How to Clean and Maintain a Dishwasher

Do you have a dishwasher in your home? If you hope to continue benefitting from its convenience long into the future, it’s important that you make the effort to keep it clean and well maintained. Staying on top of routine dishwasher maintenance will hopefully keep the appliance in good condition for many years to come.

With this in mind, here are a few tips to help you keep your dishwasher running its best so you can avoid having to pay for some expensive and unnecessary appliance repair in St. Peters, MO:

• Scrape off food bits: We’re not saying you need to wash your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher, but at the very least you should scrape food bits and other chunks off your plate so you can avoid a buildup of particles in the dishwasher after the cycle. This will prevent clogs and other mechanical problems from forming in the unit.
• Run hot water before you start your cycle: Before you start the dishwasher, run some hot water in your faucet. This will ensure your first dishwasher fill cycle will be hot water instead of cold water, which is especially important during the winter, as it will take longer for your water to heat up otherwise.
• Don’t put too much in the dishwasher: Overloading the dishwasher is one of the most common things people do that can actually damage the appliance. It’s much better to wash a few pieces by hand if you have to, or to do multiple smaller loads. If you pack things in too tightly, it makes it difficult for you to actually get every item clean. This doesn’t just reduce the quality of each wash, but also can result in food particles being left behind in the washer.
• Run an empty dishwasher with vinegar: One good way of cleaning a dishwasher is to run an empty load with a cup of white vinegar in the bottom. Run a normal cycle, and this will help you clean out old food particles while freshening up the inside of the appliance in general.
• Don’t forget to clean out the trap: The dishwasher trap is usually located under the lower sprayer. Inside the trap, you’ll tend to find bits of food that don’t get out of the drain, and possibly even some pet hair and other debris. Make sure to clean out this trap every now and then so you can keep the dishwasher running as efficiently as possible.
• Clean the seals: The dishwasher will start to build up a little bit of goo around the rubber gaskets in the doors and around the soap door. Make sure you don’t forget them during your cleaning processes so you can keep the overall levels of muck in your dishwasher under control.

For more information about appliance repair in St. Peters, MO and the steps you can take to keep your dishwasher clean and in good shape, contact Crews Appliance Repair today. We look forward to assisting you soon!

Categorised in: Appliance Repair

This post was written by Writer