my dishwasher stinks

any thoughts?

i googled it and they suggested baking soda and/or vinegar. has anyone tried either of these?

thanks!

Re: my dishwasher stinks

I use lemon juice! I put it right in the detergent cup and run it through a cycle with hot water! Keeps it smelling clean. The acid in it removes debris and water deposits! HTH

Re: my dishwasher stinks

I just dealt with this--I had my DH remove the food trap/food grinder in ours and make sure there wasn't anything stuck in it. Then I bought dishwasher cleaner from home depot (I think it was a citrus scent) and ran it and also ran a really hot hot cycle after. It doesn't stink anymore so I am not sure which thing helped the most. HTH!

Re: my dishwasher stinks

May sound simple and stupid but make sure you rinse all your plates, silverware, and cups before putting them in the dishwasher. I make sure everything is completely rinsed before loading the DW and it never stinks. Leaving any stuck food and gunk on the plates will cause the DW to stink because you have warm, rotting food in there just sitting and waiting. Eeeewww.

Re: my dishwasher stinks

I also did a capful of bleach and ran it thru. I then ran it twice more to rinse it out.

The bleach will kill any mildew/bacteria that could be growing in the pipes.

It was fine after that.

The lemon and vinegar would work too. It took me a while to realize it was my dishwasher that was smelling bad, so by then, I went right to the hard stuff of bleach. Haven't had a problem since.

Re: my dishwasher stinks

Posted by Hofstra26

May sound simple and stupid but make sure you rinse all your plates, silverware, and cups before putting them in the dishwasher. I make sure everything is completely rinsed before loading the DW and it never stinks. Leaving any stuck food and gunk on the plates will cause the DW to stink because you have warm, rotting food in there just sitting and waiting. Eeeewww.

Re: my dishwasher stinks

ok dumb question but where is the food trap/food grinder located?

I'm having the same issues and the inside is stainless steel

Re: my dishwasher stinks

Re: my dishwasher stinks

i did a vinegar cycle and it worked.

Re: my dishwasher stinks

Posted by pnbplus1

Posted by Hofstra26

May sound simple and stupid but make sure you rinse all your plates, silverware, and cups before putting them in the dishwasher. I make sure everything is completely rinsed before loading the DW and it never stinks. Leaving any stuck food and gunk on the plates will cause the DW to stink because you have warm, rotting food in there just sitting and waiting. Eeeewww.

But this sort of defeats the purpose of the dishwasher. If you rinse the plates and everything well, you are essentially wasting quite a bit of water only to then put them in the dishwasher. If you are going to rinse everthing completely, might as well just take a sponge and wash them while you are at it.

I take a paper towel or napkin and wipe the plates as best I can to remove as much debris, sauce, etc as I can.

Re: my dishwasher stinks

Posted by Hofstra26

Posted by pnbplus1

Posted by Hofstra26

May sound simple and stupid but make sure you rinse all your plates, silverware, and cups before putting them in the dishwasher. I make sure everything is completely rinsed before loading the DW and it never stinks. Leaving any stuck food and gunk on the plates will cause the DW to stink because you have warm, rotting food in there just sitting and waiting. Eeeewww.

But this sort of defeats the purpose of the dishwasher. If you rinse the plates and everything well, you are essentially wasting quite a bit of water only to then put them in the dishwasher. If you are going to rinse everthing completely, might as well just take a sponge and wash them while you are at it.

I take a paper towel or napkin and wipe the plates as best I can to remove as much debris, sauce, etc as I can.

It doesn't defeat the purpose. If you're not going to run your dishwasher right away then you're essentially leaving stinky, rotting food in a warm enclosed space. That's SO nasty. That's why your dishwasher would be stinky. It takes a second to run a dish, glass, etc. under the faucet so there are no chunks of nasty food stuck on them. I don't know, it grosses me out when I see people fill up their dishwasher with plates and cups covered in food. Eeeewwww. And not for anything, everyone I know who does do that always complains their dishwasher stinks. Well.......duh!

And instead of wasting paper towels, , you're better off running it under water. It's faster and let's face, water is cheap.

Re: my dishwasher stinks

Posted by pnbplus1

Posted by Hofstra26

Posted by pnbplus1

Posted by Hofstra26

May sound simple and stupid but make sure you rinse all your plates, silverware, and cups before putting them in the dishwasher. I make sure everything is completely rinsed before loading the DW and it never stinks. Leaving any stuck food and gunk on the plates will cause the DW to stink because you have warm, rotting food in there just sitting and waiting. Eeeewww.

