Modern machines are designed around 30°C eco cycles and liquid detergent, and that combination is exactly what biofilm likes: a slimy grey mix of undissolved detergent, fabric softener and body oils that colonises the door seal, the drawer housing and the outer drum. It is what makes clean laundry smell musty, and no amount of extra softener fixes it because softener is part of the food supply. In Heaton Norris that is handled inside the standard Stockport round, so SK4 pays the same fixed price as the rest of the borough.
Greater Manchester sits on soft-to-moderately-soft water off the Pennine reservoirs, so limescale is less of an issue here than it is in Kent or Essex — but heater elements still fur and pump filters still trap coins, hair grips and wire from bras. We fold the door boot back and clean both faces, remove and soak the drawer, degrease the housing and jets, drain and rinse the pump filter, wipe the outer glass and hinge, then run a hot service cycle with a machine-safe descaler so the parts you cannot reach get treated too. In Heaton Norris that is handled inside the standard Stockport round, so SK4 pays the same fixed price as the rest of the borough.