How do I disinfect washing machine after putting mom's soiled clothes in it? Do I pour bleach and run an empty cycle right after?

I simply dumped as much into the toilet as I could then, I would rinse in the bath tub and let then drip as much as possible before carrying them thru the house to the laundry where aI washed the whatevers in hot water and laundry detergent.
Most of the time it was only urine but you never know when the other side will cut loose all over the place.
It it were one of her peapod mats soiled along with the urine then it was outside and rinsed off with the garden hose and allowed to drain. Then it went into the washer
throw rugs, no machine washing but lots of time out doors but usually a good rinse in the bath tub.
Of course cleaning her was first and cleaning the tub was last.
We live in a newer house with only the sewer line going to the main sewer.
Never had an odor problem.
And I might go through this as much as three times a day

Imho, the answer will be, in part, determined if you have a front loader. Front loader washing machines will collect debris, dirt and malodorous water in the catch basin at the bottom (which can be purged out by the owner, routinely). I didn't find the product, 'affresh" very good, but it's better than nothing. If your machine has a cycle for cleaning, you may want to try that. Also, if you own a front loader, you could and should wipe down the entire inside lip of the machine. Before you put the soiled clothing into the machine, you may want to soak the clothes in a basin of soapy water. Ergo, you will eliminate the cleaning of the washing machine.

Youi can buy Affresh which is a cleanser for washing machines and does a good job. I used it weekly when I had a top loader. Now, I usually use it monthly since my last load of the week is a "whites with bleach" and I wipe the seals good afterwards on my new front loader.

Hi, you have gotten good suggestions here, and I don’t actually have a new one but just wanted to offer empathy that this is not an easy thing to deal with on a frequent basis. I wanted to acknowledge that. I care for my motherinlaw (95) who struggles with constipation. Any efforts to relieve that constipation result in soiling her clothes (or more) due to not making it to the toilet in time or not being aware of the seepage. She always wears a panty-liner but it is often insufficient. My motherinlaw is mortified when she finds out about the “accident,” and is apologetic, so I try to be nonchalant about it- “it’s only poop!” “Everything is washable”- but usually I am pretty wrung out after cleaning up after an extensive accident that I need some time to rest and recover! Usually getting outside in the fresh air for a few minutes really helps me. Hang in there. Sounds like you are a dedicated and caring daughter. Take care.

I noticed a few people mentioned top loader v front loader. I do not trust front loader washing machines to get things as clean or to be clean themselves. For that reason, I have chosen to stick with a top loader machine. And yes, I remember back to the days of cloth diapers, rinsed in the toilet then soaked in a bucket with lysol until the bucket was full. It never occurred to me then that the washer might be contaminated. I guess now we are more aware of bacteria and viruses. I would probably run the load through a second time with hot water and white vinegar instead of detergent and softener (the vinegar disinfects and softens nicely).

How expensive is the outfit and how difficult would it be to replace? I completely threw away a few of my son's soiled outfits when he was a baby and had a big blow out. It wasn't worth risking contamination of all our other clothes to get that one outfit clean. It was also a very freeing, liberal feeling; just pitch it!


I realize this is not realistic much of the time, but should be seriously considered at least once in a while. Clothing is cheap; getting the whole family sick from a contaminated load of laundry is no joke. How much are you spending on time, yuck factor, cleaning products...just to clean one pair of pants or underwear? If you can spare it and didn't really like that pair of pants anyway, use the clean part to wipe up the soiled patient before the real cleaning starts, then simply throw the soiled item away in it's own plastic bag, and then triple bag it, and throw it away. Try it at least once. It's such a great feeling to throw it away!! Wal Mart, Target, and Kohl's have very cheap clothing, and it's clean!!

I would not wash clothes soiled with feces in my washing machine before soaking them in a bucket with a disinfectant such as pine soap or Lysol. You are literally contaminating your greywater and the greywater of everyone else using that water. Poop belongs in a toilet along with the wastewater, which goes to the sewage treatment plant.

Scrape as much poop off her clothes into the toilet as possible. Soak her clothes in a bucket with disinfectant for 15-20 minutes. Pour that water down the toilet. You can add a small amount of pine soap and/or a laundry booster such as Borax to wash her laundry. I would avoid using bleach, which is horrible for you (fumes) and the environment.

I would just use a Clorox wipe. But like said, if you rinse the clothes before the actual wash, you should be OK. I used to let Moms soak in Vinegar and water. Good that u can line dry. I find dryers sometimes bring out the smells.

Is your washer a front loader or top. My Mom always left the top up after doing a load of wash. It helped the drum to dry out. Otherwise, it would smell musty. Those front loaders have that large gasket that tends to hold moisture and gets mildew on it. Not sure if leaving the door open would help.

Well it might be hard to find it now but we got the Lysol disinfecting liquid for washing machines - I put a bit of it anytime that there are soiled underwear.

I just googled “washing machine cleaner” and found several, Including one by the Clorox brand.

We use one made by Tide, and it works very well for odors and cleaning the tub, but if you feel that you need to disinfect, there might be another brand that would do better.

I try to use full strength Clorox as little as possible, because it!s so harsh, and I agree with the posters who said that the washing machine really should be clean after doing clothing with the hottest temperature setting the machine will do.

Clorox makes a washing machine cleaner. I cloth diapered my son & never needed to clean the washer, but I did use the Clorox washing machine cleaner a time or two and it seemed to work well.

Thank you everyone - I'm so grateful for this forum

I would not worry about it. I did cloth diapers and once they were washed I did not 'clean' the machine. I did not use bleach on the diapers either.

If you can next time, rinse the worse of the mess off the clothes, remember rinsing diapers in the toilet? If you have a yard, I would use the hose to get the bulk of the mess off, then wash as usual.

If you choose to run a cleaning cycle with bleach (and no clothes), I would run it a second time, with hot water but without bleach. My own not-so-old machine seems to capture the bleach somewhere and then if the next load is dark clothes, one or two items come out with bleached spots on them. Drives me nuts.

My mother soils her clothes, nightgown sometimes. I wash them immediately in the washing machine on the hot water cycle with detergent. The washing machine is clean and smells good after. If the soiled clothing is from stool you will need to soak the soiled clothing in a basin in very hot water, and then drain in the toilet. Make sure the clothing is clean before putting them in the washing machine due to possible clogging the machine. This system works well for us.

If your washing machine is a mess after running her clothes, then her clothes are not getting cleaned.

I would wipe the exterior down after loading the clothes and then it should all be clean when the WASH is complete.

If not, you should try the longest cycle and a double rinse or wash everything twice to ensure that her clothing is safe.