Eww! Unhook that vent and clean out whatever's in there!
For the washer, we use bleech periodically according to the manual. I think we might pour it straight into the drum? Maybe just in the bleach segment. The door also stays open when not in use and we wipe down the rubber seal when we remember. (we had a used washer that we got with the seal full of mold, never want that to happen again!)
lol - I called the duct cleaning company I used last time and he's confident something crawled in there and died. I'm having them come out on Saturday but in the meantime I've covered the hole with duct tape so the smell isn't coming into the laundry room (and house). It's the most putrid smell ever... I'll be getting my snake cam tomorrow so I plan to fish it in there with some fish tape and check out the crime scene lol.
After tub cleaning the washing machine, the inside drum smells funky. I realized the first time I ran the wash I didn't actually use tub clean w/ the bleach. I figured out how to use tub clean after and poured in some white vinegar after, and it smells kinda gross. I put a bowl of baking soda in and closed the door and will leave it overnight. Will probably open it back up tomorrow and let it air out.
On that note, with front loading washers, is there *supposed* to be some residual water left in the drum after a cycle? I noticed in the back of the drum (where there are no drain holes), there's about an inch or two of water laying around (and it looks kinda dirty). I'm just wondering where it's coming from where it still seems dirty...