Have a less than pleasant smell coming from your dishwasher, or your garbage disposal while you run your dishwasher?  Have you considered that your machine might need cleaning?  

That right, the machine that you run soap through all the time does, counterintuitively, need cleaning itself from time to time.  And while supermarket “dishwasher cleaning” products are good for maintenance, nothing beats a  little elbow grease to get things clean enough to eat off of (or at least clean enough to CLEAN what you eat from.)

If you don’t know where to start, first give some thought to whether you held onto the manual for your machine.  No?  Or perhaps you never had it in the first place? No problem.  In the era of the internet there is a good bet that with a quick google search, you can find your model (or one enough like it to give you a good idea how it is set up.)  A couple things to look for:

1. A filter.  Does yours have one? Where is it, and how can you remove it.
2. Are there other pieces of the bottom that are removable?  Find out what they are and how to take them out.  If you haven’t done this before, I recommend removing everything that is meant to be removable and giving it a good cleaning.

Now, you’ve done your homework. Grab your camera! And depending on your ick-resiliance, you may want some rubber gloves for the next part. Which is?

Take those pieces out.  Be sure to snap a photo before removing so you know how to get it back together.  Trust me, you think you’ll remember, but a picture is priceless.  Once you have all the parts removed you can give them a good wash in the sink to remove any gunk.

At the bottom of the machine where they have been sitting, there is a good chance there is smelly gunk that has built up. My personal preference is to get as much up with paper towels as possible.  If you are a little more “green” you can certainly use regular towels, I just prefer to throw away the “ick” I get out.

Once you do an initial wipe, get out your cleaner of choice.  Keep it relatively gentle- pure bleach is hard on rubber gaskets and your hands alike.  Fantastic works fairly well, as does white vinegar.  Some bathroom cleaners might work too. Your preference.  But spray that area down, let it sit for a few minutes, and then give it a good scrub.  An old toothbrush works great on nooks and crannies, and a bottle brush in tight spots.

You may have a “well” that still has fluid in it.  You can sop up the liquid and then scrub.  Then rinse.  I sometimes use a turkey baster to suck up the liquid after the rinse, in order to better pick up the pieces of crud that may have been dislodged: crud that I worry my paper towels will simply push back into place.

Pull out your racks and give them a good scrub too.  You’ll be surprised at what has accumulated in the rails and hard to see areas.  Everything done?  Not getting much up anymore?  Great!

Remember those photos I recommended? Now is the time to break those out.  Ditch the rubber gloves, and reassemble all the newly squeaky clean parts into their appropriate places. But don’t leave just yet! You have 2 steps to go!

1. Run a cycle, making certain the water is HOT, with 1 Cup of White Vinegar in a measuring cup sitting upright on the top rack.  This will help get rid of some buildup and smells that you didn’t find.
2. Empty out the measuring cup into your sink, and run a quick cycle with just water.  You don’t have to do the whole 45-90 minutes, 10 minutes ought to do it.  Remember, vinegar is acidic, so we want to rinse any remaining vinegar out of your machine to preserve and rubber or plastic bits.

ALL DONE!!  Now you can enjoy your wonderfully clean machine, and the knowledge that those dishes are indeed clean enough to eat from.

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