dishwasher reeks

[crazypaving]

we bought a second hand dishwasher from eBay as a stop-gap as we're hoping to put a new kitchen in soon.

it's about 15 years old and does an absolutely perfect job cleaning everything, but it stinks. I've cleaned it (unspeakable gunk removed from the door seal) and run it with those dishwasher cleaning things in regularly but to no avail.

where might the smell be coming from? is there anything I can do about it, or are we stuck with it until we replace it?

have you taken the wings off?
screw them open and give them a good wash inside and out.
same for the filter.

by wings, do you mean the spray arm things that go round when the machine's on?

I was just going to advise about removing the unspeakable gunk from the door seal, but see you have already done that! Have you tried running the hottest wash with some vinegar or soda crystals? That seemed to sort ours out.

yes I mean the spray arm things.
we we moved into our house the d/w stood with the door closed for 2 months. the smell and gunk was quite amasing.
I put the wings into an old baby bathtup with a cup soda crystals over night and then did a lot of scriubbing.

you have to shakes the spinners so water and bits come out of the big hole in the middle.

You have of course cleaned all the filters? (there may be three, check the instructions which you can download from the manufacturer's website)

I wonder if the instructions for this model still exist probably in a sealed vault somewhere. I will get on with the spray arms and any filters I can locate, thanks all. need one of those masks I reckon. will report back if it still stinks!

You can tell us the make and model if you like.

it's a hotpoint casatta, about 15 years old.

Having removed and cleaned the filters, which were actually fine, I found lots of smelly stagnant water still inside the machine. Would tipping a load of something like Mr Muscle Sink and Plug unblocker help, or is that an incredibly bad idea? Is there any other way of getting rid of the stagnant water?

remove the machine's waste hose from the drain. Lie it flat on ther floor with the end in an oven tray or something. The remaining water ought to drain out of the machine down the hose under the force of gravity. I presume you are describing the sump that the filters go over, which has the pump under it.

my latest machine's instructions describe how to remove clogs from the pump entry in the sump, but I have never had to do that and I have not seen it on older machines.

Also look at the waste hose. Did it join onto the waste trap under the sink? If so, it is possible for dirty water from the sink to run down the hose into the machine. To prevent this, the hose must run in a loop, where the top of the loop is higher than the water level in a full sink. this can be done by hooking it to the underside of the worktop, perhaps with a couple of cup-hooks into the worktop or the top of the side of the kitchen unit.

Some older Hotpoints were copies (presumably under licence) of Bosch machines.

see diagram on page 20

there might be reference numbers on the top edge of the door to help you trace your model instructions.

I saw a claim that the cassata is similar to the df62

try www.hotpointservice.co.uk/manual/?id=DF62

is it this one?

sorry to have been absent, got a sick baby.

yes it is that one! and disconnecting anything is tricky because the machine is kind of wedged into a corner of our knackered old kitchen somewhat haphazardly.

I'll get my dh to have a go this weekend although my faith in his skills is a bit...lacking....

and weirdly it actually has df62 written on the front!