Smelly Washing Machine vs Steam

I went back to the site to see what the issue was for mold and steam. The site deals mostly with mold and allergies. It's interesting to me because my son has allergies along with eczema so figuring out this washer problem may be a cause for some of the issues he might be experiencing.


It looks like that mold can be removed via steam. Supposedly steam cleaners will put out about 180-220 degree heat which will kill most mold. Apparrently mold will be killed off at temps of 160 degrees and above. With that knowledge and assuming that I can verify that on a few other sources, then the water heater that I have will not be anywhere near the temperture that I need to effectively sanitize my washer. I think the top most temperture that I can put my water heater at is 140. To be reasonable, I don't need 160 degree water running in my house. I'll be burning the skin off my family and guests if I did. I'll definitely have to look into this as a solution as well. Not only for my washer but other things in the house.