What to Use Besides Affresh Washer Cleaner?

I don't have a Bravos, but I do have a LG that I need to clean by running the "cleaning cycle" once a month with bleach. They have a product they suggest you buy for the cleaning in the manual, but the manual also says you can use 1 cup of bleach instead. My washer doesn't smell either. I use white vinegar instead of liquid fabric softener for every wash & I think that keeps it from smelling.

Sounds to me like they just want to sell you something. I would search e-How for an alternative, because I bet $ there is one. Good Luck

Here's my take on this: we have a similar model that is energy efficient. I don't understand why we have to clean the machine with a product like Affresh. To me that is simply wasting water when these new fangled machines are supposed to be about conserving water. It's a waster of water to use a load of water with a tablet of cleanser, nothing else. To me, our old machine did a better job of washing clothes, the machine never smelled, and never had any residue. Now it does smell, don't get our clothes clean, and now we have to waste water cleaning the tub. Ugh.

I'm off my soap box now. I appreciate the suggestions of using bleach and vinegar. Thanks guys.

I don't know why you have to use anything at all 90% of the time. A lot of times there's a business relationship between the equipment manufacturer and the product manufacturer. And some detergents leave more residues and put more junk into the environment than they should. I think the washing machine people would be hard pressed to tell you why you really need a specific chemical in your equipment!

If you have no smells, you don't need to do anything. Maybe every 6 months, depending on the type of water you have (hard with mineral deposits?) you might need to get rid of residues or build-up. I'd use 2 cups of vinegar in a full rinse and be done with it. I'd use 1 cup in a front loader that uses less water. Another option is baking soda - it's mildly abrasive and it rinses clean, and is a great odor-buster.

Chlorine bleach is pretty terrible for the environment so I won't use it anymore (dioxin is well proven to be a huge contaminant). There's no need to disinfect 99% of things in this world! I clean floors, bathrooms, toilets, the refrigerator and everything else with either baking soda (if something needs scrubbing) or vinegar (if a rinse will do it).

If bleach alone doesn't work, try a vinegar run after the bleach run.

I use the tide brand stuff. I used to use just bleach, but it did not really work and my washer started to smell, since switching to the actual cleaner I have had no further issues.

pppffffftttttt to purchasing specific products.
i wipe mine out with white vinegar periodically.
far less frequently i'll run through a hot water cycle with white vinegar in the fabric softener thingie (i never use actual fabric softener.)
once in a blue moon i do the same thing with bleach (i agree with the environmental impact of bleach, but do reserve it for rare nuclear option cleanings.)
khairete
S.

Tide sells a product to use. Works great.

My husband bought our LG machine when I was not with him. He got to talking to the salesman about cleaning it, and the salesman told him to clean it with Tang, yes, the orange juice powder drink. I have used Affresh many times, but have used Tang too. It makes it really clean and of course it smells good too. I think it was a half cup that we used for an empty load.

Affresh is also sold at Lowes.
We have the front loader that made all the news about the mold build up. I've been using Clorox washing machine cleaner (it's in a grey bottle) and that stuff is amazing.

I have the same washer. It says right in the manual to use either Affresh or liquid chlorine bleach. If using an Affresh tablet, it can be dropped right in the washer basket. If using bleach, add 1 cup bleach to the bleach dispenser. In my machine, the max fill line of the bleach dispenser is 1 cup.

I just use bleach to clean my washer and it's been fine. I did use the Affresh sample that came with my washer but didn't want to buy more once I read the Affresh instructions. According to the Affresh package, once the clean cycle is done, you are supposed to wipe away any residue that may be left behind. I guess I feel that it shouldn't be leaving residue behind, so I just use the bleach and residue is not an issue.