To never have cleaned my dishwasher

Also run a cleaning cloth under the door on the inside. Door fully open and run a cloth along the hinged join. Didn’t realise you could do that and wow it was rotten. I’ve a strong stomach but that got me. Our dishwasher was stinking and I couldn’t work out why as I do clean it monthly. First of the month for all my monthly cleans (dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, meter reads, hoover filters etc) use cleaning wipes that you can just bin as the sludge was horrific.

Really gross. It will have that terrible smell. We dont use or have one so I can always smell a dishwasher.

Yay me too! Try to empty the mesh basket every time it runs but certainly every couple of days. DH will do the big filter say weekly. And we are complete SLATTERNS on everything.

We do a proper clean of ours regularly. Well, DH does. But only because we discovered that if we didn’t it wouldn’t clean dishes properly and would flood.

i’m not so good at doesn’t the washing machine though. But do clean out the filter on the tumble dryer regularly too.

A previous poster has reminded me that the hoover filters are long overdue a clean.

Folloeing a recent blockage and overflow incident I’m adding a kitchen sink drain clean to the monthly jobs too.

I rinse the filter and mesh every wash (I’m rubbish at clearing plates) and I wipe out the door seal every week-it gets disgusting!

Get a cloth or paper towel and run it under the bottom of the dishwasher underneath the door and see how much gunk is there!
Obviously how dirty it gets depends on how often it’s used and how well you rinse the plates before they go in.
But yes you are supposed to empty the filter and clean iit regularly plus run a cleaning solution through every month or so and give it a wipe down/clean seals. Otherwise you are just washing your pots in dirty water.

Yes they can harbour E-coli

Engineer told me to do hottest wash possible for dishwasher and washing machine once a month, no additives. I live in soft water area though. I clean filters on dishwasher once a week and deep clean (v hot wash when empty and round and under seals) once a month.

It also depends how dirty the dishes are, my FIL used to wash everything before he put them in the dishwasher....

Probably in the floor of the machine, something will turn and pull out. Read the manual?

Our first one I didn't realise there was a filter for ages and then it was really difficult to get out it was so gunged up, lesson learned!

That will just be a timed thing, not an actual 'decision' that it needs cleaning.

I do the filter once a week and if you do it that often it's just a quick rinse. Do it frequently enough that it doesn't get disgusting and hard to clean.

Presumably you clean the filter or it would be totally clogged up. Other than that I only run a cleaning cycle if I think it needs it not monthly.

I assume that you clean your kitchen sink? It's the same principle, things that clean need to be cleaned themselves. I can't believe that people don't clean the washing machine or dishwasher monthly.

That won't be because of the tablet coming out of the compartment. That is deliberate as part of the cycle.

If your dishwasher isn't cleaning well it may need a clean and salt and rinse aid added

I clean the filter most weeks & under the rubber seal that’s inside the bottom of the door.

Are you adding salt and rinse aid? Maybe the filter isn't the issue.

Our dishwasher tells you when it needs a clean which seems to be every 4-6 weeks. I clean the filter under the tap then put it on it’s clean function with a dishwasher cleaner in it.

I feel totally vindicated! Just opened the filter after two years of not knowing it existed, expecting to immediately be sick at the horror - and apart from a tiny bit of fluff (literally a speck) it's clean! Don't know where the grime is going but I'm happy with that result.

We went to buy a new condenser dryer as ours was shit, the nice lady told us to go home and check both filters….we didn’t know about the big filter underneath that also needs cleaned.

I wash the dishwasher filter once a week or so. A clean with a product every 6 months.

I need to check the one under the WM as can’t remember the last time that was done and washed the drawer out last week that was miniging.

I do, about every 2 or 3 months with a Finish bottle, I put the dish drainer and washing up bottle holder in it so it does them at the same time, I think it helps get rid of scale, we have hard water. I do it on half price electric Sunday as the clean cycle is hot and longish.

I was recently at a friend's and mentioned the dishwasher filter to which they replied "what's that?". I showed them how to unscrew it and we pulled it out... spotless! They've had it 8 years or so and it was immaculate. But they do rinse everything off in the sink first so it makes some sense. My filter needs a regular wash as it's always filthy.

Ok I’ve been doing the filter, but how do you take of the spinning things?! I had no idea that was part of the job 🥴

My dishwasher and new tumble dryer tell me when the filter needs cleaning. Both are on an app. They even message me when their cycle is finished. They are definitely male since no woman would let you know that they have finished washing up.
Unfortunately they don’t load and unload themselves. The tumble dryer is in the garage so having a running commentary from it is useful. It used to really piss me off if I’d put a load on to dry in the old dryer and the lint collector/ filter detector stopped the machine.
I love the digital age. Both the central heating and my car keep me updated. And my mobile try’s to second guess my destination and suggests a route. I love confusing the smug bas@£rd.