Have you ever noticed a slight or not so slight odor emanating from your dishwasher? It can become unpleasant, especially since this is the very machine that is meant to clean your dishes, so why so smelly? It only makes sense, as the dishwasher does its work to remove leftover food particles from your dishes, that some of that food doesn’t drain properly and can get stuck in nooks and crannies in your machine. Here are 4 easy tips to keeping your dishwasher free of food odors:
- Open up your dishwasher fully, and clean off the bottom edge of the door and the metal lip area that sits below the door.
- Clean out your dishwasher filter. Most dishwashers have a filter at the bottom of the tub – these are in place for preventing large food particles washed off in the cycle from clogging up your drain. Simply pull out the filter and rinse it off and clean out the trap.
- Sometimes small food particles can get stuck in the small water ports in the sprayer arm. Simply grab a toothpick or cotton swab, and dislodge any food stuck in these little ports.
- Lastly – after cleaning these three areas, run a dishwasher cleaner through your dishwasher (with no dishes). You can buy these almost anywhere, we know Cascade and Finish both have a dishwasher cleaner in the dish soap aisle. You can also use vinegar and baking soda for this step as well (you can find many recipes by just googling it online!)
Having a dirty filter can also hinder the proper cleaning of your dishes, so before calling a repair man if your dishes aren’t getting as clean as they used to be, we recommend trying to clean it first! Good luck!
