I have a miele novatronic washing machine model no w526 which is in excellent working order ,but When the door is open or the filter door down at the front of the machine it gives off a errible smell of stale/musty water which i cannot seem to get rid of and the smell wafts into the lounge.I am asthmatic and the smell dosent do my chest any favours!please help me on this matter?thankyou

karen, March 2013

its a drain problem,as pecavvi said

mm, March 2013

The smell may originate in the pipes and tubes of your washing machine particularly if you run it on the colder 40 degree and below settings - the bugs are not killed by the cooler water.

You could try a couple of very hot washes with no clothes or detergents - some people advocate vinegar as a cleaning agent.

The last time it happened to my W/mc (also a Miele) it turned out to be the house drains causing the smell - there was (is) no S-Bend trap in the section of pipework that drained my machine. The foul water drain outside the house had become blocked with debris and the smell filtered back into the house through the washing machine drain pipe.

You might have someone pull the machine out from the wall and get their nose into the drain opening and into the drum of the machine to determine the source of the stink.

Good luck...

Peccavi, March 2013

boil washing/high temp 95 deg wash cycle to help sterilize the machine.you could also use a descaling product

CK, March 2013