it on the hot setting, switched off the power, and gently forced the door open).
People mentioned a filter, yet I did not find one.  I looked through the manuals and saw nothing resembling a filter.  I checked the lines (they merge with the kitchen sink) and all was clear.  Anyone know if every machine has a filter because I don't remember any the ones I had States-side having a filter.
Also, the water is very soft here.

That's a bummer you have to connect to both. As I said, it's fairly uncommon here. Our first one was like yours but it died an early, painful death so we replaced it with one that only connected to the cold water.

I can't help you with the filter bit as I confess, we never checked ours. We just did the hot washes with vinegar or something.

I'd try at least one hot wash and see if that improves things.

(ps - I knew you wouldnt' have hard water! That's the perk I get being married to a geologist! )

(modified for a stupid mistake)

If you do everything else and it all fails, try throwing a bit of vinegar in with the wash.  I saved some mildewed things I thought I was going to have to throw out by doing this.  It might work preventively as well.

(ps - I knew you wouldnt' have hard water! That's the perk I get being married to a geologist! )

I stand corrected.  It happens quite often 

I stand corrected.  It happens quite often 

Standing?  That's always good.... 

Standing?  That's always good.... 

Why I oughta......... 

My mother found this stuff a few days ago and I remembered this thread - Its very good - washing machine smells fresh as a daisy afterwards..

http://shop.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=2153

Yeah, I've started using a washing machine cleaner to clean out the build up of lime and my MiL's washing powder, and it's really made it a lot fresher as well.  The one I use I pick up at Sainsbury's near the detergents.

I use HG Service Engineer from Lakeland.  It's cheaper than Service-It and is a better product, IME.

Alternate powder and liquid detergents, too.  On heavily soiled loads, I add a scoop or two of washing soda crystals, too.

Bicarb of Soda and the hot wash is a good old wives trick ( I have been watching kim & aggie again )