Most people choose a washer by which one is free. It costs about thirty seconds more to choose one by looking at it first, and that half minute is the difference between a load that comes out the way you expected and one you have to run again. A clean machine announces itself in four places.
Thirty seconds before you tip the basket in
The check is quick and there is a reason to do it in a particular order, which is that the first thing you look at is also the least reliable.
Open the door fully and look into the drum. Then the seal, then the dispenser drawer, then stand still for a second and notice the air.
None of it needs a torch or any special knowledge. It needs you to look before the basket goes in rather than after the cycle ends.
The reason to bother is that whatever is sitting in the machine now is going to end up distributed through your laundry within about four minutes of the cycle starting.
Anything you find is usually fixable in under a minute, either by wiping it or by moving to a clean machine next to it instead.
The drum
A drum that is ready for you is dry, bright and empty, and those three words cover more than they sound like.
Dry means no standing water in the bottom fold. A small amount of moisture after a recent load is ordinary, a pool sitting in it is not, and water that will not drain points at a machine with a slow outlet rather than a dirty one.
Bright means the steel looks like steel. A dull grey bloom on the inside surface is mineral deposit, and it is worth noticing because deposit holds onto everything else.
Empty means nothing caught in the perforations. Run a flat hand around the inside near the back and you will find anything that is there, usually lint, sometimes hair, occasionally sand.
Turn the drum a quarter by hand. The part that was at the bottom during the last load is the part that collected everything, and it is out of sight when you look straight in.
A clean machine passes all of that in about ten seconds, and the failures are obvious enough that you will not be in any doubt.
The door seal
The rubber ring around the opening of a front loader is designed with a fold in it, and the fold is where things settle.
Peel it back with a finger and look along the bottom arc, which is the section that stays wet.
What you are looking for is a ridge of grey lint, hair wrapped around the inner edge, or a build up of softener that feels slightly greasy.
You are also looking for anything sharp. A hair clip, a coin or a broken button caught in the fold will run along the fabric for the whole cycle.
A wiped seal is smooth and pale with nothing sitting in the crease, and it dries between loads instead of holding water from the last one.
This is the part most worth checking on a clean machine, because it touches every item that goes in and every item that comes out.
The dispenser drawer
Pull the drawer right out if it comes, and look at the compartments rather than at the front of it.
Detergent that has not flushed away sets into a hard pale crust. Softener leaves a thicker, darker film that stays tacky.
Look at the siphon cap and the small channel underneath, since that is the narrow part everything has to pass through.
A blocked compartment does not stop the machine, which is what makes it worth checking. It quietly delivers your detergent late and at the wrong concentration, and it can flush last week’s softener into a load you wanted plain.
A drawer somebody looks after is pale, smooth and dry, with the compartments the colour of the plastic they are made from.
If the drawer is bad, it is usually the clearest evidence you will get about the rest of the room, since it is the part nobody cleans for appearance.
What it smells of
Stand at the open door and notice the air coming out of the drum. It should smell of nothing much.
A faint trace of detergent from the last load is normal and disappears within a cycle.
A stale, closed up smell means the drum has been shut damp for a while, and it usually comes from the seal fold rather than from the drum itself.
A strong perfume smell means softener residue, which is not neutral, because it transfers onto whatever goes in next and it is stubborn on towels.
Anything sharp or chemical means something was spilled or something unusual was washed in it, and that is a reason to move to the next machine rather than to investigate.
Smell is the only one of these checks you cannot really argue with, because it reports on the parts of a clean machine you cannot see.
What the last load left behind
Almost every machine carries a little of the previous user, and the question is how much.
Lint is the usual find, in the perforations, around the seal and sometimes in a mat on the bottom of the drum. A handful of it will end up on whatever you wash next, most visibly on dark fabric.
Grit and sand sit at the lowest point of the drum and feel unmistakable underhand. They are abrasive, which makes them worth removing rather than washing around.
Pet hair is the one that travels furthest, because it weaves into knitwear and does not come out in a second wash.
A stray sock or a tissue that went through a cycle is harmless but tells you the machine was not looked at afterwards.
Take thirty seconds to pull the obvious out before loading. It is faster than dealing with the result.
If it is not right
You have three options and they are all reasonable.
The first is to use a different machine, which costs nothing and is the right answer if something is actually wrong rather than just untidy.
The second is to clear it yourself. Wipe the seal fold, pull the lint out of the drum, and run a short rinse cycle empty if something was spilled in it. That takes a few minutes and solves most of what you will find.
The third is to tell somebody who works there, which is the right answer for anything mechanical. Standing water that will not drain, a door that will not seal, a drum that does not turn freely.
Reporting it is worth doing even when you have moved to another machine, because the next person will not check as carefully as you did.
None of this makes you a difficult customer. A laundry that is run properly would rather know, because a clean machine is the thing it is selling.
Why a clean machine tells you about the whole room
The reason this check is worth a habit is that a washer is a fair sample.
Drums, seals and drawers are cleaned by the same routine that cleans everything else, so three good ones in a row means a schedule exists.
Three bad ones means the front of the room gets attention and the rest does not, and that applies to dryers and folding counters as much as to washers.
It also works in reverse. If the counters and the lint screens are in good order, the machine you are standing at is likely to be fine and you can load it.
A clean machine is not a lucky draw. It is evidence about how often somebody walks the row, and that is the thing you are actually choosing when you pick a laundry.
The Raleigh part
Pollen season is the local condition that changes what turns up in a drum. For several weeks in spring a fine yellow powder settles on everything left outdoors, and it comes indoors on jackets, bags, car seats and shoes. It is fine enough to sit in the weave of fabric rather than on top of it, which is why a spring load benefits from water volume and a full rinse rather than a short cycle.
The same dust lands on surfaces inside a busy room with a door opening all day. Folding counters and the top edges of machines show it first, and a laundry that is wiped down through the day rather than once in the morning looks noticeably different by mid afternoon in April.
Humid summers here are the reason to care about a drum left shut. Moisture does not leave a closed steel space quickly when the air outside it is already carrying plenty, so a machine that is shut damp stays damp until the next cycle runs. Doors left open between loads is the whole fix, and it is a habit rather than a piece of equipment.
Winters are mild enough that there is no real off season, which means the machines here run steadily all year without the quiet months that let equipment somewhere colder catch up. Steady use is not a problem in itself, and it does mean the maintenance has to be continuous rather than seasonal.
Where the check usually passes
The point of looking first is that most of the time you load the basket and get on with it.
The machines at our self-service laundry on North Raleigh Boulevard move considerably more water per cycle than a home drum and leave a load enough space to tumble, which is what gets fine spring dust out of a weave instead of moving it around.
Our machines and the store are cleaned daily.
Our wash-dry-fold service covers the everyday laundry.
For general guidance, The American Cleaning Institute publishes a laundry basics guide that is a useful cross-check.
The short version
Before loading, open the door of a clean machine and check four things. The drum should be dry, bright and empty, so turn it a quarter by hand to see the part that was at the bottom last time. Peel back the door seal and look along the bottom arc for a ridge of lint, wrapped hair, greasy softener or anything sharp. Pull the dispenser drawer and look for a set crust or a tacky film in the compartments and the channel beneath. Then notice what the air smells of, since stale or strongly perfumed both mean residue. If something is wrong, move to the next machine, clear it yourself, or report anything mechanical.
WaveMAX Raleigh is at 1100 North Raleigh Blvd, easy to reach from Raleigh and the surrounding area. If you have a load that will not fit at home, call us at 919-301-8054.