---
title: "The machine smells"
description: "Miele the machine smells — warm, damp and closed is what both of these machines are between uses, and in this climate that is all it takes."
url: "https://mielemiami.support/symptoms/appliance-smells/"
date_modified: "2026-08-22"
---


# Miele the machine smells

### The fastest diagnosis is the code

On a washing machine: pull back the door bellows and clean into the folds at the bottom, then leave the door ajar between washes and run a hot maintenance wash. On a dishwasher: lift out the filters and clean them, and check the drain hose still has its high loop.

### Warm, damp and closed

That is what a dishwasher and a washing machine both are between uses, and in a South Florida summer it is all it takes. Almost none of this is a repair. All of it is worth dealing with, because the same conditions that make a smell also shorten a door seal.

### The two places to look

On a washing machine, the bottom fold of the door bellows, where nothing rinses. On a dishwasher, the filters in the base of the tub. Leaving the door ajar between uses does more than any product sold for the purpose.

The door bellows on a washer

Residue collects in the bottom fold where nothing rinses it.

The dishwasher filters

Which is where the smell almost always is.

A lost drain hose loop

Letting the sink drain back into the machine.

Standing water

Which is a drain problem wearing a different complaint.

A dishwasher, a washer, or both

What it usually means

A musty smell when the door is opened

A smell that comes back within days of cleaning

Black marks in the door seal

The fastest diagnosis is the code

On a washing machine: pull back the door bellows and clean into the folds at the bottom, then leave the door ajar between washes and run a hot maintenance wash. On a dishwasher: lift out the filters and clean them, and check the drain hose still has its high loop.

Warm, damp and closed

That is what a dishwasher and a washing machine both are between uses, and in a South Florida summer it is all it takes. Almost none of this is a repair. All of it is worth dealing with, because the same conditions that make a smell also shorten a door seal.

The two places to look

On a washing machine, the bottom fold of the door bellows, where nothing rinses. On a dishwasher, the filters in the base of the tub. Leaving the door ajar between uses does more than any product sold for the purpose.

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**[Read full article: The machine smells](https://mielemiami.support/symptoms/appliance-smells/)**