When was the last time you cleaned your dishwasher?
Or better yet, have you ever cleaned your dishwasher? You may be
surprised to find that the amazing machine that keeps your dishes clean
also needs a scrub from time to time. In fact the buildup of food
debris, grease, and soap scum can actually make your dishwasher less
efficient so that eventually it won’t even be really cleaning your
dishes.
And who really wants to take that responsibility back?
My inspiration for this post actually came during a work meeting last week. In my real world job (the one that pays the bills) I work with contaminated drinking water wells. I was in a meeting/webinar all about decontaminating a residential home after the plumbing has been exposed to contaminated water.
Not to won’t bore you with all the nitty gritty details but I will
share this disgusting tid bit: dishwashers harbor everything.
In test after test, whether they were testing for bacteria, Pfas,
VOCs, or any other contaminant that had been introduced to the plumbing
system, the dishwasher always needed additional cleaning to remove the
residual. Now most of us don’t have contaminated water sources that lead
to build up of bad things in our dishwashers.
But the thought popped into my head that dishwashers in general (the
warm, damp environments that they are) are probably actually pretty
gross. Maybe I should even clean mine?
Turns out I was right. The American Council on Science and Health reported
that several different species of bacteria and fungus can be commonly
found in most dishwashers. While they admit that these low
concentrations of organisms are not likely to make a healthy person
sick, it’s a good idea to clean your dishwasher from time to time.
So here’s the easiest way to clean your dishwasher.
1)Remove the bottom door and look around the drain. Changes are
there is some gunk or food debris that has settled here. Not only is
this gross, but it can also create the perfect breeding ground for
bacteria growth.
Yuck.
Use paper towel to wipe away the food debris.
I actually realized that I can remove the metal grate covering the drain in my dishwasher. It was disgusting. Packed with what I am assuming is a combination of grease and soap. To clean this I soak it in a sink full of water soapy water and then scrubbed.
2) Next fill a small bowl with about one cup of white distilled
vinegar and place it in the top rack of the dishwasher. Now run the
empty dishwasher on a normal hot cycle.
3) Once the dishwasher has completed it’s cycle remove the bowl and
pull out the bottom rack. Sprinkle baking soda all over the bottom of
the dishwasher. Run the machine again through a hot water cycle to rinse
the baking soda through.
I have a stainless steel dishwasher and there were some stains from where the soap dispenser empties. These marks were not completely gone even after both cycles. So I used some dish soap water and a small amount of baking soda to remove them.