Dishes smell - anyone else have this problem?

[POPholditdown]

For a while I’ve a smell from my plates, sometimes cutlery (never mugs though for some reason)

I have googled it, and apparently it’s somewhat common but the results are only bringing up dishes washed in a dishwasher. I wash mine by hand. The dishwasher results mention bacteria could be in the appliance, but I don’t think that would apply here?

To me, it’s a an old rusty tinny smell, but google results keep mentioning ‘wet dog smell’. Never had dogs, but it could be that smell?

I’m definitely cleaning them properly, before anyone asks! I’ve used new sponges, I’ve left dishes soaking in boiled water, running the tap at it’s hottest (my poor hands), washing them straight away before bits of food have time to dry.

I have tried using more Fairy liquid, sometimes I’m adding a couple of fresh drops every 2nd thing I wash. I scrub every inch, and rinse them for ages.

Sink is washed regularly too.

I’ve started sniffing dishes after I’ve washed them to make sure 🙄 they are more likely to smell when they’re dry rather than just washed. They either air dry, or I only dry them with a fresh towel.

The plates aren’t that old, probably a year. I have 2 sets, one from Sainsburies and one is a Denby set incase anyone else has the same and has noticed a smell too.

I really hope I’m not the only one!

Are you sure you're not pregnant? My sense of smell went berserk when I was, and the oddest things smelt horrible to me.

No, definitely not pregnant.

It’s really strange and annoying when I’m trying to eat and just keep getting a whiff of it.

I forgot to mention, the glasses sometimes smell too. I thought it could be the water but I have a few plastic bottles I refill with tap water and they never smell.

Dishes can also smell if you dry them off with a towel straight after pulling them out of the water where you washed them or even just dry them on the dish rack without rinsing in fresh water first. If this is the case, I'd recommend that you rinse them off with fresh tap water after washing and let them dry naturally on the dish drainer.

Are you tea-towelling them or air drying?

Dish cloth or sponge smelling?

Mine do this and it’s especially bad if I cook eggs - omelettes or whatever. Also happens if I put the pan with eggs on in the dishwasher. My partner can’t smell the smell at all

Thanks tigger. It doesn’t really make a difference whether they air dry or not. Tbh I let them air dry more than I towel dry them
in general so I’m really not sure what to do.

I also rinse them thoroughly, too.

I’m still googling and every result is related to dishwashers.

Is the sink trap clean? Have you tried putting the plug in, putting soda crystals in the sink and adding hot water then letting the water out? What are the pipes like coming into the house? We have an old house and sometimes the water tastes a bit different, especially if it hasn't been used for a while.

My mum’s glasses smell like this, to the point I can’t drink out of them. I think it’s probably the result of drying them with a minging filthy tea towel 🤢 I surreptitiously wash them again when I get drinks for myself or my husband.

If your glasses smell, it might be limescale build-up? Limescale itself can smell but I think it can also grip bacteria.

I’ve changed sponges a couple of times recently, they don’t smell and only use fresh tea towels when I dry them myself.

It’s really annoying jellybean, I’ve seen some posts that mention egg makes it worse, too. But there are no solutions!

I think it’s probably the result of drying them with a minging filthy tea towel

• 100% that and not rinsing in fresh water after washing them

I’ve not tried that oddsocks but I will.

I don’t think it’s the water though, as I say mugs never smell and the water never smells in plastic bottles. Neither do pots and pans come to think of it.

There are no smells coming from the sink itself either.

If I wash a glass and use it straight away, it doesn’t smell. It mainly seems to be once they’ve dried, whether it’s air or towel.

*I think it’s probably the result of drying them with a minging filthy tea towel

• 100% that and not rinsing in fresh water after washing them*

Again, I rinse them thoroughly, inside and out. And only use clean tea towels. Tea towels are washed on 60 with the dettol laundry cleanser.

When I get a bad odour off of hand washed cups/glasses etc, it's usually because the drying rack needs cleaning off.

I don’t wash them in a bowl, just run under running water, scrub with a sponge and fairy, then back under running water for a thorough rinse.

On occasion I’ve tried soaking them in boiling water, to see if this stops it but even then I still scrub with fairy and rinse them well after.

Thanks yet, I clean it regularly too, I bleach it then wash with fairy. But I wonder if it’s the rack itself. It’s not that old, though, but I have a spare one so I might swap them over and see if that makes a difference.

Mine always smell when I’ve eaten eggs. Even with a good soak and hot rinse they smell like wet dog.

I've had this problem for a couple of years, despite moving twice, most recently into a different water supplier area. Do you have hard water? I only notice it (at other people's houses too) in hard water areas.

And the key question is have you got your windows open? My dishes all smell fine until the minute I open the window, and then they smell mingin. It fades with time, but even so, I don't open the kitchen windows if I can help it.

Let them stand for ten minutes with some lemon juice on them. Ditto the cutlery.

Theory 1: Contaminated water coming out the tap.

Theory 2: bacteria somehow surviving on the plates. Or maybe landing there after washing and breeding, but that would suggest plates not clean, and plates are pretty easy to clean thoroughly. Unless there are invisible cracks/pores that hold grease away from the wipeable surface for bacteria to feed on?

I have a similar problem, but rarely, and it tends to come and go without me doing anything different, which is why I tend to think it's something in the water.

Also, I now remember when I've had this I've poured a cup of tap water into a mug, and it smells crap, so I think it is the water in my case.

Cant do this with glasses but for china and cutlery - fill kettle and boil. Your recently washed, clean, dishes are in the drainer, as is your cutlery. Pour the boiling water over the plates and cutlery. Its hot enough to sterilize your plates, etc and water residue evaporates. That should do it. Friend with restaurant used to finish plates like this. Capful of vinegar in washing water never goes amiss either.

Is it the cupboard they are kept in?

Try adding vinegar to the rinse water occasionally. And use a bowl, don't waste water and heat by washing 7 der a running tap!