How do you clean your dishwasher?

[ParadiseLaundry]

So every three days or so there's a thread about cleaning washing machines (not a complaint, I live reading them!)

But I've never seen one on dishwashers. But presumably they need cleaning in the same way.

I know you can buy ready made bottles to clean the dishwasher but I'm thinking there must be a soda crystals/white vinegar/baking soda combo I can use, but not sure what would be best.

Tell me, wise mumsnetters, what do you do?

You're supposed to clean your dishwasher . We have a box of dishwasher salt but have no idea where to stick it.

When I need to top up salt, I check and clean the filter.

And once in a blue moon, I run it empty on the hottest setting with one of those cleaning thingies in it.

Does adding the salt help keep it clean? Is it soften the water which helps keep it clean?

Banana, I haven't done it yet, I just assumed I probably should to keep it healthy!

I do remove and clean the filter with washing up liquid. I just thought I should be running something else through it.

I ran mine through yesterday with a hot wash and a cup of white vinegar. Mine gets grungy round the edges even with that (we probably don't clean plates off enough!) so I do a periodical minesweep round the corners with a cloth and cleaner too

I think salt is mainly to soften water (I'm in a hard water area)

I clean the filter under a running tap - I guess any detergent would be fine.

Those ready-made bottles are expensive and a bit variable in my experience.

Manually cleaning the filter and the sprayer arm(s) is the main thing, and it sounds like you're already doing that.

For a bit more of a scrub-through I pop one of these through every three months or so (I'm in a hard water area).

Dishwasher salt helps rinsing and prevents limescale, rather than actively cleaning, but I find mine is generally cleaner if I keep it topped up.

You can buy solutions in pound shops and Wilkos to run a maintenance wash a few times a year. In between empty and rinse out the filter, wipe around with white vinegar including door edges and check spray arms for blockages.

I will use some vinegar and do it today. Do you just slosh it about the machine? Should I put a dishwasher tablet in when I do the empty hot wash or does that defeat the purpose?

I used to do a lot of cooking in other people's houses, and almost the first thing I'd do would be to clean the dishwasher. Filter out and clean (if you're ending up with gritty bits on your clean dishes, almost certainly the filter), and if you can take the sprayer arms off and wash them, it can make a huge difference. Certain seeds or bits of sweet corn are the perfect size to block them up. (I'm not this obsessive about cleaning anything else - just dishwashers...)

I run a bottle of dishwasher cleaner through it once per month , keeps it fresh and a good wipe round the edges of the door etc at the same time plus refill salt if needed and usually use water softener tablets each wash

Don't add a tablet, I just throw in a mug of cheap distilled vinegar and put on the hot wash.

I cut a lemon in half and shove it on the top and put about 200ml white wine vinegar in a measuring jug at the bottom and put it on a really hot pan wash with nothing else in it about every 6 weeks or so (after I’ve cleaned the filter out yet again!). It’s loads cheaper than the dishwasher cleaners.

I have to put my dishwasher on to clean every few days or it really smells. I usually use white vinegar on a hot wash but have tried the actual cleaners. Nothing lasts more than a few days.

We don’t use salt as we use the all in one tablets. Would using salt be better? We do live in a hard water area

Sorry to
Hijack your thread op!

Salt absolutely cleans the dishwasher and the pipes outside

*Look under the bottom rack and find a big screw thing about the size of your palm - add salt - use a spoon to swish about - add some more salt. Check back in a couple of months when you notice 'bits' on the cups

We don’t use salt as we use the all in one tablets. Would using salt be better?

Use both!

Smell should go as pipes will be clean

Thank you Greentulips will be giving that a go later

One tip I'd give is to clean the seals with an old toothbrush. Lord I was ashamed of what came out of mine recently and the results are now infinitely better.

I sloshed some white vinegar in and some bicarbonate of soda after cleaning the filter and seals, neither were that bad but it's less than a year old. It came up very nice so will be adding this to my regular cleaning routine and doing it every few months.

Thanks for your help everyone!

Just coming on to tell everyone (if you don't already know) that every time you fill up the salt in the dishwasher, you should run the dishwasher on empty/ Apparently, any little salt spillage corrodes the area around the salt dispenser, so you need to wash the salt away quickly. Our old Bosch dishwasher broke because I didn't do this, and there was no way of fixing it.

Sorry to hijack but bit confused - do you literally throw in some vinegar and run the machine? Or are you supposed to put it somewhere? And same with washing machine - do I just throw some vinegar into the drum? And do you do these things say once a month? Thanks!

Also be careful using the bottles of cleaner that you put on the top rack; they get very bubbly and fill the machine with bubble, and it might start to leak a bit. Mine got an error code as well. It was fine once it all dried out a bit, but I'm not sure I want to try it again. this was a Miele.

How often do you normally top up the salt? My sensor is broken (both for salt and rinse aid). I put it in when I bought it just over a year ago, and haven't topped up the salt since (I run it about twice a week). I do top up the rinse aid as that's easier to see.

I just literally throw in the vinegar.
And if your salt sensor doesn't work, unscrew the salt reservoir and taste the water, if it's not salty, then you know it needs some.

I am loving this top tip no more finish cleaners for me white vinegar all the way! My dishwasher has never been so fresh smelling and sparkly

All my dishwashers I have had, the manuals state DONT add salt (but this is because I’m in an extremely soft water area).

Once or moth or so I remove the filter and wash in the sink in very hot water and a bit of dish liquid, rinse well and put back and then run the intensive cycle with a dishwasher cleaner tablet (Fairy) prefer the cleaner tablets to the bottles from Finish.

I wipe round the door trim almost daily when I’m doing a clean up of the kitchen.

I clean the filter every few days, the rims weekly, and use a cleaner ever 6-8 weeks.