Samsung Washer Self Clean Cycle: How to Run It, What It Does & When

Samsung's Self Clean (Self Clean+ on newer models) is the washer's own maintenance cycle: a long, hot, high-water cycle that strips detergent residue, biofilm and odour sources from the tub — the build-up that causes SUD codes, musty smells and grey film on seals. This page covers how to run it, what it does, when the machine asks for it, and what Self Clean can't fix.

How to run it

Empty the tub completely (no laundry, no detergent — the cycle is water and heat only, and adding detergent defeats it). Select Self Clean on the cycle dial/panel and start; it runs far longer than a wash (up to ~4 hours on some models — that's normal, it's soaking and heating in phases). Leave the door ajar afterwards so the tub dries.

When: the reminder and the symptoms

Many Samsung models count cycles and light the Self Clean indicator every ~40 washes. Don't wait for it if symptoms arrive first: musty smell on 'clean' laundry, visible mould spots on the door gasket folds, SUD codes appearing on normal doses, or a grey slime film in the dispenser drawer — all are build-up announcing itself.

What it can't fix

Self Clean maintains; it doesn't resurrect. Mould deeply rooted in a gasket's porous rubber may survive it (the gasket then needs manual cleaning or replacement), it does nothing for drain-path blockages (that's the filter), and it won't clear a SUD problem caused by ongoing overdosing — the dose still has to change.

The supporting habits

Monthly Self Clean in hard-use homes, door and dispenser left ajar between washes, gasket folds wiped dry after the last load of the day, and measured HE detergent doses — together these end the smell-complaint cycle that brings most owners to this page.

Three names, one job: Pure Cycle, Self Clean and Self Clean+

Samsung's own support pages collapse the naming question in one parenthesis: 'Self Clean (also called Pure Cycle or Self Clean+)' — one tub-cleaning cycle, renamed across generations. Pure Cycle is the oldest name, the one printed in the manuals of the WF330/WF350/WA422-era machines: 'a self-cleaning cycle that removes mold that may occur inside the washing machine.' Self Clean is the middle name, and Self Clean+ the current one, but the job description never changes in any generation's manual: a special cycle that cleans areas of the tub where moisture and detergent residue accumulate but a normal cycle does not reach, run to prevent the build-up and odour — Samsung's current manual words it as performing the cycle 'to prevent this build-up or odor and keep your washer drum fresh and clean.' So when your panel offers only one of the three names, you are not missing the other two cycles; you have the same cycle wearing your generation's badge. Samsung's mildew guide treats them as interchangeable in a single instruction — 'select Self Clean, Self Clean+, or Pure Cycle, then press Start/Pause' — and this page does the same everywhere except where a generation's own manual gives its cycle a different rule, which is flagged each time it happens.

The blinking Self Clean reminder: a counter, not a fault

The reminder that brings many owners here — the Self Clean light lit or blinking at the end of a wash — is a wash counter reaching its interval, and Samsung publishes the intervals. Its cleaning guide states that the Self Clean LED displays after 20 washes on a top-load model and after 40 washes on a front-load model. The current Self Clean+ manuals count in cycles with more elaborate manners: on the WF45-generation machines the reminder appears on the main screen once every 40 washes, can be ignored for six consecutive washes, disappears from the seventh wash, and returns on the second 40th wash if the cycle still has not been run; on the newest manuals the washer displays a 'Drum Clean needed' message for an hour after every 40 cycles, and shows the alert again when a cycle completes, clearing if you open the door. None of this behaviour is an error state in any Samsung document — the older Pure Cycle manuals even promise that not running the cycle when the indicator lights 'will not cause a problem with the washing machine', with the indicator simply relighting after two more washes. The one thing the reminder cannot be is reset away like a code: it clears by the cycle being run, which is the point of it. If yours lights far more often than the counts above, that is a changed usage pattern (more washes) far more often than a fault.

Bleach: where Samsung directs it, and the generation whose manual forbids agents

This is the one place the generations genuinely disagree, so it is given exactly as Samsung publishes it, in both versions. Samsung's current cleaning guides (US, Canada and Gulf editions agree step for step) prescribe, when the washer smells of mildew or shows mould, a bleach-assisted clean: first run a Spin-only cycle with the drum empty to drain remaining water; pour liquid chlorine bleach into the detergent compartment up to the MAX line — explicitly not into the bleach compartment, and not directly into the drum; close the door and run Self Clean, Self Clean+ or Pure Cycle immediately; afterwards wipe away residue inside the drum with paper towels, run a Rinse+Spin cycle to clear what remains, repeat as needed, and leave the door and detergent drawer open to dry. The newest Self Clean+ manual matches this with a condition attached: only where residue is present in the drum, add liquid chlorine bleach to the MAX line in the main-wash compartment before starting, do not exceed the MAX line, use or mix no other detergent or chemicals, run Rinse+Spin afterwards if needed — and note that bleach left sitting in the drum for an extended period can cause rust. Against that stands one earlier Self Clean+ manual's flat caution: 'Do not use any cleaning agents. Do not add detergent or bleach. Chemical residue in the drum degrades the cleaning performance.' Both are Samsung, for different model generations, so the rule on this page is the one the rest of the site follows: your model's manual wins. Check its Self Clean pages before the bleach bottle comes out; where the manual is silent, Samsung's current support guides are the bleach method above. What no Samsung source permits is detergent in the cycle — every generation agrees the cleaning cycle runs without detergent.

