Chosen Solution
I am wondering if this indicator light comes on after a certain number of loads or because it is actually dirty. It feels like a gimmick to sell “Afresh” to me… I have only had this washer a month because it was in the house we just bought so I know nothing about its history etc.
REF: https://www.maytag.com/content/dam/globa… On Page 11, “Washer Care” it states: “After every 45 cycles, the Clean Washer Reminder status light glows. Light can be deactivated by running the Clean Washer with AFFRESH cycle or you can press the Reminder Reset button and start the Clean Washer Reminder cycle count over again.” So to answer your question, it is a cycle count and not a sense of dirtiness. However, you don’t have to use AFFRESH. You can add 1 cup of liquid chlorine bleach to the bleach dispenser. You can find this procedure also on Page 11 - see “Begin Procedure” under Washer Care.
The “clean” cycle - if it has one - is a huge waste of energy, creates extra hot water and takes several hours. I use Nellie’s washing soda (many “natural” laundry detergents use similar ingredients, mainly, washing soda (soda ash or sodium carbonate) which cleans the clothes and keeps the machine clean, automatically. After 3 years, I was out of Nellies and had to order some. In the meantime, I washed a few loads with regular detergent and the next time I went to use the washer, two weeks later, it had developed “the odor” but it only took 4 or 5 loads with Nellie’s to eliminate it. Washing soda is an excellent all around cleaner, in particular, for the sources of “rotten” odors but it acts on those odors (and stains and dirt) the same way lye unclogs your drain so you need to rinse with vinegar or lemon juice added to the rinse when washing natural fibers or they will break down (age) faster. Dirt is easy to clean with washing soda while fibers take a long time but repeated washing with washing soda an failing to neutralize it, after, will begin to break them down. This is also why you don’t want to use baking soda as a regular “no poo” shampoo unless you are willing to let vinegar soak into your hair for a period of time to neutralize it. I don’t use fabric softener as, like soap, it sticks to your clothes and not using it allows me to fill the fabric softener dispenser with distilled white vinegar to neutralize the washing soda’s alkalinity. If you want to run the clean cycle, you can just use 1/4 cup of washing soda (the active ingredient in Affresh) or a washing soda based laundry detergent which usually also contains oxygen bleach.
Running two cups of vinegar also works
