I have a 2 year old Kenmore Oasis top load washer. Over the past year or so my husband's white tee shirts and shorts have been coming out of the wash with mysterious light brown stains, like oil stains. I don't use bleach on them, even though the label says I can use non-chlorine bleach. I wash them with Arm and Hammer liquid. I always put the soap into the dispenser.
I would think if the soap were the cause the stains would be blotchy. While there are a few blotches, there are also stains that appear as though the staining agent had been drizzled on the shirt. The stains will not wash out. Last week my husband put seven tee shirts, all less than a year old, in the rag bag because they were too stained to wear. I don't believe it is the water because we have a water softener.
Take one of the rag bag shirts and try "Bar Keepers Friend" on the spots and see if it comes out. I make a paste of the stuff and rub it on the stain. If you rinse it out and the stain is gone - it's rust. It's sold with the powered Comet and type of products. If it's rust then you have to start looking at the washer. Good luck!
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Request: Washer Leaving Brown Stains on Clothing (08/06/2009)
I live in an apartment complex, and I use their laundry room for washing clothes. I have noticed that after washing and drying some of my clothes, there are "tea" colored spots on them. Why is this happening?
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Request: Washer Leaving Brown Stains on Clothing
Archived on 08/06/2009
I live in an apartment complex, and I use their laundry room for washing clothes. I have noticed that after washing and drying some of my clothes, there are "tea" colored spots on them. This has happened in other apartment building laundry facilities I have used also. Why is this happening? What can I do about getting them out? I've tried bleach, to no avail.
Hi,
Are you sure that it is not the water? Sometimes when I wash whites it looks like a brownish color. The only other option would be that someone left something in the washer/ dryer. Good luck! (06/02/2009)
This has happened to me twice over the years and both times it was oil leaks from the washer and it needed servicing. It was the oil seal that needed replacing. (06/04/2009)
I just wanted to make a comment about using public laundry rooms. You are better off doing a Clorox wash to remove germs, and then, in the same washer, do the rest of your washing. I read this somewhere. Sounds like a good idea. (06/05/2009)
Agree with Ausjulie on the oil seal leaking; tell the maintenance person. Back in the days when we were apartment dwellers we ended up hauling our wash to an off site laundromat that had newer washers and dryers (since our building maintenance then overall wasn't great and we didn't see any improvement with the wash).
When we did the first loads in the newer laundromat, we were astonished by how much cleaner everything was. We'd been concentrating on those oil spots, but in reality everything had a dinginess to it.
I'd give everything a good shooting with the Oxyclean laundry spray (which seems to get almost everything out) and pre-treat the darkest spots with Dawn dish washing detergent. Try to get the wash done somewhere else if the building is iffy about maintaining the laundry room. (06/05/2009)
My washer does it all the time and it's not rust, it's red clay in the water lines. When we have a broken pipe that's when it happens. So what I do is I fill my washer up with Bleach water first before putting my white clothes in, or I will put my dark clothes in that way the rust or whatever it is in the lines will come out of the pipes. Also there is a rust remover you can use to get rid of the rust. Hope this helps. (06/05/2009)
