Another blog reprint. Hope you are finding these helpful. When I made a blogging change, I left behind a lot of posts I had written, some of which were favorites of mine.
Yes, the title is correct. Cleaning your dishwasher regularly is a really good idea in case you have not considered it before. I'm not just talking about the front panel or the control buttons. I'm talking about the inside as well. Food, grease, soap scum, and mineral deposits all add up to make for a perfect storm inside that wonder machine. A few months ago, we were experiencing a terrible problem with little bits of food particles all over our glassware which led me to researching how to solve this issue. I found out several things I never knew which has curbed the problem nearly 100 percent (the remaining food particles have more to do with a ten-year old loading the dishwasher than the dishwasher itself!).
Photo Credit: justmakeit
• The best tip I got was do not to use liquid or gel dishwasher detergent if you have a water softener. Switch to powder and use just a small amount. You may need to observe over a week as you adjust the detergent levels until you get the right amount. For me, I use only about a half-teaspoon in the prewash and a teaspoon in the regular cycle. On the Mrs. Clean website, they recommend that you never use gel detergents even if you have hard water because they use bleach (bad for your septic), often leave a cloudy film on glasses, stick to the inside surface of the dishwasher, can clog the soap dispenser, and aren't really effective overall.
• Second, if you have a water softener, do not use a rinse aid. If you continue to do so, the soap scum just builds and builds. You really shouldn't need it anyway if you have soft water. Hard water folks, keep using it if you wish.
• To clean a dishwasher on the inside, place a glass cup filled with white vinegar in the top rack of your empty dishwasher. Run it on the hottest cycle possible. This will help remove greasy build up and soap scum. It should freshen the smell as well. If build up is really bad, refill the glass with fresh vinegar and repeat. I have used bleach and then followed with the vinegar in a second cycle, but only when things go super bad! It would be best to keep your dishwasher clean by doing this regularly.
Photo Credit: penelopejonze
• To remove stains, try sprinkling baking soda in the bottom and running it through a short cycle. However, this won't cure rust stains. For this, you will need to stop the rust at its source first (such as rusting pipes), then you can deal with the dishwasher.
• For the sides and around the seals, use an old toothbrush dipped in hot soapy water and go around all the crevices. If necessary, use something a bit more abrasive but safe for your type of appliance finish. Using a wet sponge, wipe well to get the soap off.
• Don't forget to check the bottom of your dishwasher as well as the sprayers. This may need some additional elbow grease as well. You may wish to do this in between two vinegar cycles.
• Finally, clean out the drain. Refer to your owner's manual to determine where this is located and how to clean it out. It may be a bit repulsive, but do you really want that stuff backing up onto your dishes?
Ah, now you can relax knowing your dishwasher is clean and your dishes are, too! Keeping this up could save you a visit from the repair man for a long time.
This post was perfect for me. I've been noticing that my dishwasher is looking kinda gross, but didn't really know the best way to go about cleaning it. I'm excited to try the vinegar trick. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amy. I was just thinking I need to clean out mine again. You offered some new ideas and techniques. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi Amy,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Thank you for sharing.
A few years ago I had a repair man out to fix one of my appliances and he saw my liquid dishwasher soap sitting out. He gave me the big lecture on NOT using the liquid soap in the dishwasher. He said it would eventually ruin my machine! So on top of it not being good for the septic as Mrs. Clean said, it's bad for your machine.
I'm a new follower and I'm really enjoying your blog.
Have a blessed weekend,
Christa
Great post. I work on the corner's & around the edges, removing buid up, but not the internals. I'm going to do the vinegar rinse today! :)And yes, it is our driveway, it's not 'ours' but it's on the road to ours... till we find our place. It does have pre-pared beds & potential for chickens! I'm going to take it one step at a time, but I'm going! Our house went under contract yesterday(praise God) and it will make it smoother for us to move to our owned homestead sooner than later.
ReplyDeleteThe owner of this temporary homestead, is a grass fed beef farmer & organic vegetable grower!
Blesssings- Laura
This is pretty funny, Amy! We have well water, and it is very hard. Since I hate the "feel" of soft water, we have not messed with installing a softener. That has wreaked havoc on our dishwasher, whose innards got eaten away from all the hard water.(after only 3 years!) Now our "dishwasher" is our potato bin! It also holds my heavy Le Creuset pots...too clunky to go elsewhere! So, dishes are done the old fashioned way...by hand...by me!
ReplyDeleteWe have EXTREMELY hard well water and I use vinegar in the rinse aid dispenser. That helps with the dishes and the inside of the machine. We took ours apart recently to really clean it because there's a chalky type deposit being left on the dishes. We thought maybe the heard water had clogged the waterways. I use a homemade powder in the machine and was thinking of switching to a liquid-maybe now I won't!
ReplyDeleteSomeone else suggested that it might be from not fully rinsing raw milk off of the dishes before they go in. That might be it but we can't tell yet.
This is valuable information..thank you for sharing! Any magincal tips for a smelly washer? I can't seem to figure it out!
ReplyDeleteMichelle, try baking soda in a cycle and see if that helps the smell. You may have to do it regularly. But I'm wondering if a good cleaning first would help the smell, too. Perhaps you've already done so, but thought I'd suggest it.
ReplyDeleteCindy, I hope the rest of the readers don't throw stones at me, but I think I actually enjoy washing dishes by hand! Never thought I'd say that, but I do. If the next house doesn't have one, it won't be a big deal. I think that families use to bond over doing dishes (after the argument of who was washing and who was drying). When I do dishes by hand, I usually have my one of my daughters practice their piano lessons and serenade me!
My Home was built in 1936 and my kitchen is from the 50's so I do not have a dishwasher.:(
ReplyDeleteI use vinegar for so many things however...like running in through the washing machine to get rid of the detergent and softener bulid up.... and when I did have a dishwasher in my former home I was OCD about degunking it!:)
Love your blog!
Interesting... I was searching this info for my uncle. He will be happy for such a great info. Thanks for sharing...
ReplyDeleteAna
you know, my husband and i used to use a powder... and we found that the powder left our dishes with a thin layer of dust on them!! they were always a bit cloudy. when we switched to a gelpac detergent it took the problem away! lol. i'm wondering if maybe we were using too much of the powder. i found a recipe for using baking soda and borax and that seemed to work all right. but i dont think hubby will do dishes anymore if i tell him no easy to use gel pacs allowed :-/ despite saying hes a democrat for the environmental reasons, he doesn't really go for the all natural cleaners and stuff. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I wanted to add too that a friend of mine owns 50 rentals which all have dishwashers and she said that using the liquid detergent shortens the life the of the washers and also causes problems. Since she switched to powder she's not had any problems. So I now use only powder. I'm off to clean out my dishwasher. Thanks.
ReplyDelete