Originally Posted By: Dignan
Well, it looks like my mom has an entirely new issue with her washer. It seems that without excessive care after every wash day, mildew will quite easily build up in the unit. The problem (and the smell) is so bad currently that she's starting from scratch and having a technician simply replace the part.

My machine does get mildew around the rubber ring. I just clean it down with bleach and run an empty cycle with more bleach to clean it. There hasn't been any smell from the mildew, though.