Your dishwasher cleans your dishes, but who cleans your dishwasher? If your answer is no one, you might have a problem! Cleaning a cleaning appliance might sound like a tongue twister, but it’s an essential part of maintaining a clean, safe, and healthy home.
If you don’t know where to start when cleaning your dishwasher, don’t worry! Nixxit Junk Removal is here to give you the 411 on how to keep your dishwasher sparkling clean.
Why Do You Need to Clean Your Dishwasher?
Using a dishwasher with the appropriate detergent at 140 degrees Fahrenheit can kill bacteria on dirty dishes. Unfortunately, grease and food, leftover detergent, and minerals from your water can still build up over time in your dishwasher.
This buildup means that your dishwasher can’t clean dishes as effectively as it should. A dirty dishwasher can easily turn into a broken dishwasher when the buildup eventually clogs the pump or filter.
All You Need to Know About Cleaning Your Dishwasher
The bad news: Although your dishwasher is constantly cleaning something, it doesn’t effectively clean itself.
The good news: Cleaning your dishwasher can be quick and easy if you follow these simple tips.
Tip 1: Remove Leftover Food Every Day
You don’t need to do a deep-clean very often, but you should get rid of any leftover food daily. Use a damp cloth to wipe up any bits of food that have fallen to the bottom of the dishwasher.
If you’ve ever opened a dishwasher and felt overwhelmed by a bad smell, leftover food was most likely the culprit. You should remove all leftover bits of food after each cycle so that your dishwasher smells fresh and bacteria can’t grow.
To make your life even easier, rinse your dishes before placing them in the dishwasher. You don’t have to clean every plate, but rinsing items beforehand will mean less food to clean up after the cleaning cycle.
Tip 2: Wipe Down Your Dishwasher Every Week
Your weekly cleaning should include using a sponge or cloth to wipe down the dishwasher door and handle. You should also clean any dirt or grime from the dishwasher controls as well as the edges and corners. If your dishwasher has a touch screen, avoid using cleaning products on those surfaces.
The weekly cleaning doesn’t mean scrubbing the appliance for hours. Simply look over the dishwasher and check for dirty or stained areas. Gently clean these areas with soap and water or vinegar.
Never use bleach when cleaning your dishwasher, and whatever you do, never combine bleach with vinegar. Combining these two cleaning products can create chlorine gas, which is potentially lethal when inhaled.
You should also wipe down the seal and the silverware tray during your weekly cleaning. Many people miss these two areas when cleaning, but they’re two places that can get gross quickly. Use warm soapy water and a sponge or toothbrush to get rid of any built-up grime.
Tip 3: Clean the Filter Every Week
Another weekly job is to clean the filter. Even if you’re rinsing your dishes before running them through the dishwasher, the filter still collects bits of food and accumulates grime. If your filter is filthy, then so is everything else.
Follow these simple instructions:
- Gently clean the filter by rinsing it with warm water. Rinsing will remove a lot of the larger particles of food.
- Using an old toothbrush, gently scrub the filter and surrounding frame. Use soap to remove any stubborn grease. After scrubbing, rinse the filter under warm water.
- Make sure you put the filter back and lock it into place. If you run your dishwasher without the filter, you risk seriously damaging the appliance.
Tip 4: Complete a Deep Cleaning Once a Month
If you’ve been wiping down your dishwasher, removing bits of food, and cleaning the filter, your dishwasher should be pretty clean.
However, without a deep cleaning at least once a month, your beloved appliance might still look dirty, smell bad, and clean dishes less effectively over time.
You should do a deep cleaning on your dishwasher once a month. The only way to complete a deep cleaning is to use a sponge, a cloth, and some good old-fashioned elbow grease. Scrub every inch of the dishwasher using a well-known dishwasher cleaner or a combination of vinegar and baking soda.
Once you’ve completed the scrubbing, run your empty dishwasher on a deep clean cycle. To clean the appliance more thoroughly, run the cycle with some white vinegar. Once the cycle is complete, add baking soda to the bottom of the empty dishwasher and run it again.
Vinegar can serve as a great alternative to chemical cleaners, but it’s also very acidic. If you use vinegar regularly, you might damage the plastic and rubber components of your dishwasher.
Tip 5: Choose the Right Cleaning Supplies
To ensure your dishwasher is sparkling clean, you’ll need the right cleaning supplies. Below, we’ve broken down what you need for your daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning duties.
Daily Cleaning
- Sponge
- Paper towels
- Dish soap
- Vinegar
- Microfiber cloth
Weekly Cleaning
- Sponge
- Paper towels
- Soft toothbrush
- Microfiber cloth
Monthly Cleaning
- Sponge
- Microfiber cloth
- Dishwasher cleaner
- Vinegar
- Baking soda
The Bay Area’s Eco-Friendly Solution to Full-Service Junk Removal
By following the tips in this article, you can ensure your dishwasher runs as long and efficiently as possible. However, every appliance has a limited life span, even with proper care and maintenance.
When your dishwasher does eventually break down, Nixxit Junk Removal is here to help you dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way.
We’re not just a junk removal service. We’re a locally owned, woman-owned full-service junk removal business based right here in the Bay Area.
We’re your neighbors, and we take our responsibility to protect the environment very seriously. Our eco-friendly junk removal policies are why we’re one of the few removal companies to be a Certified California Green Business.
Do you need to dispose of an appliance to make room for a new washer, dryer, or refrigerator? Have an entire property that you need to clean out ASAP? Our reliable team is here to help with all your junk removal needs.
Book online or call our team today to learn more about our services and schedule a pickup.
