I didn’t even know dishwashers had filters.

@Zaku I think the older ones didn’t. Yours might not. It’s usually on the bottom and round, and you twist it to unlock it and then pull it out.

I either use a cup of bleach or a half a box of baking soda when I use my dishwasher.

@chyna Does that clean the filter? It dissolves what’s on there?

@JLeslie: I’m guessing that if there’s hair and dust in the filter, no cleaner could dissolve that.

@jca2 It’s always just food particles. It rinses off with water from a sprayer (like what you find on a kitchen sink) or you can use a soft brush and water. It’s like a grime layer on the mesh. When dishwasher smell bad it’s usually because of the filter.

A lot of the cleaners make them smell fresh right after using them, but it’s just faking you out if the filter is still gross. Not that the cleaners aren’t worth while for other things. Especially in hard water areas they help clear the calcium, but you are in a soft water part of the country.

Old dishwashers didn’t have this problem. This is my first time ever dealing with it.

I don’t look at my filter.

@chyna You might not have one. If everything smells fresh and clean probably don’t worry about it. This is the only dishwasher I’ve had to deal with it.

If you have one it’s on the bottom of the dishwasher below the water blades. It will be round and it twist and you can pull out the cylinder. I’m not suggesting you need to do it, just letting you know what it looks like if your dishwasher has it.

We have very hard water and have had to have dishwasher service because of residue on our dishes. Some advice we received:

- Dishwashers don’t have strong water heating elements any more. Heat your water in your sink before running your dishwasher.
– Use the big brand dishwashing soap, not the more “natural” brands.
– Throw a dash of oil in the bottom of the dishwasher occasionally. This breaks up the buildup of soap in the bottom.
– Sprinkle Lemi Shine booster (avialble at Publix) in the bottom of your dishwasher with each load of dishes.

I don’t know any of the science… these are just the recommendations we received. Implementing them has made our dishes cleaner.

When I bought my Bosch 8 years ago the salesperson said, “Rinse dishes real good because the modern dishwashers don’t have good macarators (little garabge disposals) and the filter will clog.”

@Cupcake Lemishine is awesome. I learned about that product living in the Tampa Bay area. When I lived in Tarpon I added a water softener to my house.

This is food grime in the filter. I don’t think it has to do with minerals in the water.

@Tropical_Willie Yeah, that’s annoying. What’s the point of having a water saving dishwashers if you have to wash the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher? I do a quick rinse, but I’m not going to literally clean the plate.

@JLeslie you don’t have run water down the drain, just get the food off by brushing in a shallow amount of water.

@Tropical_Willie It’s not really a problem for me, I rarely have food left on a plate anyway, I just meant it as a general statement. Only if my food had a sauce I guess is there food left behind. Like pasta sauce or some sort of dipping sauce. I usually do try to rinse them quickly so it barely uses any water, or soak for a few minute with minimal water. It’s probably only 10–20% of my dishes that have anything like that.

Most things that would “eat” the stuff in the screen would be too strong to be used casually. I mean gloves, face shield and rubber apron.

I was thinking a drizzle of Drano but I don’t know if it will destroy the mesh and plastic. I love using a little Drano once a month on my kitchen drain. I use only about 2 ounces. I just drizzle it with a restaurant sauce container in a thin layer immediately around the drain so it drips down the sides and some extra on the rubber thing if you have a garbage disposal. You don’t realize how dirty things are until you clean them.

Everything else I try to use natural products except that and bleach in the bathroom once in a while. I hate using bleach I almost always stain my clothes.

NO – NO https://www.hunker.com/13417614/can-you-use-draino-on-a-dishwasher-pipe

You’ll be buying a new dishwasher.

Lol. Don’t worry, I didn’t try it. I was too worried it would do damage. I wouldn’t have poured it into the washer, just was thinking on the filter, but I was too nervous to try it.

Plus, nothing is clogged, I just hate knowing the filter is dirty.

I might try vinegar and baking soda.

Best bet is take the filter out and clean it under running water, I do mine once a month, vinegar is not going to dissolve the food, think of pickles.

;>)

I believe you can get a good one from WalMart.

@Tropical_Willie That’s what I do now, under running water. I feel like the mesh is too tight and so it becomes a film. Gross.

It’s tight because they recycle the water in the dishwasher, you don’t want onion bits a or parsley leaves back on your glasses or dishes.

@Tropical_Willie Hold on now, the water goes up through the filter back on the dishes? I thought it was protecting the pipes or something. Ok, more gross. Now I want to clean it even more often.

Maybe just wash your dishes in the sink.

@chyna No, I can’t imagine it. I hate washing dishes. I might upgrade the dishwasher soon.

