Cleaning a smelly dishwasher

May 4, 2013 12:51 PM

We have a countertop dishwasher, and absentmindedly left dirty dishes in it for a few days while we were out of town. We ran the dishwasher when we returned, but it still smells funky. How do we clean it, and make sure our dishes are getting clean, too?
posted by ocherdraco to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

Run it through a cycle with some white vinegar! I'd be very surprised if that doesn't take care of the smell. Gives you sparkling dishes, too.
posted by fiercecupcake at 12:54 PM on May 4, 2013 [2 favorites]

Somebody asked this on here once before and this is the brilliant answer (from iconomy? I miss iconomy.) that I have used ever since: run a packet of unsweetened koolaid powder through it. Empty - you do not want your dishes dyed - just pour a packet of koolaid where you would put the detergent and run. It sounds insane but it really works, I've done it several times now.
posted by mygothlaundry at 1:35 PM on May 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

the koolaid powder cleaning is form the citric acid component. If you use the lemonade flavor, there will be very little dyes. Here is the GE recommendation.
posted by Brent Parker at 1:39 PM on May 4, 2013 [4 favorites]

This is presumably what dishwasher cleaner was invented for.
posted by pont at 1:47 PM on May 4, 2013

Vinegar will work, but make sure you run the washer on empty! Vinegar reacts with certain aluminum alloys in pots and pans and may leave worse residue in your washer if you try to combine the cleaning process with a load of dishes.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 2:22 PM on May 4, 2013

You can buy dishwasher cleaner/disinfectant at the grocery store or wherever you normally buy detergent. I tried a different brand from the one Pont linked to when I moved into my apartment and it worked really well. I have used it again since then, when my dishwasher got stinky and vinegar wasn't cutting it.
posted by apricot at 4:34 PM on May 4, 2013

my dishwasher get an accumulation of assorted food particles in the bottom toward the front; there is a lip on the door that keeps them from being rinsed away. If I don't keep up with it, the dishwasher starts to smell a little funky.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 4:35 PM on May 4, 2013

Someone somewhere suggested Oxyclean, and I've found it to work even better than bleach for cleaning and destinkifying my dishwasher. When it is truly grotty, vinegar just isn't enough. I've done it with dishes in and they've come out fine, but I'd take out anything aluminum first.
posted by monopas at 5:04 PM on May 4, 2013

Vinegar works best for me. I usually run a quick clean on my washer when I find food particle buildup on the insides of my glassware.
posted by endotoxin at 8:27 PM on May 4, 2013

Response by poster: We're starting with vinegar, since we have it on hand. We'll move on to other cleaning agents if necessary. Thanks everyone!
posted by ocherdraco at 9:28 AM on May 5, 2013