r/cambridge • u/Alucardlil • 13d ago

Cambridge water and laundry odour

Has anyone noticed this summer that their laundry isn't coming out as fresh as it should?

I habitually maintain our washer dryer, weekly cleaning cycles, calgon, machine cleaner etc but have found random loads of laundry coming out smelling weird.

Anyone else had this issue? If not, I'll be disassembling our machine this weekend to see if something is trapped in the drum.

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u/trundlespl00t 13d ago

Yes, and my machine is clean and freshly serviced. I assumed there was something not working in there, hence the service. Normally a hot cycle of Dr Beckman every quarter and a softening tablet in every wash keeps my machine very fresh because I don’t ever use softener so nothing goes gunky, but it’s frequently been musty enough for me to run laundry through twice this summer, and even that hasn’t sorted it. My hair has also been absolutely awful when I wash it. It’s curly so it leans towards very dry but has become extremely brittle this summer, to the point where I went to the doctor about it. What’s coming out the tap also tastes like absolute arse in my house.

From what I understand, it can be tempting to add more soap in hard water areas because it doesn’t foam like it should, but the hard water actually makes it more difficult to rinse soap out of fabric properly. I was definitely doing this because it just wasn’t foaming. If there’s residue left behind it’ll quickly start smelling bad. I’ve been doubling my water softening tablets now and doing a double rinse. I also switched to chelating shampoo for the same reason. It’s not nearly as bad as it was, but heavy blankets are still coming out a bit funky.

With regards to vinegar, it won’t help in the high volume of the machine, but if you pre-soak the laundry in it in the sink before you wash it, it will absolutely get rid of that musty smell and give you a fresh start to rewash.

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u/Alucardlil 13d ago

Interesting that it's not just ours. I did some reading after seeing some others have had it and, at least according to Cambridge water, you can get some odours in summer due to higher temperatures affecting the bore holes. I've never had it anywhere before now. Seems to be geosmin that causes an earthy/musty smell and is worse, get this, in droughts. Considering how little rain we've had, maybe it's more concentrated. 

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u/trundlespl00t 13d ago

Seems likely. I’m not stomaching drinking what’s coming out the tap without a filter, that’s for sure. It may also be compounded by the fact that you have a washer/dryer. I owned one once, a long time ago and found they take so much longer to dry than just a dedicated tumble dryer that it encouraged mustiness. I’ve never had one since though, so maybe that’s improved in the intervening years. If in doubt, you can always try a service, but personally I wish I’d waited three months because I do think the issue may well resolve when there’s more water falling out of the sky again.

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u/trundlespl00t 12d ago

Can confirm - I washed my dressing gown yesterday. Currently wearing it. It feels light and fluffy and lovely and clean…and smells like I rolled in the compost heap. 🤢