You’ll get the same thing with your next dishwasher.

@Tropical_Willie I didn’t have this problem with other dishwashers. This is a really cheap dishwasher. Part of a builder package.

My Bosch, not contractor grade, has the filter cup, I clean it once a month.

An update. I did some googling and it seems a lot of people are frustrated with this same problem and I saw comments saying its obviously a change in how the machines work because a lot of us are older and have been using dishwashers for 40+ years, and only in the last few years are having a problem.

Still have to deal with it though.

Update: I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to try Drano on the filter, and it was fine. The filter did not disintegrate, which was my concern. I was ready to either buy a new filter or dishwasher if it had ruined the part.

I intend to use it once a month, a drizzle of the chemical on the filter, until I get a new dishwasher.

@JLeslie Here = = >How to Clean Your Dishwasher filter

“Do old dishwashers have filters?
Interestingly, it’s the older dishwashers (made before 2010) that tend to have self-cleaning filters. These filters were typically equipped with noisy grinders, so manufacturers switched to quieter filters (without grinders) that need to be manually cleaned.”
Family Handyman

@Tropical_Willie That’s basically what I have been doing, but usually using a water sprayer to release the grime from the filter. Super gross, would you ever use that sponge on another thing once you clean the filter with it? Another sponge in the trash.

I hope the dishwasher industry gets a ton of complaints and goes back to the old way. I hope if I buy a new dishwasher I can get one without a manual filter.

I am thrilled I can just drizzle some Drano on it and make sure it is super clean and smells fresh. What’s the harm, except a few ounces of chemical down the drain every so often. I use natural products for a lot of my cleaning, I am not going to feel guilty about this.

You know you could be drinking Drano ! On your dishes. :>(

Get a bottle brush then put filter in a sink full of water and scrub.

this post reminded me to clean my dishwasher filter. I just bought the dishwasher about three months ago.

I bought Lemi Shine (as recommended above) but haven’t used it yet. I’ll clean the particles out of the filter and use the Lemi Shine next time I run it. I don’t run it every day. Maybe every two or three days, depending.

@Tropical_Willie I’m not drinking Drano. It’s a few ounces and then rinsing before putting it back in the dishwasher. By your thought process, everyone who has ever used Drano in their kitchen sink is drinking Drano.

@jca2 I love Lemi Shine for cleaning my appliance and sinks, but it didn’t clean off the grime on the filter. Let me know if you have more success with it.

@JLeslie: I read the dishwasher user manual to see how to get the filter out. I took it out and there were a few hairs in there and maybe two or three pieces of what appeared to be onion, and some dust, but not bad. Then I put it back in and put the Lemi Shine in the bottom of the dishwasher, as per the instructions. I’m running it now. It wasn’t clear to me whether the Lemi Shine could be used when there are dishes in the dishwasher or should be used with it totally empty, so I’m running it totally empty. The instructions said put it in the bottom of the empty dishwasher and run as usual. “As usual” means loaded with dishes, but I figured better safe than sorry so I am running empty.

The dishwasher instruction manual specified not to use anything scrubby or abrasive on the filter screen.

Since this was the first time that I ever took the filter out to look at it and clean it, I had no idea how grimy or cruddy it would be. I was relieved that it wasn’t bad at all. Now I know that I can go a few months with it before cleaning it. The instruction manual did say if you rinse the dishes before loading and you don’t do dishes every day, you don’t have to clean the filter that often, but still, I wasn’t sure how accurate that would be.

@jca2 I run my dishwasher about 5–6 times a week now, so it gets used a lot. I clean the filter about once a month. I run the dishwasher empty when I use Lemishine. I use those granules on my sink where there are some hard water stains. Some granules and a little water and let it sit a few minutes and then rinse or wipe away. I hate the smell of products like CLR.

We use Lemi Shine with every wash, so it gets used with our dishes.

@Cupcake: I think you are using the LemiShine detergent booster.

What I was referring to was the dishwasher appliance cleaner:
https://lemishine.com/products/dishwasher-cleaner

@jca2 Were you happy with the results?

@JLeslie: I mean, it doesn’t smell any different. The dishwasher is pretty new so it didn’t smell that bad. Maybe if I used it on the old one I would have noticed a difference.

I only got it about two to three months ago.

@jca2 That is very new. Lemishine is mostly for hard water, and you live in a soft water part of the country.

@JLeslie: Where I live, there are a lot of minerals in the water, making the base of the kitchen faucet and bathroom faucets discolored. I have to use special cleaner for that – I forgot what it’s called. It’s for lime – Lime A Way.

@jca2 I’m mistaken then. The Lemi should be great for that.

@jca2 Thanks! I didn’t know there were the different products!