Someone recently asked about cleaning the inside of the dishwasher.
Anonymous said…
This sounds great, I’m going to try it next time I get groceries…..Do you have a recipe to use for cleaning the dishwasher itself? Mine is VERY old and well, yucky. Anything I can use to sparkle it up a bit without hurting my back climbing inside the machine? lol
February 10, 2012 8:09 pm
After reading this my initial reaction was….Washing the Washer? Cleaning the Cleaner? Was this really necessary?
I gave it some thought and even did some research on it…but sort of shuffled it to the bottom of the “To Do” List because it wasn’t something I had had to deal with…yet….since our dishwasher is less than a year old.
Well, SOMEONE must have thought I had put it off long enough….because yesterday when I opened my dishwasher, this is what I found!
A whole lot of dirty dish water standing in the bottom of it. ugh. Not good. That will teach me to procrastinate!
It was the middle of the day with no hubster around to consult with…so I decided it was the PERFECT time to re-visit my research into How To Clean Your Dishwasher….which really seems like an odd thing to even type when you think about it….CLEAN your DishWASHER?? Sounds mixed up to me! I mean the thing is running what seems like 24 hours a day…how can it get DIRTY??? Well, it turns out there are LOTS of ways it can get gunk and junk in it that need to be cleaned. Tiny bits of food, grease and soap scum can cling together and get deposited in corners of the dishwasher. After a time, they can not only make your dishwasher look and smell bad…but decrease its’ efficiency.
Well I knew it was only a matter of time before my dishwasher started to smell bad if I didn’t find a way to get rid of the standing water in the bottom. All the articles I read on this subject (and there were many!) all boiled down to basically 3 (sometimes 4) easy steps.
FiRST….pull the bottom rack out and examine the drain area and make sure there are no hard chunks that can plug the drain, cause damage to the pump or scratch dishes. You’d be surprised at what dishwasher repairmen find – bones, crab shells, chips of glass, and even small pieces of gravel!
So I got down on my knees and stuck my head in there and lo and behold I DID find a “hard chunk” plugging the drain…………
Yep, that’s a hard chunk alright. :-/ I swear folks! That is the first time I have EVER had that happen!! I have found the occasional utensil fallen down there….but never something like this. I was actually quite horrified when I saw it! I thought my dishwasher MUST be a goner! But I figured I’d come this far…I wasn’t stopping now. So I pulled up my “big girl panties” and continued the task at hand.
Now that I had discovered the “chunk”…I felt all around the drain to make sure there were no MORE chunks hiding. Couldn’t find a single piece of anything. So I proceeded to the next step.
SeCOND…..Place a dishwasher-safe cup filled with plain white vinegar on the top rack of the dishwasher. Using the hottest water available, run the dishwasher through a cycle – except for the cup of vinegar, the dishwasher needs to be empty.
The vinegar will help to wash away the loose, greasy grime, sanitizes, and helps remove the musty odor.
If you don’t have any white vinegar, you may substitute a packet of unsweetened lemonade mix in the soap cup. Don’t experiment with other flavors as they may stain the inside of your dishwasher.
ThIRD…..After using the vinegar to sanitize the inside of the dishwasher, sprinkle a cupful of baking soda around the bottom of the tub and run it through a short but complete cycle using the hottest water. The baking soda will help freshen the smell of the dishwasher as well as brighten up the look of the inside of your appliance by removing stains.
(OPTIONAL):
If you have problems with mold and mildew, add ½-1 cup bleach in the bottom of the dishwasher and run a full cycle. NOTE: DO NOT USE BLEACH IN YOUR DISHWASHER IF YOU HAVE A STAINLESS STEEL INTERIOR).
So…..did it work??? Sure did! My dishwasher is now squeaky clean and fresh smelling and NO standing water! Let’s hear it for no dishwasher repair bill!!!
Now that the dishwasher is clean and running right………here are a few IMPORTANT tips to KEEP it that way….until the next cleaning. (A routine dishwasher cleaning is a good habit to get into. And you have to admit…now that you know how it’s done…it’s not that hard.)
*Run the garbage disposal before starting the dishwasher. The dishwasher drains into the same pipe as your sink, so that drain must be clear.
