Found out the hard way that 'leave wet clothes in the washer overnight' is a myth about mold

Last week I got lazy and left a load of towels in the washer for like 14 hours. Everyone says mold will grow overnight, but I pulled them out, smelled fine, dried them, no issues. My buddy swears he got pink slime in 6 hours. Is this just a humidity thing? I'm in Phoenix so maybe dry air saves me. Anyone else risk it and come out clean?

2 comments

2 Comments

west.henry23d ago

Wait, six hours? That seems crazy fast for pink slime to show up. I've heard about that stuff but I figured it takes at least a full day in humid conditions. Honestly I think your buddy might be dealing with something else entirely, like maybe his washer has some gunk built up already. Plus you're in Phoenix which is basically a desert, so yeah, your clothes are probably dry again before any mold even gets a chance to start.

the_john23d ago

I think people exaggerate the whole mold thing. I've left clothes in the washer for a full day before and nothing happened. It probably depends on your local climate and how wet they are when you pull them out. If you live somewhere humid like Florida it might be a real problem, but in dry air it's not that serious.