How to clean mold and gunk trapped inside washing machine rubber seal
Front-load washing machine seals trap mold and slime in tight gaps between the rubber and the metal where fingers and scrub brushes cannot reach. This leaves stubborn buildup behind that standard scrubbing fails to remove, preventing a truly clean seal.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1wiping the area and running multiple cleaning cycles
- 2surrendering to using laundromats
- 3Scrubbing with a brush
- 4Replacing the rubber seal entirely
- 5Keeping the washer door open when not in use
- 6Wiping the ring after doing laundry
- 7Running multiple tub clean cycles with cleaning tablets, hot water, and bleach to break loose and flush out accumulated residue.
- 8Cleaning with a cotton bud and trying to ignore it
- 9Using bleach in the tub followed by a regular cycle
- 10Adding Pine Sol to every load
- 11Using a magnetic handle to prop the door open and replacing the front gasket entirely
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“the washing machine has an insane amount of gunk!”source ↗
“the gross gunk still remains between the rubber and the metal of the washing machine! It's such a tight gap that I cant even shove my fingers in there to scrape it out.”source ↗
“My front loaded washing machine rubber seal is disgustingly moldy. Need tips on how to clean it. I tried taking a scrub brush to it but it’s ON THERE.”source ↗
“I just did a tub clean yesterday with active washing machine cleaner then I checked under the silicone and found these 🤢😭. is there anything I could do to make it go away and not coming back?”source ↗
“The laundry room had a bit of smell when we moved in 2 months ago.”source ↗
“Today it smelled awful in there, like vomit.”source ↗
“I dropped one in and ran the Tub Clean cycle and when it finished there was black gunk all over the bottom.”source ↗
“The outside is clean, it’s only under which I had no idea it could be that disgusting 🥲😂”source ↗
“Ours got really bad in the past from continually shutting the door after use.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 10How to clean the white buildup off a dishwasher filter
- 2How to clean mold and swampy smells off a garbage disposal rubber flap
- 5Why is my dishwasher getting filthy right after deep cleaning?
- 7How do I clean out my dryer vent?
- 4How to clean cement-like buildup between dry cooler fins
- 4Can a chipped washing machine drum be repaired?