*Run a bit of hot water in your sink before running the dishwasher. You will get cleaner dishes if the water starts hot. You can collect the water you run and use it for watering plants or other purposes. Run the water until what comes out of the tap feels hot.
*Make sure your water starts hot enough. Set the thermostat on your water heater to 120F (50C). Water that is cooler than this won’t do a good job cleaning. Water that is hotter could scald.
*Run full loads to conserve water and energy, but don’t pack dishes too tightly. Dishwashers wash dishes by spraying water over them, so the water needs to be able to get to the dishes to clean them.
*If you are inclined to pre-wash your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher, consider this. Dishwasher detergent NEEDS a certain amount of grease and dirt in order to do its job. Otherwise, it actually foams up during the cycle which is not good for your dishwasher.
Cleaning the appliance that cleans our dishes so that everything STAYS clean is today’s…..
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Perfect timing for me to read this as my dishwasher is gucky. Thanks for these tips. I am sure in a few short hours my dishwasher will also be sparkling clean!
Thanks for the tips! Do you have any ideas for how to clean the inside of a clothes dryer? I've got blue all on the inside (probably from jeans)
Good job, Jillee. All of these years I have had a dishwasher, I never knew what I have learned from you today. Just goes to show that you can learn something valuable every single day, if you have someone like you around to teach you. I am so proud of the way you so willingly help others to make their lives easier.
You've got to be reading my mind!! I literally looked this up last week.. THESE EXACT STEPS! I'm making a cleaning binder, with directions for all of my all-natural cleaners, and steps to clean everything I can think of! I don 't want to forget all the AWESOME, easy steps I've learned to clean practically anything!
I love reading your blog. I discovered it through Pinterest! I just read another blog (that I read often like yours) about cleaning the dishwasher and thought I would share!
http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2012/02/how-to-clean-your-dishwasher-without.html
Thanks for all your advice! I never know how to take care of all my household chores and you make it easier and fun (well as fun as it can be!)
Good Lord! I just get used to using vinegar and now you want this?
Do I look like Fannie Farmer?????
DerFarm….where did you go? I miss you. :-)
Thank you for posting this. I was actually getting on your site to look for the homemade dishwasher soap, because mine was ugly & dirty and I didn't want to waste more detergent. Perfect timing!!!
Thank you!
Wow, I never thought about doing that because there is soap in mine everyday but I am going to try that tonight!
We have hard water and if the salt runs even a little low rust in the water stains the interior of the dishwasher something fierce! I'll try this method the next time and see how it works. Thanks!
Oh do I need to do this soon! My dear dishwasher has seen it's better days, but I am sure this needs to be done!
Thanks Jill, as always you are the best!
Did I overlook it? Remember to take the utinsil tray off the door of the dishwasher to get the dishwasher really clean.
I have soap building up on my dishwasher door, this is a perfect idea! I use my dishwasher to clean the fabric dispenser for my washer as well and it works great! When cleaning a washing machine I just run a load like normal but with the lid open and a flat head screw driver in the lid switch to allow it to run the complete cycle, "I purchased a new toilet bowl scrub brush and basically hold it in the problem area on the tub as it spins! No stain can hold up against that! Also save old toothbrushes for some hard to reach places!
Ive been using vinegar for years–hard water–sometimes I just put in a cup full right in bottom of dishwasher when I start it..Dishes come out clean no soap scum and dishwasher is clean!!
We have super hard water. We have to clean our dishwasher every 2-4 months or lime scale builds up on the heating elements. You should have seen the old dishwasher when we moved in! The whole thing, even the rack was covered in lime. It took 4 treatments of store bought stuff to get rid of it. It's called dishwasher magic (if anyone cares). but I like your way better, so much cheaper! I just hope that cup of vinegar is up to the task of lime.
I take a spray bottle and fresh lemon juice. Do it with the dishes in there and they will clean any darkness on your dishes also. No chemicals so completely safe.
where is the drain in the dishwasher and what is under the little round thing in the front left hand corner of my dishwasher. Your picture has it too. and the "screen" someone addressed to clean where is that?
Great tips! Thanks!
