Anything to stop dishwasher smelling between washes?

[Username10202847]

There's only two of us in the house, so we run the dishwasher every other night. But this means that it really stinks in the day between washes - even if we rinse plates etc. Is there anything safe I can spray into it to stop it smelling?

It shouldn’t be stinking after one day. I use mine roughy every other day and it’s fine. I’d give it a thorough clean and run one of the dishwasher cleaners through it. Sounds like the smell is coming from the drainage or something like that.

Thanks, I don't think it's the drainage though - it doesn't smell at all when empty, so I do think it's just the smell of day old food. Still can't work out why it's quite so smelly though!

Do you leave the door unlatched between washes?
Have you cleaned out the filters?
There are dishwasher cleaners you can use on an empty cycle to flush all the pipes through.

I had this in a dishwasher that was left unused for a while. It turned out to be long strands of a whitish mould that formed all around the drain and and corners. It was disgusting, literally smelled like old socks. Running the dishwasher on hot and using all kinds of cleaning products didn't work.

What did work was taking out every single component you can find, especially the metal drum inside the drain and the spinning arms above the dishes. Then I made a strong bleach solution in a plastic box and submerged everything inside. The mould looks a bit like the skin on milk, almost undetectable unless the pieces are underwater. I scrubbed all the pieces until there was no trace of it left, then disinfected with boiling water and rinse it thoroughly. That took care of the problem and the smell never came back.

Is there a trap in the bottom where food is getting caught? We don’t run ours daily either and it doesn’t smell.

Thanks everyone, maybe I'll take a closer look at it and see if there's any mould or trapped food.

I also wouldn't expect it to smell bad in those circumstances. Ours often sits for a day or two half full of washing up including cat food bowls and it doesn't 'stink', far from it.

We don't rinse either, waste of water. Are you exceptionally sensitive to smells? Food smells, that's a fact. It's not usually offensive though, quite the opposite.

I also don't rub mine daily and it doesn't smell. Try the dishwasher cleaner liquid (and cleaning out the filter) and then it's into dismantling etc unfortunately.

Maybe not related, but I had some dishwasher tablets that absolutley reeked. I kept clearing out the cupboard under the sink and checking for leaks, or even a dead mouse or something as it was a proper musty, blocked drain smell.

I eventually worked out it was the DW tabs. They were Aldi Magnum capsule, the kind of squishy ones, not the soid block ones.

Just thought - have you checked that outlet pipe is routed correctly? If there isn't a U-bend of some sort it could be that drain smells are coming back up the pipe and through the dishwasher.

I'll try and check the pipes.

Maybe I am sensitive to smells - it doesn't seem to bother my husband!

how often do you clean it? I take everything out and clean all the parts and also run a cleaner through on a hot wash to clean the pipes every four weeks.

Definitely clean the filter - you're meant to do it regularly e.g monthly but few people do. Mine was smelly and I found it was very gunked up with old food and some mould, and had pooled water inside the filter so was obviously not draining away properly.

This means taking out the bottom rack, unscrewing the filter and removing the inner bit if it has one. GIve it all a thorough scrub with a soft dish/toothbrush - not anything too hard & gritty which can damage the filter. I used a small amount of Cif and then some weak white vinegar/water mix (don't use bleach on anything rubbery, like seals).

Then put it all back together and run a empty hot wash with a good quality dishwasher cleaner.