But this sort of defeats the purpose of the dishwasher. If you rinse the plates and everything well, you are essentially wasting quite a bit of water only to then put them in the dishwasher. If you are going to rinse everthing completely, might as well just take a sponge and wash them while you are at it.

I take a paper towel or napkin and wipe the plates as best I can to remove as much debris, sauce, etc as I can.

It doesn't defeat the purpose. If you're not going to run your dishwasher right away then you're essentially leaving stinky, rotting food in a warm enclosed space. That's SO nasty. That's why your dishwasher would be stinky. It takes a second to run a dish, glass, etc. under the faucet so there are no chunks of nasty food stuck on them. I don't know, it grosses me out when I see people fill up their dishwasher with plates and cups covered in food. Eeeewwww. And not for anything, everyone I know who does do that always complains their dishwasher stinks. Well.......duh!

And instead of wasting paper towels, , you're better off running it under water. It's faster and let's face, water is cheap.

Water may be cheap but that doesn't mean it should be wasted; haven't you heard of water conservation?

And I'm not wasting paper towels as for the most part I either use the napkins we used for dinner to clean the plates, or I use paper towels which I've used for some other purpose earlier in the day (like drying the counter, wiping up water my DS spilled.)

As for not running the dishwasher right away and leaving "stinky, rotting food in a warm enclosed space," that's why dishwashers come with a "rinse and hold cycle" which eliminates that problem and is still more efficient in terms of water usage.

Obviously my method works since my dishwasher isn't stinky

Re: my dishwasher stinks

Posted by Hofstra26

Posted by pnbplus1

Posted by Hofstra26

Posted by pnbplus1

Posted by Hofstra26

May sound simple and stupid but make sure you rinse all your plates, silverware, and cups before putting them in the dishwasher. I make sure everything is completely rinsed before loading the DW and it never stinks. Leaving any stuck food and gunk on the plates will cause the DW to stink because you have warm, rotting food in there just sitting and waiting. Eeeewww.

But this sort of defeats the purpose of the dishwasher. If you rinse the plates and everything well, you are essentially wasting quite a bit of water only to then put them in the dishwasher. If you are going to rinse everthing completely, might as well just take a sponge and wash them while you are at it.

I take a paper towel or napkin and wipe the plates as best I can to remove as much debris, sauce, etc as I can.

It doesn't defeat the purpose. If you're not going to run your dishwasher right away then you're essentially leaving stinky, rotting food in a warm enclosed space. That's SO nasty. That's why your dishwasher would be stinky. It takes a second to run a dish, glass, etc. under the faucet so there are no chunks of nasty food stuck on them. I don't know, it grosses me out when I see people fill up their dishwasher with plates and cups covered in food. Eeeewwww. And not for anything, everyone I know who does do that always complains their dishwasher stinks. Well.......duh!

And instead of wasting paper towels, , you're better off running it under water. It's faster and let's face, water is cheap.

Water may be cheap but that doesn't mean it should be wasted; haven't you heard of water conservation?

And I'm not wasting paper towels as for the most part I either use the napkins we used for dinner to clean the plates, or I use paper towels which I've used for some other purpose earlier in the day (like drying the counter, wiping up water my DS spilled.)

As for not running the dishwasher right away and leaving "stinky, rotting food in a warm enclosed space," that's why dishwashers come with a "rinse and hold cycle" which eliminates that problem and is still more efficient in terms of water usage.

Obviously my method works since my dishwasher isn't stinky

"Rinse and Hold" setting..................how is that ANY different from my rinsing them in the sink first? In the end, both of us are using water to rinse the dishes, I just do mine by hand.........which honestly, when all is said and done, I am probably not using much more water than a rinse and hold cycle.

Re: my dishwasher stinks

drama on Home? no way!

Re: my dishwasher stinks

i appreciate everyone's helpful replies.

i looked in the manual and they do tell you where the drains, etc are so i will definitely try to pull them apart and see if there is anything trapped.

for the poster who used bleach, did you have any issues with any lingering bleach smell/taste afterward?

i do usually rinse the food off dishes, but theres always some food particles stuck on plates/bowls which im not very anal about getting off. Years of doing it that way, i honestly never had a smell issue, whats going on now is something different and crazy, its like i need a gas mask everytime i open it, even after i have just run a load!

i will try a couple things this weekend and get bak to you all. Thanks again for the suggestions!

Re: my dishwasher stinks

i use the dishwasher cleaner every so often when i feel there is buildup

also, the detergent you use in the dishwasher really makes a difference...

i use cascade complete ....its expensive and doesnt go on sale, but its WORTH IT- what a difference it has made