To never have cleaned my dishwasher

[Pavementworrier]

Is it true you're supposed to do it monthly???

I did and was surprised at how little was in the filter after years of not cleaning it.

My DH said that it clogged up a few years ago so it must have been removed once before and then promptly forgotten about. I always scrap off sauces or debris from plates into the compost bin and there's practically nothing left to get trapped in the dishwasher filter.

This thread reminded me it was time to do ours especially after its heavy use over Christmas, so did it yesterday. Someone upthread mentioned the gunge that collects on the runners. I happened to notice this one day, had never looked before and certainly hadn’t cleaned the runners but I do these now too.

We’ve also paid to have an engineer look at our DW when it was leaving gritty residue on everything so I’m much more conscious about keeping it clean, though not hugely regularly.

Avoid putting too much potato into the dishwasher. I don't like rinsing things too much as I may as well just wash them up. But the pan the potatoes are mashed in needs soaking and a quick rinse before going in.

@Baconking - I did the dishwasher yesterday plus the extractor fan filter and the washing machine is currently on a cleaning cycle with soda crystals in. I do that fairly regularly anyway.

Just do what my Mum did. We were staying in a rented property for a big party. It was usually run as a hotel so it was very well equipped. We loaded up the -ginormous- dishwasher after a big meal and my Mum offered put it on (tbf, I'm not sure she had ever used a dishwasher - they certainly didn't feature in my childhood).

What she actually did was squirt about half a bottle of Fairy Liquid liberally over all the plates, then put it on a very hot wash.

It was EPIC.

my friend did that as ran out of dw tablets.
the foam was epic. like the magic porridge pot.

we just run a hot long cycle with a descaler tablet every couple of months or so.

especially if you tend to use shorter cycles you need to do that.

@bloodredfeaturewall

We had a corner jacuzzi bath in our previous house. Adult family member wanted to use it - no problem, but please don't put any bubble bath in.

They did. Also epic (I had a very clean bathroom though!)

Every ten years? I am lucky if my appliances last this long

Mine (and my washing machine) tell me when to do it otherwise I absolutely would forget

But surely if you do this you aren’t actually removing the grot from the dishwasher at all? You’re just sloshing it around the inside of the dishwasher and then when the water drains away it’s all left in the filter you’ve just put in?

Well no because it gets blasted into tiny bits, which is how a dishwasher works, and rinsed away during the cleaning cycle.

So I found my filter and took it out and it was clean. Live in a hard water area and machine isn't 10 years as I thought but 8 years old. Doing a clean thing now 😇 which I've realised I can get 2 for same price on amazon compared with s'market price.

I’m surprised that people are saying their filter is clean. When you take it out are you then disconnecting the metal rack from the filter attached to it as it tends to be the part of the filter that touches the metal rack at the top that needs built up food to be cleaned from it.

If a filter is clean after a few years of use then it isn't filtering at all

Given that I never clean my dishwasher do you think it's likely I prewash my dishes? 🤣

To be fair I do rinse off anything that looks heavy

Oh well!

What does this mean ( panicking!) When I say clean, I mean it was not clogged up with anything not sparkling!

This is total genius

DH has done this very occasionally. But we never use rinse aid or salt crystals - is that bad?

First of the month: clean dish washer, washing machine, put the cooker hood filters in the dishwasher. Look after ALL your machines - in your house and outside (blender, vacuum, car, lawnmower etc etc).

How about the shower drain?
Don’t forget that!!!!

Don't use salt but use rinse aid

I'd recommend going around the rubber seals with a cloth occasionally because a lot of gunk accumulates around there that will end up providing an ecosystem for bacteria, but other than that, and cleaning out the filter that's pretty much it for me. Though I will occasionally splurge on one of those bottles of dishwasher cleaner if I'm feeling flush 😂

And no, it's not OK to scrub it with the lavatory brush.