Mould growing in dishwasher

[kettlestoast]

A spoon with houmous on it that I put in the dishwasher on Sunday is this morning growing mould. There is also mould on the inside of the dishwasher door. I have wiped off the mould with kitchen roll and put the spoon in a bowl of boiling water, which I hope will kill the mould. I normally run my dishwasher at 65 degrees. (The highest temperature it does is 70 degrees.) Will this be enough to kill any mould on the spoon and inside of the dishwasher?!

Are you leaving the things in there for 4 days without doing a cycle? With the door closed?
I'd be at it with some heavy duty cleaning product tbh.

Yes. I usually run it every 2-3 days, because that's how long it takes to fill up. (There's never been mould in it before!) A friend of mine runs hers once a week.

In fairness if you leave plates and cutlery with food on them sitting in a dark cosy box for 3 days in summer, some of the bits of food will develop mould. The dishwasher only works if you switch it on and wash away the organic matter.

Obviously I realize that the dishwasher only works if you switch it on! That's what I do when it's full.

Does it have a rinse cycle? Maybe you could do that every day and then a full wash when it's full.
I think running the hottest cycle would kill any mould left.

Well if you are not running it for ages then you could thoroughly rinse everything before it goes in but... wouldn't it just be easier to run it every few days whether it is full or not?

God that must stink. You should put it on every day or just wash up.

If you don't need to run your dishwasher every day, do you need a dishwasher?

Do you clean out the filter each week? Run it empty with a dishwasher cleaner dose in it. Clean all the seals weekly. And dont leave it with dirty dishes in it in hot weather!

Your dishwasher isn't growing mould, the food is. Would you leave a food on the kitchen side for three days before you cleaned it? We have a dishwasher but if we haven't got enough to fill it by tge evening we just wash up.

I would just start putting it in every other day regardless of how full it is.
otherwise it basically a cupboard full of old food for smells, mould and general yuck.

I don’t get why some PP are being a bit agressive here ☹️To me, this is a reasonable question!! 😆 Running it every day when it is half full seems a bit wasteful which might be why the op does not do that especially right now so running a rinse cycle each day could be a good compromise @kettlestoast

My dishwasher would smell if I had forgotten to put it on the night before never mind 4 bloody days, that is absolutely rank. It's the most perfect breeding ground for mould. At least rinse the food off before leaving it to fester in a dark, damp, warm box 🤔😫

I'm just envious your house only generates enough dishes to turn it on that infrequently. I sometimes have to do mine twice in a day at the weekend if we've had people over and definitely daily the rest of the time. Rinse cycle would be a good idea though

I'm old enough to remember life before dishwashers. When they were first widely available, it was assumed that they were for families or other households that generated enough washing up to justify the huge outlay. Now that they are (relatively) cheaper, I imagine there are adults who have never lived in a house without one. We're a household of four adults and there are times we wash up by hand because we don't have a full load for the dishwasher. Personally, I want the washing up done every day whether it's in the sink or the dishwasher. If you're not fussed about dirty dishes, you could, as suggested, run a rinse cycle.

We only put ours on every 3 days on average. It never smells and we have never had mould in it. I can’t believe people waste water and power putting it on daily when it’s half empty!

I scrape plates then just give a quick rinse under the tap if I'm not putting the dishwasher on as there is usually only ds & I at home & I only put the dishwasher on every 2 days.