Do you Clean your Dishwasher?

[Andrew Joiner]

Our 8 year old dishwasher was not getting the dishes clean. I was confident that the dishwasher being equipped with a built in chopper/garbage disposal was doing it's job. I looked in the bottom ,saw a ring of black mold around the seal so I ran a little liquid bleach thru a wash cycle. Black ring was gone but dishes had black flecks on them. The bleach loosened up a bunch of hidden black junk.
I took every thing apart. What a mess. The spray arms were clogged with black jelly like gunk. All the tubes and inner parts were clogged. I soaked them all in bleach. Luckily the bleach dissolved the gunk in the inaccessible parts.

Now I'll run a little bleach thru a wash cycle periodically.

[David Weaver]

Never do here, but if you saw what my dishes looked like (my wife's prerinse is basically 99% of a wash) it would make sense why we don't. I know they put choppers and pumps and stuff in dishwashers, but if we put something in the dishwasher, it never has anything on the dishes that wouldn't go through a very small opening - it just avoids trouble to do it that way and the dishes come out cleaner.

[ray hampton]

do bleach remove the mess or do the bleach bleach it out so that we can not see it

[Gordon Eyre]

Never do here, but if you saw what my dishes looked like (my wife's prerinse is basically 99% of a wash) it would make sense why we don't. I know they put choppers and pumps and stuff in dishwashers, but if we put something in the dishwasher, it never has anything on the dishes that wouldn't go through a very small opening - it just avoids trouble to do it that way and the dishes come out cleaner.

+1 I pre-rinse all the dishes by hand before putting in the dishwasher. It doesn't take long if you wash them immediately after eating and we never have any dried on gunk on our dishes. Actually we use our dishwasher as a sanitizer.

[Myk Rian]

Use half the soap you do now. If the instructions say fill the soap dispenser, fill it half way. That's where the crud comes from.

[phil harold]

I run a about a half a gallon of vinegar to remove the white film it leaves on glasses periodically

I also discovered the other day if I throw some borax in with the washing packet I dont have to do the pre-rinse in the sink
the dried oatmeal in the bowls disappear

we have hard water out here...

I have not understood our new dishwasher it is quote an energy star model but takes up to 3 hours to do a load and seems to do a poor job of washing until I added boraxo to the mix
seems to run longer than any other washer I had before, so where are the energy savings?

after a quick search I found this

Increase the power of your dishwasher detergent by sprinkling a 1/4 cup of 20 Mule Team Borax onto the bottom of the dishwasher to reduce spots and film on dishes and glasses.

[Rick Potter]

Along time ago we were told to change dishwasher soap brands occasionally, and also to run some vinegar in it when it leaves soap scum. It seems to work.

Rick Potter

[Brian W Smith]

I "am" the dishwasher.Try to bath everyday.....but occasionally fall asleep on the couch?

We live in an 1810 Federal period "repro"....no DW.

[ray hampton]

Along time ago we were told to change dishwasher soap brands occasionally, and also to run some vinegar in it when it leaves soap scum. It seems to work.

Rick Potter

not all vinegar are the same , some are red , some are white, will you recommended red or white ?

[Bruce Page]

+1 I pre-rinse all the dishes by hand before putting in the dishwasher. It doesn't take long if you wash them immediately after eating and we never have any dried on gunk on our dishes. Actually we use our dishwasher as a sanitizer.

I do the same. Our dishwasher has a filter screen at the bottom that I check periodically but I have never found anything in it.

[Robert Delhommer Sr]

DW insist on rinsing dishes immediately after eating and we also put a cup of bleach in the dish washer every week or two and also put a cup of white vinegar occasionally. Seems to help.

[ray hampton]

DW insist on rinsing dishes immediately after eating and we also put a cup of bleach in the dish washer every week or two and also put a cup of white vinegar occasionally. Seems to help.

Do you add the bleach or vinegar to the wash powder ? vinegar will foam when mix with baking soda, I would hate to see a foaming washer

[Rick Potter]

Ray,

Never used red, just white. No idea if it makes a difference.

Rick P

[ray hampton]

the internet talk about red vinegar as if it are cider vinegar and the white vinegar being made from grain, IS this right ?

[Stew Hagerty]

some are red , some are white, will you recommended red or white ?

It depends... Did you eat red meat or fish?