How to Clean a Smelly Dishwasher

Sometimes you pull out a load of dishes and think "how is it possible they smell worse *after* I cleaned them?!" Don't get down on yourself - or your appliance - even the cleanest dishwashers get smelly sometimes! Follow this guide to remove odor from your dishwasher and keep it from transferring onto you dishes!

Instructions

1. First, check the water in other places in your kitchen and house and make sure it doesn't smell. Sometimes a smelly dishwasher is the product of some chemical found in the water. If you water smells funny in other areas of your house, call your local water department and ask about the water - there may be a bacteria or pH imbalance that is causing the odor (and could be potentially harmful to you!)

2. Clean out the food filter. This is usually located in the back bottom of the washer and is used to trap food during the cleaning cycle. Sometimes food particles get stuck there and can cause odor over time.

3. Give your dishwasher a baking soda bath. Clean out any dishes from the inside and put baking soda in the spot where detergent usually goes. Set it to a normal wash cycle and let it air dry. This will both cleanse and deodorize the unit, and eliminate any persistent odors.

4. You can also run the step above using white vinegar as well, but this is a more extreme remedy and comes with the price of needing to run through the wash cycle twice to remove the vinegar smell.

5. Consider calling an appliance repair man if the smell persists. There maybe food caught in an area of the unit you are unaware or cannot get to, and this may be causing the foul odor.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't attempt to clean your dishwasher with any bleach or chemical based cleaner - remember, you will be eating off of the plates you run through there, so you don't want to risk getting those products on your foodware!