Dishwasher smell

[Mudball]

Too much baking in the house. things end up in the dishwasher. Unfortunately after the wash, the rest of the plates pick up a egg odour. I have tried the best soap - quantum, all in 1 etc, but not very effective. A slice of lemon seems to work sometimes.
Any parental advice on best options (other than not using the dw)

 

[chellie]

Have you run a DW cleaner through it?

 

[SaintHacker]

If mine starts to smell I tell her to go for a shower

(no, she doesn't read the forum)?

 

[Old Skier]

Have you run a DW cleaner through it?

Surprising how few people bother hid runs one through every 6 months

 

[rulefan]

Too much baking in the house. things end up in the dishwasher. Unfortunately after the wash, the rest of the plates pick up a egg odour. I have tried the best soap - quantum, all in 1 etc, but not very effective. A slice of lemon seems to work sometimes.
Any parental advice on best options (other than not using the dw)

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/dishwashers/article/how-to-clean-a-dishwasher

 

[Mudball]

Have you run a DW cleaner through it?

Yup, we do that at regular basis... the problem is only around when i put egg laden things in it.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Do you run it on the hottest wash very often or just the short or eco one? We were advised to run the hottest wash every few times to help prevent odours.

Have you ever pulled the filter out and properly cleaned it?

 

[SocketRocket]

Do you pre-clean dishes. I always give them a quick swill and ensure any food is removed before loading.

 

[Lazkir]

Do you pre-clean dishes. I always give them a quick swill and ensure any food is removed before loading.

Don't do it.

https://www.finish.co.uk/more-infor...ricks/busting-the-rinse-before-you-wash-myth/

 

[Hobbit]

Plenty of stuff out there to run through without any dishes in that will give it a good clean. Just remember to check the 'trap' out every so often for bits of food. I used to run a citric wash through ours every so often. A bit of acid cleans out most things. (Citric wash is what we used to clean out the workings of dialysis machines - kills everything)

 

[full_throttle]

dishwasher freshener, hangs from the cradle and run empty with usual tablet in monthly, never had any smell from ours

one thing, ensure the door is never closed fully unless in use, I use a foam door stop, this allows air to circulate around the washing area

 

[SocketRocket]

Don't do it.

https://www.finish.co.uk/more-infor...ricks/busting-the-rinse-before-you-wash-myth/

I disagree. When I say pre wash I mean removing all traces of food from the crockery, if you load dishes with food it will gather in the filter and if not cleaned out will smell. I have never had a problem with food smells in my dishwasher.

 

[Foxholer]

I disagree. When I say pre wash I mean removing all traces of food from the crockery, if you load dishes with food it will gather in the filter and if not cleaned out will smell. I have never had a problem with food smells in my dishwasher.

But that negates (virtually) the entire point of a dishwasher!
'Clear' obvious food 'chunks' from plates by all means, and check the filter frequently (if not every time it's used/emptied). But there's a point where pre-cleaning before putting into dishwasher simply negates the whole purpose of having a dishwasher! My folks (well, Mum!) were classic examples of those that spent more time clearing dishes before setting dishwasher going than they did simply washing the dishes the 'old' way!

The solution is to simply remove obvious blockage candidates when loading and check/clear the filter after the cycle has completed!

 

[North Mimms]

The worst culprit for food debris is rice. The grains get into the spinny arms and block the holes. Check these when you clean the filter

 

[CliveW]

(Citric wash is what we used to clean out the workings of dialysis machines - kills everything)

Please don't let Donald Trump hear that!

 

[SocketRocket]

But that negates (virtually) the entire point of a dishwasher!
'Clear' obvious food 'chunks' from plates by all means, and check the filter frequently (if not every time it's used/emptied). But there's a point where pre-cleaning before putting into dishwasher simply negates the whole purpose of having a dishwasher! My folks (well, Mum!) were classic examples of those that spent more time clearing dishes before setting dishwasher going than they did simply washing the dishes the 'old' way!

The solution is to simply remove obvious blockage candidates when loading and check/clear the filter after the cycle has completed!

No it doesn't, it takes no more than a few minutes at the most to rinse food debris from saucepans and plates, everything else is ok. To wash and dry a typical dishwasher load would take so much longer.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

I have never in 38 years come across a smelly dishwasher.
Dishwasher cleaner whilst it has a use won't make much difference if you aren't putting enough salt in (if you have hard water) the softenor.
My questions are thus....how often do you put salt in, and how hard is your water?
What setting is the softenor set to?
Have you cleared/checked the filters?
Are the spray arms/holes clear?
Use a basic detergent and use a hot program, is it getting hot?
Do you use rinse aid, if so what and how often do you top it up (not forgetting rinse aid ONLY helps the drying process by breaking down the water tension)

Get checking

 

[Mudball]

I have never in 38 years come across a smelly dishwasher.
Dishwasher cleaner whilst it has a use won't make much difference if you aren't putting enough salt in (if you have hard water) the softenor.
My questions are thus....how often do you put salt in, and how hard is your water?
What setting is the softenor set to?
Have you cleared/checked the filters?
Are the spray arms/holes clear?
Use a basic detergent and use a hot program, is it getting hot?
Do you use rinse aid, if so what and how often do you top it up (not forgetting rinse aid ONLY helps the drying process by breaking down the water tension)

Get checking

Let me answer the questions, so hopefully will clear up some of the other ones

1) Smelly... I should clarify that it is that the whole DW is smelly... what i meant was that whenever we put utensils which have been used with egg.. say the whisking bowl, the whisk etc. The smell of the eggs carry onto the other plates in the dw. So the other plates/spoon will have an eggy smell to them. very off putting
2) Spay arms look clean.
3) Need to check the filter at the bottom
4) Dont use salt any more!!! we put a softner in a couple of years ago - best decision ever
5) it has run out of Rinse-aid.. but i did not think that will be much of a problem

 

[Bunkermagnet]

4) Dont use salt any more!!! we put a softner in a couple of years ago - best decision ever

Ahh...now it gets tricky.
Do you get spotlessly clean glasses, or do you get ANY cloudiness on them? If you are getting any cloudiness then I would suggest you need to put some salt in the dishwasher periodicaly and have the softenor setting set low. Whilst you cannot soften soft water, very few (if any) house softenors are as accurate as the dishwasher own individual softenor and you need softened water for the dishwasher detergent to do it's full thing.
What wash (and temp of that wash) are you using?
When you put those larger items in the dishwasher, are the spray arms free to rotate unhindered? (an obvious sign are those scratch marks you see on the spray arms that are circular)

As I have said, I have never come across a diswhasher that makes everything smell. Hoever what you have said would suggest either awater softening/detergent not being take and used correctly or wash program/temperature issue.

What make of dishwasher is it and how old is it, and how long has it been doing this smelly wash issue?

 

[jim8flog]

I go for cleaning all the scraps off because the last dishwasher bust. The engineer who repaired it said it was because I was not doing it. I would sooner trust the engineers advice than a powder manufacturers.

All of this reminds me I must test the dishwasher. it has not been used for quite a few months now being the only one in the house.

There was a time when I nearly threw it out but there was nothing else needed and I thought I would hate looking at the empty space.

I never use salt or rinse aid but I live a really soft water area.