maintenance cycles for washing machine/dishwasher

[agendabender]

I recently got my first very own washing machine and dishwasher. I feel very grown up and responsible, and would like to take the best care of them. Please can anyone advise me how best to run maintenance cycles on them? Should I use vinegar or would that strip the internal surfaces? Thank you!

I always use soda crystals in mine and run it on the hottest programme.

Washing machine - I just do an empty 90 degree wash once a month ( no powder).

Dishwasher - I buy the dishwasher cleaning bottles from aldi and use around once a month. Not very 'green' though

dishwasher - mine never get dirty. I wipe fat out of pans with kitchen roll before washing. Sometimes I wipe the edge of the door and frame with WUL.

I clean out the filters frequently (there may be three - check your instructions) and use salt and rinse aid, not just a whizzo tablet.

Washing machine - a max heat HOT HOT HOT wash with no powder of fabsoft to dissolve the soap residue. You can put white cotton towels in but anything else will shrink. Half a cup of washing soda helps. No need for vinegar or bleach or bicarb and they will neutralise each other if put in together.

It is less trouble to put the scoop of powder in through the door, than to keep scrubbing congealed soap out of the dispensing drawer.

Keep the rubber door seal wiped or scribbed in its folds and grooves.

ooh thank you! Dishwasher doesn't look dirty or smell, I just want to take care of it. Washing machine does have some residue. Thank you!

Some advice in a similar vein please...the rubber seal around washing machine doir is very grubby, mouldy even whats best to a) clean, and b) maintain it once clean?!

I would use Bathroom Spray, or Kitchen Spray with Bleach, and a sponge to get the grooves clean. The spray helps clean off soap and scale, and the bleach will kill mildew. There might be a better way, but I don't know it. Rinse off afterwards as chlorine bleach causes rubber seals and some plastics to perish prematurely.

Maintenance washes will help prevent slime building up in future. I suppose if you wipe it after every wash that would also do it.

p.s.

And you know, leave the door and drawer slightly open after use to dry out dampness that encourages mould.

A dishwasher repair man told me once that running the machine on it's longest hottest programme with a tablet/scoop of whatever you normally use every so often will help keep it fresh.

Washing machine- I just take the drawer out & give it a good scrub in hot soapy water AND the same for the aperture it lives in (a babies bottle brush is good for getting to the back. Then run empty on a hot cycle overnight. i do this every 2/3 weeks.