Cleaning a Dishwasher

By diedraw from Mayfield Heights, OH

Archives: Request: Cleaning a Dishwasher Archived on 09/15/2009 How do I get rid of gunk in the dishwasher? CT Feedback: RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher I've been told that if you run your dishwasher every so often with a 2 litre bottle of full on sugary Coca Cola it will keep your dishwasher clean, free from gunk and smelling lovely. Leave Cola to soak if the bottom tray is especially gunky first. Monique (07/10/2008) By Monique63 RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher Just a clarification on all these methods: CLR , muratic acid, citric acid, tang, lemon juice, the lemonade and orange drink mixes, Coke and vinegar are all acids. If you have lime scale buildup from hard water, any or all of these will work. The strong ones will work better than the milder ones. Really, one is not more environmentally friendly than the other. Vinegar is just as much a chemical as CLR, it just isn't as strong. If you are using ammonia, washing soda, or baking soda you are using a base, which is the opposite of an acid. Bases are also corrosive, as are all acids, but do not dissolve lime scale. Bases are excellent for grease as they combine with grease to make soap, which is how oven cleaners work. If you use an acid and a base together, they combine chemically, and produce a salt, water, and carbon dioxide. This is good if you are making biscuits (sour milk and baking soda), but doesn't do much if you are cleaning anything. If you want to add a liquid to baking soda to use it as a cleaner, just add water. Those of you who swear by the vinegar and baking soda paste will get better results with baking soda and water, as when you add the vinegar to the soda, they neutralize each other, and you end up basically with water anyway. Bleach is another whole kettle of fish. It is a chlorine compound, and if mixed with a base (ammonia or baking soda) will emit chlorine gas, which is highly poisonous, which is why water is chlorinated to kill bacteria. If you have food residue and such, stinky things in your dishwasher, you may have some bacteria growing, and bleach will kill that. Just don't use it in combination with anything else. Finally, I have had to clean out the water jets in my dishwasher. Depending on your water type and your soap, these sometimes become clogged. I have cleaned them with brushes or sometimes with a wire. I suppose this buildup might have been prevented with periodic doses of vinegar. (07/11/2008) By louel53 RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher Run it empty with 2 cups of white vinegar. To prevent gunk in the future, rinse food off dishes before loading into dishwasher. (07/12/2008) By Connie W. RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher We used a portion of OxyClean through an entire washing cycle minus the dishes after manually cleaning dirty, gunked up, parts. Now, sparking clean and smells so much better. (11/13/2008) By Lee RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher After having worked for GE's appliance repair division for 4 years, I have to advise against putting chemicals such as CLR into your machine. Not only does this void your warranty and any service contracts, but this chemical erodes some of the components in your appliance. But vinegar or baking soda are gentle enough. (02/27/2009) By Shilo Bleach and Rinse-Aid Concerns I'd only use bleach as a last resort. Bleach produces Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which are very bad news. Also, I'm concerned that the newer dishwashers don't get dishes clean without rinse aid. Rinse aids leave a coating on the dishes. The dishes look nice, but I can feel a film when I run my finger on the glasses. That means some of the stuff gets in the food we eat and the drinks we drink. We really don't want to be ingesting more mystery chemicals. (03/14/2009) By 2_eyes Report Spam or Abuse Request: Cleaning a Dishwasher Archived on 07/10/2008 How do you clean a smelly dishwasher? I was thinking with ammonia? It is a good one with a stainless steel inside? Karen from Dundee, IL Answers: RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher WARNING: Muriatic acid is a highly reactive liquid acid, and one of the most dangerous chemicals you can buy for home use, and if you are like me I have a young baby and there is no way that I would even allow this stuff in my house, sure it may do the trick but there are plenty of green solutions that can be used to clean your dishwasher, I feel the same way with Bleach it is a very damaging chemical and you can use other methods to clean your dishwasher. (06/16/2008) By Rhonda RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher Two tips for cleaning the dishwasher 1. Fill a 2 cup bowl with vinegar and set it in the top rack of your dishwasher and run it. It gets rid of build up and smells. 