Pure Cycle rules from the older manuals

The Pure Cycle generation's manuals add operating rules the newer panels hide, and they still govern those machines. Once Pure Cycle is selected, the only function that can be set is Delay Start — the cycle takes the machine over completely. It must never be run with laundry in the machine: the manuals warn in the same words across models that this 'may cause damage to the laundry or a problem with the washing machine' (one generation phrases it as damage to the texture of the clothes). No cleansing agent is needed — 'using Pure Cycle, you can clean the drum without using a cleansing agent' — and if you insist on one, the front-load manuals cap it precisely: use only one tenth of the amount the cleansing agent's manufacturer recommends. The auto alarm function closes the loop: if the Pure Cycle button is lit after a wash, tub cleaning is required; the indicator goes off if you skip it, relights after two more washes, and 'generally appears once a month or so', with the frequency varying by how often the machine is used. Owners of these machines sometimes search for a way to lengthen or strengthen the cycle; the manuals offer none, because the cycle's design — a fixed hot soak the panel will not let you modify — is the whole mechanism.

How long it takes, and the temperature you cannot change

Plan the cycle by Samsung's published durations, which differ sharply by loader type: approximately one hour for Self Clean on a top-load washer and four hours on a front-load washer. Samsung's cleaning guide gives both figures and adds the practical corollaries — after the cycle begins, the estimated time remaining is what the display shows, and if residue or suds appear during a Self Clean cycle, Samsung recommends running another Self Clean cycle afterwards rather than intervening in the running one. The temperature is not yours to set: the Self Clean+ manuals state that the water temperature is defaulted to Extra Hot and cannot be changed (one model family is documented at Hot instead of Extra Hot — again, your manual's word is final). That fixed heat is functional, not arbitrary: the cycle cleans with heat, water level and time in place of the chemicals most generations forbid, so a front-loader asking for four hours is executing the design, not malfunctioning. If a front-load machine's cycle seems endless, compare it against the four-hour figure before treating it as a hang — and if it genuinely overruns with no countdown progress, that discrepancy, quoted with the model number, is a service report rather than a cleaning problem. One last duration note belongs to households that run the cycle rarely: Samsung's support guidance treats the interval, not the calendar, as the trigger — the counter reaches its figure after 20 or 40 washes however long those washes take to accumulate — so a lightly used machine may go many months between reminders without anything being wrong, and a heavily used one may ask monthly.

What Self Clean does not wash: the filter, the drawer and the door seal

Samsung's own cleaning guide is a sequence, not a single cycle, and the order matters because the tub cycle cannot reach three places owners assume it cleans. First, the pump filter — front-load models only, a scope Samsung states explicitly (top-loaders have no removable pump filter): the filter sits behind the access panel at the bottom front, and Samsung's guide has you clean it and reinsert it twisted clockwise until secured, with the drain hose's cap replaced firmly and the hose secured in its clip before the panel closes; a tub cycle run over a packed filter is cleaning the drum while the drain path stays dirty. Second, the detergent drawer: Samsung's guide describes pulling the drawer open until it stops, lifting out the removable dispensers and rinsing them in warm water to remove accumulated traces, and, for full removal, pushing in on the ends of both sides at once while pulling (on a front-loader, pushing down the tab between the bleach and pre-wash compartments) — necessary because the guide is blunt about the drawer economy: too much detergent gunks the drawer, less of it then reaches the clothes, owners compensate with more, and the spiral feeds the very residue the tub cycle exists to remove, which is why Samsung also suggests wiping the drawer dry after every wash session. Third, the door seal and drum surfaces after the cycle: Samsung's mildew procedure ends the Self Clean run with wiping away residue inside the drum with paper towels, a Rinse+Spin to clear what remains, and leaving the lid or door — and the detergent drawer — open to dry thoroughly. The cycle does the submerged work; the owner's ten minutes do the air-exposed work, and the smell complaints that survive a Self Clean usually trace to one of these three skipped stations rather than to the cycle itself.

Key takeaways

• Run Self Clean before a holiday (machine sits empty and dry) rather than after (it sat damp).
• If your model lacks Self Clean, the hottest longest empty cycle with no detergent is the manual equivalent.

Resetting the Samsung washer

On Samsung washers most fault codes clear with a power reset: switch the machine off, unplug it (or trip the breaker) for at least 5 minutes so the control board fully discharges, then restore power and run a short Rinse+Spin or a small test load. If the code was caused by a one-off condition — a kinked hose, an unbalanced load, a suds spike — it will not come back. If it returns on the next cycle, the control has detected the same fault again and the reset has only cleared the message, not the cause. Samsung does not use a button-combination 'master reset' on most models; the power cycle is the reset.

Related guides

Facts on this page were checked against manufacturer documentation: www.samsung.com · www.samsung.com · www.samsung.com · www.samsung.com