Lemishine is wonderful for hard water. It worked for us when vinegar, lemon kool aid and citric acid would not (all are acidic based). Also, I've found that if I use the "gel" packets of dish detergent rather than the tablets, I always have issues.
There is a Dishwasher cleaner you can buy at the grocery store. I think its called Dishwasher Magic…?? I live where the water is harder than a rock so that kind of power is necessary. But the vinegar would probably work if your water is normal.
any ideas on a front load washer? Ours has a nappy smell …
My husband sells appliances and gets training from the manufacturers all the time. We have a front-load clothes-washer and when ever someone leaves the door shut after using it, it gets smelly and the clothes gets smelly, especially towels. So I run a cycle with no clothes, just old towels and just bleach. The towels have enough residual soap in them from previous washings and the bleach cleans them AND the machine. (The smell comes from the rubber door gasket growing mildew from lack of air circulation, so I always leave washer door open, but teenagers forget.)
Then I run a load of all my towels with Arm & Hammer *washing soda (NOT baking soda) and Mule Team Borax in the pre-wash cup; white vinegar in both the bleach cup and softener cups, and detergent in the detergent cup as usual and I use the hottest water my towels can stand. (I only buy white towels now because you can’t bleach or hot-water the colored ones.) I had to wash each load of towels like this twice when I first started doing this procedure, before the smell was all gone.
I always use white vinegar instead of fabric softener or dryer sheets; the vinegar cuts the hard water limescale out of your clothes and towels, makes them softer, and that limescale is what seems to hold in the smell, so once it’s gone, the smell goes too.
PS if you get static-y clothes, pin a silver-color safety pin on a couple items while it is in the dryer. (I don’t know if brass-colored ones works, but the regular ones do.) They act as a lightening-rod kind of thing to let the static electricity flow out to the dryer shell. Interesting science experiment for kids is to take clothes out of the dryer while you are in the complete darkness. You can SEE the static electricity sparks.
This is a fantastic idea! I'm going to use it on my (older) model dishwasher tonight. Can't wait to see how it turns out. :)
Diana. I recently had black crayon all over the inside of my dryer and to my surprise, I got it all out by using a product called LA's Totally Awesome. I ran the dryer for 5 mins and sprayed it down and wiped ur out. It even got the crayon out of the clothes as well!!!! It only cost 1 dollar from Dollar General.
to the comment about the front load washer…check your instruction manual, ours had a combination of buttons to push that prompted a "cleaning" option, then I poured one cup of bleach (scented and MUCH cheaper than the Tide washing machine cleaner!) where the detergent usually goes and ran it on the clean cycle! No more yucky smell or grimy front rubber part :) YAY!
Thank you for this! I will do mine this weekend.
For washing machines, I heard on Dr. Oz to just run bleach with no clothes. I've done that and it cleans it nice. I then wash whites after just in case there's some bleach left.
Great information – vinegar is also great for cleaning bathrooms and multiple other things. Also cheap!
bcrepps….I agree completely! :-))) Thanks!
Anony…..sometimes I wonder what I did before I discovered the many many uses of vinegar! :-)
Will lemon juice work in place of the vinegar or lemon kool-aid?
Do you know how many times I have spent around 6 or 7 dollars for one of those wax seal dishwasher cleaners from the store………only to find out it was vinegar……..smh.
Yay!! My dishwasher is clean and no longer stinky! Thanks for posting about this!
Vinegar does a great job for so many things, but I dislike the fact that newer dishwashers are made so you can’t take the bottom arm off to clean under it. I saved a friend from calling a plumber years ago by teaching her how to clean her dishwasher that way!
I was wondering, do you put back the bottom shelve or you just leave it out? And also, can you put the baking soda (at the bottom) and the vinegar or lemon water (at the top) at the same time so your only running one load? For those that have stainless steel interiors, would it be beneficial to add bar keepers to cleanse and remove stains?
Thanks for the directions and tips, totally gonna do this and save money instead of buying expensive cleaners.
I really do need to try this. But, I did have a questions. What if your heating element has hard water “calcium” deposits? how can I get that off?
Thanks do much for this post! I just finished the baking soda step and my washing machine is looking better than ever. :-)
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