2. A packet of lemonade kool-aid in the dishwasher and it will smell wonderful. Just run it once. Awesome way to make it smell great. (06/18/2008) By momandmurray Report Spam or Abuse Request: Cleaning a Dishwasher Archived on 06/16/2008 A while back I think I remember reading how to clean the dishwasher but I can't find the answers. Mine is not cleaning glasses thoroughly, leaving smudge marks and residue in the bottom. I have just moved in and have no idea how long if ever the dishwasher has been cleaned. Any ideas? Thanks, Aquarius from Ontario Canada Answers: RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher I just did it TODAY! Fill up dishwasher with only glass and plastic, all the ones you want cleaned. Place a dish of 1 cup of bleach at the bottom of the dishwasher, run 1 wash cycle do not dry. Then do the same thing with 1 cup vinegar. The processes together works wonders, I've tried either or, this one works the best! Sparkling clean eveything. I got the idea from the Queen of Clean. You can dry the second round if you want to. (02/03/2007) By michawnpita RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher The repairman told me to use a cup of vinegar on the bottom of the dishwasher and run it through a cycle. I did this several times. We have very hard well water and the vinegar allowed the water to flow once more.It wasn't rinsing out the food. I also tossed in some cleanser for coffee makers and that seemed to help. The best thing of all is to get a water softener and have a filter hooked up in front of the softener. You should see all the black sludge it catches from the well. (02/03/2007) By Anna RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher Once in a while my husband takes out the things in the dishwasher that spray water and cleans all the chunks of food out of them. That makes a BIG difference. (02/04/2007) By Allison RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher I put denture cleaning tablets in the bottom of my dishwasher. It dissolved the soap scum and now my machine is clean! It works great in toilets too! (03/06/2007) By Adrienne RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher I did the 1 cup bleach in the wash cycle and did 1 cup of vinegar in another wash cycle. What a difference! I had tried lemonade kool-ade and purchased citric acid but this was about a 90% improvement. Others were very minor improvements. The inside of my dishwasher was dark gray and my plastic had started to have a black finish to it. It all looks almost new now. (07/16/2007) By Nikki RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher My dishwasher repair man told me to squirt some toilet bowl cleaner in after it had filled with water and run it through empty. It did a great job! (01/14/2008) By Lori RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher I use The Works tub cleaner. I just spray it allover the inside of the tub and then run a rinse cycle. There is a little foam left, but that can be taken away with some cold water, then hit the drain button. You can get the works at wal-mart for just over a dollar, it is in a green bottle, the blue one is for toilets. (03/23/2008) By Bridgete RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher I just used the clorox with the vinegar and it was amazing! My dishwasher is clean and so are my dishes (04/21/2008) By Claudia Report Spam or Abuse Request: Cleaning a Dishwasher Archived on 02/03/2007 I have hard water build-up and soap scum on the inside of dishwasher and the dishes do not get properly cleaned. Pat Answers: Bleach Did you know you can bleach your dishwasher? I run a cycle of bleach through my empty dishwasher monthly. It cleans AND deodorizes my dishwasher. In the rinse cycle of this non-load, I put in a "glug" (thanks Gramma D for the word!) of white vinegar. My whole dishwasher comes out smelling clean and shiny! (09/05/2006) By smcarney Baking Soda and White Vinegar Today I am trying a concoction of both baking soda and white vinegar. I tried to clean it with vinegar and an abrasive sponge, but it didn't work well enough. It really needed some sort of an abrasive, but not wanting to use good ol' comet in the dishwasher, I pulled out the baking soda. When mixed with the vinegar it gets very acidic. Im now running an empty load to do the rest of the work. (10/02/2006) By im'audie Vinegar and Regular Cleaning I have very hard water and I use vinegar along with my detergent every time I run the dishwasher but sometimes my dishes still have this white course sand like substance, what can I do to prevent this? On top of the vinegar I also clean the dishwasher twice a month but nothing seems to help. (11/06/2006) By Summer T Condenses Lemon Juice Use condensed lemon juice and your dishes will sparkle. It's $1.50 a bottle. (11/26/2006) By Lemonhead RE: Cleaning a Dishwasher Regarding heavy lime and/or soap scum build-up in your dishwasher, I experienced the same thing, and was desperate. After months of research (asking appliance repair folks, checking with friends with the same problem, and researching topics on the internet, etc.), I finally found a process that was extremely effective for me. My dishwasher is a stainless steel unit, so your experience may differ: With your dishwasher empty set your unit