Last Updated on October 5, 2026 by Umar Farooq
Yes — ajar rather than wide, and until the drum is dry rather than for a set number of hours. Leave the detergent drawer open too. That is not internet folklore; it is Samsung’s own instruction, and it is the single cheapest thing you can do for a front-loader.
Samsung’s wording is worth having exactly: “Leaving the washer’s door and the detergent drawer open helps air them out and prevents moisture from lingering long enough to let mold or mildew form” (how to clean your Samsung washer).
How long, exactly? The guides disagree and the manufacturer does not
Search this question and you will be told “a few hours” by one page and “twenty to thirty minutes is enough, after that it adds nothing” by another. Both are guessing at a number.
Samsung gives a condition instead of a duration, and the condition is the right answer: until the tub is dry. How long that takes is not a property of the machine, it is a property of your room. A ventilated utility room in July might be an hour. A front-loader in a windowless bathroom in February can still be damp the next morning — which is precisely the machine that most needs the habit.
So stop timing it and start touching it. Reach in, feel the underside of the gasket fold, and if it is dry you can close the door.
The drawer matters as much as the door
This is the half almost every article drops, and Samsung puts it in the same sentence as the door.
The detergent drawer sits in a housing that stays wet after every cycle, and it is enclosed, dark and full of residue — the same conditions as the drum, in a smaller space. Pull it out to its stop and leave it there. If your machine will not hold the drawer ajar, pull it right out and set it on top for an hour.
That third row explains something people find confusing: they leave the door open religiously and the machine still smells faintly. The sump holds a little water by design. The door habit is doing its job; it just cannot reach that part. Clearing the filter is what does.
The exception nobody mentions: small children and pets
Every page telling you to leave the door open is written as though the laundry room is empty. A front-loader with its door open is a sealed drum at floor height with a latch that a child can pull shut. That is not a hypothetical concern invented here — it is the reason the feature exists at all. Samsung documents that “on some models like front load washers, Child Lock will lock the door. This is to prevent children from opening the door and potentially getting hurt” (Samsung washing machine will not start or fill with water).
If there are toddlers or pets in the house, the honest advice changes:
- Leave it ajar only while the room is occupied, then close it.
- Or leave the door closed and the drawer open, and run the tub-clean cycle more often to compensate.
- Do not leave a front-loader open overnight in a house with small children.
- Use the child lock as it is intended, and read washer control lock and child lock if you are not sure which of the two features your machine has.
A slightly musty drum is a solvable problem. The other thing is not.
Should you leave washing machine door open on a top-loader?
The whole habit is a front-loader answer. A top-loader has no door seal holding water, an opening that faces upward, and a lid that is not airtight even when closed. It dries on its own.
Leaving the lid up does no harm and helps a little in a humid room. It is simply not the same priority, and nobody with a top-loader needs to feel they have been neglecting their machine.
What the habit actually prevents
Front-loader odour is not a niche complaint or a sign you are doing laundry wrong. Whirlpool settled biofilm class actions covering 5.6 million front-loaders built between 2001 and 2010, and LG settled a parallel case covering several hundred thousand more. It is a known characteristic of a sealed, low-water drum.
The open door is the cheapest of the countermeasures, and the one you do not have to remember to schedule. The rest are on a timetable — see how often to clean a washing machine — and the fold of the gasket is where the visible growth starts, which is covered in how to clean a washing machine gasket.
FAQ
How long should I leave the washing machine door open?
Until the drum and the gasket fold feel dry. That is minutes in a ventilated room and overnight in a damp one. A fixed number of hours is the wrong unit.
Does leaving the door open really stop mould?
It prevents the conditions rather than killing anything already there. On a machine that already smells, you need a hot empty cycle and the gasket cleaned first; then the open door keeps it that way.
Is it bad to close the washing machine door straight away?
It is the single most reliable way to produce a musty machine. Warm, damp, dark and sealed is the ideal condition for the biofilm that causes the smell.
Should you leave washing machine door open all night?
In a house with no small children or pets, yes, and in a damp room that is often what “until it is dry” means. Otherwise close it before bed and leave the drawer out instead.
What if my machine is in a cupboard or under a counter?
Then the drying takes longer, not less time, and the habit matters more. Leave the cupboard door open too, or the machine is drying into a sealed box. Dark, damp and still is the same arithmetic wherever it happens, which is why a lidded hamper is judged on whether its sides breathe rather than on how well the lid shuts.
Can I leave the door open with a cat in the house?
This is the case for closing it. Cats settle in warm drums. Close the door, leave the drawer out, and run the tub-clean cycle more often instead.
