Short version:
I usually use pods that are placed directly in the drum and so don't usually use the soap drawer at all. In the last few months, my washing machine will leak a little from the soap drawer if I do that for a couple of washes. If I just open and close the soap drawer before a wash, it doesn't leak. I'm curious as to why.
Longer version:
I am sure it's leaking from the soap drawer and nowhere else. I initially thought it was leaking from the bottom of the door because that's where I saw the water when I watched the machine through a cycle (very boring but I needed to know). A bit of reading up on possible causes told me that leaks apparently from the bottom of the door were quite often actually from the soap drawer, down the short distance to the top of the door, around the door and then off the bottom of the door. I tested by taping some paper towel to various parts of my washing machine and seeing which bits became wet. The leak is definitely from the soap drawer only. My washing machine is thoroughly cleaned regularly. It seems to me that a machine I use for cleaning things should be clean. A couple of videos I watched said it was normal for there to be mould in the door seal of a washing machine. Maybe it is, but I think it shouldn't be. I run a cleaning cycle at 90C fairly often, wipe the inside and outside of the door seal and door with a suitable cleaner, remove the soap drawer and clean both it and the compartment it slots into. After the leaking started I even went as far as cleaning each of the holes above the soap drawer (where the water comes in, presumably) with an interdental toothbrush (it was the right shape for getting into the small holes without disassembling the washing machine). Each time I cleaned the compartment the soap drawer fits into the washing machine would go a couple of washes without leaking and then leak again. This happened half a dozen times before I just opened and closed the soap drawer before a wash without doing anything else. No leaking, which led me to think that the cleaning of the already clean part of the washing machine was superfluous and all that was required was opening and closing the soap drawer. A dozen washes without any leaking seems to indicate that's the case. But I don't know why, so I'm asking here out of curiousity.
I usually use pods that are placed directly in the drum and so don't usually use the soap drawer at all. In the last few months, my washing machine will leak a little from the soap drawer if I do that for a couple of washes. If I just open and close the soap drawer before a wash, it doesn't leak. I'm curious as to why.
Longer version:
I am sure it's leaking from the soap drawer and nowhere else. I initially thought it was leaking from the bottom of the door because that's where I saw the water when I watched the machine through a cycle (very boring but I needed to know). A bit of reading up on possible causes told me that leaks apparently from the bottom of the door were quite often actually from the soap drawer, down the short distance to the top of the door, around the door and then off the bottom of the door. I tested by taping some paper towel to various parts of my washing machine and seeing which bits became wet. The leak is definitely from the soap drawer only. My washing machine is thoroughly cleaned regularly. It seems to me that a machine I use for cleaning things should be clean. A couple of videos I watched said it was normal for there to be mould in the door seal of a washing machine. Maybe it is, but I think it shouldn't be. I run a cleaning cycle at 90C fairly often, wipe the inside and outside of the door seal and door with a suitable cleaner, remove the soap drawer and clean both it and the compartment it slots into. After the leaking started I even went as far as cleaning each of the holes above the soap drawer (where the water comes in, presumably) with an interdental toothbrush (it was the right shape for getting into the small holes without disassembling the washing machine). Each time I cleaned the compartment the soap drawer fits into the washing machine would go a couple of washes without leaking and then leak again. This happened half a dozen times before I just opened and closed the soap drawer before a wash without doing anything else. No leaking, which led me to think that the cleaning of the already clean part of the washing machine was superfluous and all that was required was opening and closing the soap drawer. A dozen washes without any leaking seems to indicate that's the case. But I don't know why, so I'm asking here out of curiousity.
