I've been meaning to clean my dishwasher for ages, but because my dishwasher was working fine I kept putting it off and just turned a blind eye to the unattractive gunk around the door, (because who can see that when the door is closed anyway?) But clearly some cosmic force thought that I should put my backside into gear and get the job done, because this morning when I opened the dishwasher everything was dirtier than when I'd put it in. Yep, the drain was clogged - not badly, but enough that there was too much dirty water swilling around during the wash cycle. Luckily I had white vinegar and some baking soda in the cupboard, which if you saw my cleaning limescale post you will know are my cleaning staples.
Primarily, this post covers how to clean a dishwasher drain but since I mentioned a general clean was on my to do list here is a lovely "before" photo of the door hinges.
Before tackling the drain I thought I might as well give the dishwasher a good scrub first. Inside was fine - a small miracle given the hard water in our area - but around the door was a bit eewww. Fortunately the muck came off with a little elbow grease, a scourer and some soap.
Then it was time to clean out the drain. Really you should do this on a monthly basis to maintain optimal cleaning, especially if your kitchen is cursed with rubbish pipes like mine. I don't remember the last time I did this, hence the dirty dishes problem.
To clean a dishwasher drain you will first need half a cup of baking soda. Add a little bit of water so that it is liquid enough to pour (but not too much) and tip it into the drain. Chase this up with half a cup of white vinegar. It will bubble up and fizz.
I left it for about 15 minutes to do its job then poured a kettle full of boiling water down the drain to clear away the baking soda and vinegar.
To complete the cleaning process I ran the empty dishwasher through a normal cycle with a tub of white vinegar on the top shelf. I picked up this little tip from Clean and Scentsible.
And of course no cleaning post would be complete without some sparkly after pictures!
Hopefully I can make a habit of cleaning the dishwasher drain on a monthly basis, to help keep my kitchen pipes happy and working efficiently. You can use baking soda and white vinegar to clean your sink and shower drains too.
