I have had a Mediflow Water Pillow for two months, and for two months a moldy odor has come from the pillow fabric and permeated my bedding underneath the pillow. The company told me to change the water and when I did --- no mold odor came from the contained water. The moldy odor was on the outside of the back fabric. As to washing the pillow --- this was nearly impossible, as the pillow floated to the top of the washing machine and no amount of squishing it down would kept it submerged. The spin cycle nearly broke my machine, so I had to keep opening the machine to squeeze water out of the pillow. It has to be air dried as heat will damage the pillow. So drying took an hour machine air drying then a day outside in the sun. The Mediflow Water Pillow was a great to sleep on. Too bad the moldy fabric and complicated washing made it a bad product for me. If you like quality odor-free fabrics and easy care, the Mediflow Water Pillow is not a good choice.