to the "heavy load option" then (1) wait until the dishwasher completely fills with water in its LARGE water cycle, then add one cup of muriatic acid to the water. [Almost all dishwashers have a small water cycle that pre-rinses and drains, and a large water cycle that subsequently refills the unit - this is where the real cleaning takes place.] (2) You will see a significant difference; however, if the build-up was as bad as mine, you'll need to do this about three or four times to get it 99% clean. To get it 100% spotless, I used a new product that I found at Walmart, called Jet-Dry Dishwasher Cleaner. This was a remarkable product, and I'm wondering if I should have used that one first. [Note that a chemist told me during my research that muriatic acid is a corrosive chemical, and she did not recommend it as a regular cleaner for dishwashers. Since one of my friends has used the muriatic acid process in his dishwasher for 10 yrs. and hasn't had a problem, I did it anyway, and I'm happy.] (3) After my unit was scum/lime free, I ran it through a full cycle again without dishes, chemicals or dishwashing liquid (just water) about two times to get rid of the extremely fine lime particles that were left behind. (4) From this point forward, DO NOT pre-wash your dishes by hand using dishwashing liquid, such as Dawn or Palmolive. The residue on your dishes from these liquids that were formulated for hand/sink use only, appear to neutralize the effectiveness of dishwasher (machine) detergents and rinse aids - this is probably why the lime-looking soap scum build-up started in the first place. Pre-rinse your dishes by hand if you wish, using water and a scrubber WITHOUT soap. Let the dishwasher do the rest. (5) I also stopped using a gel dishwashing product for my unit, and changed to "Cascade 2 in 1 Action Pacs" that does not require pre-washing. This is working well. (6) Make sure you use a rinse-aid and keep it filled to the proper level. (7) I find that my glasses come out crystal clear if I use the normal dishwashing cycle, not the heavy/extended cycle. (8) Finally, DO NOT overload your dishwasher. I saved my dishwasher after thinking I needed to buy a new one. My dishes are now spotless. Hope this helps! (12/02/2006) By R. Arredondo A Glug What is a glug of vinegar? Editor's Note: An ounce or two. (01/01/2007) By Christi Report Spam or Abuse Request: Cleaning a Dishwasher Archived on 09/05/2006 How can I clean the inside of my dishwasher. I have hard water build-up and soap scum on the inside of dishwasher and the dishes do not get properly cleaned. Pat Answers: White Vinegar I had a real build-up in my dishwasher and white scum on my dishes. I changed detergents but that didn't help much. I thought I might need a new dishwasher. I got something at Wal-Mart to clean it. It did a good job taking the stuff off the inside of the dishwasher but the dishes were still cloudy. Now I put a "glug" of white vinegar in the rinse water when I use the dishwasher and the dishes come out great. I am so delighted, no more scum but nice shiny dishes and the dishwasher is staying nice and clean also. (03/19/2003) By Grandma D. CLR You might try running the dishwasher with CLR in it, I have never read anything about not using it in dishwashers, I know it does wonders for hard water spots and lime deposits on shower-heads. (03/20/2003) By Jackie11065 Clean Gunk Off Inside Dishwasher Put 1 cup of baking soda in dishwasher, run rinse cycle. Cleans gunk off the inside dishwasher. (11/05/2004) By Gladys Hill Kool-Aid This works the BEST! Pour in 2-3 packages of unsweetened Kool-Aid Lemonade in the bottom of the dishwasher and run it through a cycle. If the buildup is really bad it may take another try! (11/08/2004) By Banker Sandy Citric Acid Crystals or Powder You can get "Citric Acid Crystals or Powder" from your local pharmacy. You only need to use 1/2 tablespoon in the detergent cup and run through a cycle. Also, use 1 tsp. in water in your coffee maker and it will clean it up perfectly. Vinegar also works well, if you don't want to use the Citric Acid. I've used it for years and have no problems of any kind of buildup on my appliances and I have hard water from a well. (11/13/2004) By Dee K. Hot Water Also, I forgot to mention in my previous feedback, You definitely have to have very hot water coming into the dishwasher for it to work properly. Check in your owner's manual what the temperature should be and adjust your water heater accordingly. I've had my same dishwasher for 20 years and no problems with dingy dishes or soap scum, no matter what detergent I've used. (11/13/2004) By Dee K. Lemon Shine Lemon Shine works better than anything else out there. A lot of Wal-Mart stores carry it. (11/19/2004) By Cheryl Lemon or Orange Powdered Drinks Buy lemon or orange powdered drink mix. The inexpensive brand will do. Fill the soap dispensers with the powdered mix and run through normal wash cycle. This will leave the inside dishwasher very clean! (11/20/2004) By Gladys Hill Tang Use orange flavoured TANG. It really works (04/08/2006) By Pat Report Spam or Abuse