why does washing machine smell ?

put some bicarbonate of soda in the detergent drawer and put ur machine on an empty quik wash this will get rid of any odour.

I find this happens with our washing machine unless we keep the door (on the washing machine) open whenever it is not in use.

Also, if you usually wash at an environmentally-friendly 30 degrees, try doing a hot wash occasionally. And check that the filter trap is clear.

There are products that you can buy to clean the washing machine. You have to do a wash using the cleaning solution, without any laundry. We tried this, but it did not work as well as leaving the door open.

Do you put cleaning powder in your drawer, or do you put tablets directly in the drum? We started using tablets in the drum and found exactly the same problem- it's because there's no detergent cleaning the shoot between the drawer and the drum. We found alot of mould built up, and as the water washed through (cus the machine still thinks there's powder in there) it ended up stinking everything out. I'd remove the drawer if you can and scrub it clean, then put detergent in the drawer and put the machine on a 90 degree wash, then when it's finished leave the door open to air it our. Good luck!

Check the route of the outlet pipe ,it should rise from the washer to the point where it should drop slightly just before it connects to the waste pipe under the sink.A lot of w/machine wastes are incorrectly routed and the symtoms you describe are usually caused by outlet pipes laying on the floor before they connect to the waste system,causing stale water to lie in the pipe after the pump stops,and the smell of it to fill the machine.

Mine smells if I don't use it for a while (doesn't happen often!!)

Think the filters/waste pipes may need cleaning out!!