This is a thing with every dishwasher I’ve had, some models seem better than other. You wash the dishes and when they dry, they have a musty odor I can only describe as “wet dog”. Other people often don’t seem to notice this, so maybe I am just sensitive to it. Though if I point it out, then they smell it.
I have tried:
- Cleaning every nook and cranny of the dishwasher and filter
- Running with orange kool-aid/citric acid/lemishine in dispenser after each wash (works decently well)
- Running a rinse w white vinegar after each cycle (this works the best so far)
- Making sure dishes air dry instead of dry inside the dishwasher (always do this, helps a bit)
In all instances where this happens, the dishes are clean and don’t have food stuck to them or floating around in the water.
Has anybody else fought this problem? What worked for you?
I don’t put certain things like dishes that contacted raw eggs in the dishwasher so that won’t happen. I’m still learning what the optimal way to use a dishwasher is though. This smell has a name in Arabic, زنخة (zanakha).
To help with smell in the washer we keep the liquid soap tray open after we finish using it. And leave the lid open most of the time. It seems to keep humidity down and the smell went away almost instantly.
Splash the insides with vinegar, run it, toss in some baking soda, run it again.
And keep it at least partially open most of the time when not in use
lemons are great for this. You don’t need all of it, just the skin. press the lemon and enjoy the juice, put the skins on the glass rack and you’ll have a fresh lemon flavor when opening the door. needs replacing every other wash or so (they get hard and stop smelling)
Are you taking out the filter and removing all the food bits?
Yes. And I have experienced this on dishwashers that don’t have filters as well.
