Are You Damaging Your Dishwasher?

Of all the appliances we have in our kitchen, the dishwasher is probably the one we love the most. It’s certainly the most hard-working; it’s used every day (perhaps multiple times a day), and when it’s broken or needs to be repaired, it’s a true inconvenience.

We clearly love our dishwashers, and although we hate it when something goes wrong, many of us have learned quickly how to source DIY replacement parts for your dishwasher to get it working again as soon as possible. Could it be the way we’re using them that is causing those problems? Read on to find out more.

Rinsing

It’s so easy to just place all the crockery, cutlery, and cooking equipment into the dishwasher and turn it on. It's nice to know that when it completes its cycle, all those things will be clean and dry, ready to put back into the cupboards and drawers that they came from. 

The problem, however, and one of the reasons that dishwashers break from time to time, is that along with the plates and bowls, food waste is put into the machine as well. Since the dishwasher is not a garbage disposal unit, it can’t deal with these food particles, and eventually the drain will completely fill up. This will cause the dishwasher to clog up and will stop working.

Preventing this issue is simple; make sure you scrape every last morsel of leftover food into the trash before putting the item into the dishwasher.

Overloading

When you have a dishwasher, you want it to be able to take a full day’s worth of dirty dishes and clean them. In that way, you’re only having to run the machine once a day, which is cost-saving and more energy-efficient. However, sometimes you’ll have too many items that need to be cleaned, and trying to fit them all in for one load is only going to cause the dishwasher to stop working because it’s too full. This will cause the spray nozzle to get blocked (your dishware will not get clean), and the water lines could burst because of the build-up of pressure. Lastly, the drying heat will come on and the food remnants will become baked on. 

Again, this is a simple thing to fix; if your dishwasher is full, don’t try to load it with more items; instead either wash them up by hand or stack them neatly and run the dishwasher again when you can.

Not Cleaning The Dishwasher

The idea of cleaning your dishwasher might be a strange one because, after all, it’s a cleaning machine, so surely it should be self-cleaning? As much as this would be useful, it’s not how a dishwasher works, and it will need your help to keep it clean.

To do this, you can buy special cleaning chemicals at the supermarket. You could also run the dishwasher empty with a baking soda and vinegar solution, which will not only clean away the grease that might be left behind, but will leave it smelling fresh too. Also, remember to clean out the filter from time to time before it gets blocked.