How Do You Keep the Inside of your Dishwasher From Getting MOLDY?

[lisaross]

HI , i just purchased a new dishwasher - the one i have works BUT it came w/the house i bought about 13 years ago and it was not new at that time...It is SO MOLDY inside..not sure if this is because its old etc etc But i want to keep my new one looking like new. So do you clean the inside often? do your run a vinigar cycle to keep it clean? I've tried everything to clean my current one but its just GRoss..i'll be so embarrased when i have my new one installed!

Any tips appreciated..

 

[luvmyfam444]

I've been meaning to ask this on the community board for a while now & keep forgetting.

We have the same problem & our house is only 6 yrs old - thus the dishwasher is the same.

 

[DebMcDonald]

I have purchased dishwasher cleaner from Walmart and it did a great job, but it's gross again. I wonder if it's because I am not washing the dishes on sanitize so the water is just not HOT enough.

 

[Minniemama350]

We had this problem once. The dishwasher was just a year or two old. Turned out the water was not properly draining from the basin. Now we have one with stainless steel insides, but honestly that one washer is the only one I ever had with that problem.

 

[msmayor]

I've never had a problem with mold in a dishwasher....never did anything special either, other than run it regularly.

Even leaving it sit for two weeks unused during a vacation a few years ago, and never had mold.

 

[lisaross]

i soppose the dishwasher i have is not working properly as there is some water left on the bottom at times...

again, its like 15+ years old..just hoping i have good luck w/my new one..

 

[pjlla]

Well... I didn't have much trouble with my original DW (inexpensive model) that I had for about 13 years... it just stopped cleaning well. We replaced it with a top of the line Bosch... and thus far I am unimpressed. Yes, it is VERY quiet, but because of the extra insulation it doesn't hold as much. And I find that the inside is much ICKIER than my old DW. It seems to hold onto the crud and slime I am constantly wiping areas on the inside. And a few months ago it didn't seem to be washing as well.

I had read somewhere that Tang (yes, the orange drink powder) cleaned the inside of dishwashers, so I gave it a try. I put it in the soap dispenser and ran a regular washload (with no dishes, of course). It seemed to help and the loads afterwards were fine. I think that next time I do it I will also put vinegar in the Jet Dry dispenser. I don't use Jet Dry, so the dispenser sits empty. Perhaps it would be an inexpensive fix for your mold problem? ..................P

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

I have the same problem!!! Our dishwasher is about 7 years old.

Last week I got a BRILLIANT idea to put some Clorox cleaner w/bleach in the dishwasher. I sprayed it everywhere and ran the dishwasher (with no dishes inside).

Well......sure enough, I happened to come back in the room 20 minutes later to a flood in the kitchen, bubbles and water everywhere.

After I cleaned up that mess, the mold is still there. Mostly in the way back.

Hoping for suggestions.......

 

[Mathfailure]

I also have heard of Tang, but also a package of koolaid lemonaide.

 

[3boymthr]

Very old and moldy dishwasher it was ugly brown inside and moldy. Someone recommended Tang. Well, Tang works really well to clean out the color on the inside of the dishwasher, but it doesn't remove the mold.

So, Okay, what to do? Hmmm. I thought to myself - bleach kills mold. So with some close and carfeul monitoring and manuevering, but I've run the dishwasher empty and once it has filled with water, open the door and put a half gallon of bleach in the bottom. I added NO Soap - this could cause toxic fumes so absolutely positively NO SOAP!! To remove the possibility of a reaction with the bleach after it had been run thru one cycle I ran it empty again only with no bleach this time. Not something I would recommend doing frequently, but when I did it I didn't have a mold problem again for several years.

ETA - reading the posting above about the bubbles I want to note that I used straight bleach - you know the cheapy store brand kind that comes in the gallon jug with no soap in it in the same aisle as the All and Tide.

 

[karen l]

There's a product that's citrus based - Glisten. I purchase it in the local supermarkets - 2 packets in a white box with green lettering & a picture of an open dishwasher on the front. It works really well for me.

 

[lisaross]

well my new dishwasher won't be coming for 3 weeks, so i think i'm gonna experiment cleaning this one..

 

[natmurr]

Slightly OT but what is in Tang & Koolaid that cleans so well

Kinda makes you think twice about giving that junk to your kids!

 

[NYCDiane]

Is that why the dishes, glasses, etc that come out of a dishwasher smell funny?? I don't have a dishwasher and do all my dishes by hand but I've noticed at my friend's house (who has a dishwasher) that all her dishes/glasses have this strange smell. I figured it had to be the dishwasher, but didn't realize it could be mold.

 

[Danemom]

Slightly OT but what is in Tang & Koolaid that cleans so well

Kinda makes you think twice about giving that junk to your kids!

It's the citric acid in them that does it. You can also use straight citric acid but it's not as easy to find.

 

[Minnie's Pal]

Two words (if your dishwasher or washing machine, toilet, etc. is brown inside) IRON OUT

 

[pigletto]

A few thoughts..
I have never had any mold in my dishwasher but there was a period of time where my dishes were just not getting clean enough. We took it apart and cleaned the fliter or drain in the bottom. You would be amazed at the amount of food that can accumualte in there from not rinsing properly

My next thought is that my dishwasher ends up being open quite a bit. We use it every day so it is usually in the process of being filled or emptied. I imiagine if it was wet inside and then shut up for a few days that would be perfect conditions for mold to grow. So you might want to try leaivng it open a crack to air dry.

Also make sure there is no standing water at any time which would indicate it isn't draining properly.

 

[lisaross]

i just did an empty cycle - put liquid bleach in the detergent part WOW what a huge difference..i am doing 1 more bleach cyle - then i will do a vinigar cycle to clean it out before doing dishes in it....

I can't believe what a huge differnece i also ran my hot water a couple seconds b4 turning on the dishwasher to make sure the water was HOT!

l

 

[britfish]

A few thoughts..
I have never had any mold in my dishwasher but there was a period of time where my dishes were just not getting clean enough. We took it apart and cleaned the fliter or drain in the bottom. You would be amazed at the amount of food that can accumualte in there from not rinsing properly

My next thought is that my dishwasher ends up being open quite a bit. We use it every day so it is usually in the process of being filled or emptied. I imiagine if it was wet inside and then shut up for a few days that would be perfect conditions for mold to grow. So you might want to try leaivng it open a crack to air dry.

Also make sure there is no standing water at any time which would indicate it isn't draining properly.

We just cleaned out the drain in the bottom of our dishwasher too....ewwww is righ

 

[mcorbo]

I run a couple of cups of distilled white vinegar through a cycle every 6 months or so.