h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why do damp clothes start to smell bad, while really wet ones don't? I imagine it's something to do with bacteria finding optimum conditions when a certain level of air and water are present; yes?

Yes.

Gnomon is correct Even freshly laundered clothes will start to smell off, if you forget them in the washing machine after they have had a cool wash. You will need to wash them again


Dish cloths start to smell terrible too, unless they are absolutely clean.

One of my favourite smells is of freshly line-dried cotton sheets. I think the sunshine also helps to kill a few of the gazillions of life forms that linger even after a trip through the washing machine?

How about why does the washing machine smell bad if I leave the lid down? I know there is always left over water in the bottom that you can't see, but is it the lack of light or the lack of air that makes the bacteria breed more? Or can I just smell it more because it's built up inside?

I leave the washer door open to let it dry out inside after the cycle has finished. Sometimes it helps to run it on a very hot cycle, or add some special laundry bleach. Bleach seems to be very often used here, as the sand from the Calimas turn everything a dusty yellow/brown.

I remembered we had something in PR about this very subject. The Entry got sent to the Flea Market. Here it is, [How to Clean your Washing Machine]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A51927717

Anyone want to finish it off?

##I think the sunshine also helps to kill a few of the gazillions of life forms that linger even after a trip through the washing machine?##

during gulf war one we were told, if you cant get your clothes laundered hang them out in direct sunlight for around 90 mins. and that would kill the bacteria and get rid of any smells, then just brush off any dried dirt

thanks Taff! I thought that this might be true. The sunshine here certainly fades colours very quickly, and destroys the lycra in my underwear if I hang it outside on the line too long.

I wonder if you have to hang it out twice - for inside and outside the piece of clothing.

I think the actual temperature that the washing gets to in this sort of sunshine does a lot of the work. But I think that bright sunlight would penetrate through average types of fabric.

I believe it's the ultra violet light in sunshine that does for the bugs, and given that you can get a sun tan through clothing, even sunburn in extremis, I'd have to say no, you don't need to hang it up twice.

Isn't it fungi rather than bacteria (or, as well as but mostly) that makes a damp cloth smell that way?

ugh . . . thanks Gosho I am just _so_ glad to know that

There is another reason that old clothes smell bad, and it is to do with the amount of human fat that has accumulated in the clothing - and bedding too. Now we wash at lower temperatures this is not always all removed. In the olden days women put a lot of clothes onto an actual boil wash. The smell I am referring to is the one you notice when you enter a badly kept charity shop.

to give a direct answer to the question posed - the reason cloths begin to smell bad is down to bacteria multiplying in the damp and nutritious conditions of the cloth. The most common is pseudomonas species which cause the smell associated with drains and flower vases when the water is a few days old.

Pseudomonas is also responsible for food spoilage, particularly dairy produce and has become a common and sometimes serious pathogen in hospital acquired infections. Many hospital wards in the UK have banned flowers as a consequence.

t.

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1995-11-24/

You know I think I suffer from OCD when it comes to laundry. I blame my mother. In fact she only just rang me this morning to discuss the finer points of washing sheets. True.