How often should you clean the dishwasher filter?
Reviewed
The short answer
every month
Once a month. The filter unscrews from the floor of the tub, rinses under hot water, and goes back in.
A machine running daily is better served every fortnight.
What a full filter sends back
Wash water circulates in a loop. Once the mesh saturates, debris travels round with it and settles on glassware as a grey film that survives the drying cycle.
Smell follows quickly, because whatever sits at the bottom ferments between cycles.
The filter, then the arms
Spray arms carry small holes that limescale and fruit pips block one at a time. A cocktail stick clears them, and the check belongs to the same minute as the filter.
The door seal gets a wipe while you are there. Black marks start in that fold before anywhere else.
Common questions
Does a hot empty cycle replace the cleaning?
A hot cycle dissolves grease from the walls, which helps, though it removes nothing the mesh is holding. The two jobs sit alongside each other rather than replacing one another.
Is white vinegar suitable?
For limescale on the arms and the tub, yes, a cupful in the lower basket on a hot cycle. Used repeatedly on rubber seals it hardens them over time.
What if water sits in the bottom after a cycle?
Standing water points past the filter to the drain hose or the pump. Clearing the mesh first rules out the simplest cause in a couple of minutes.
This reminder, in IAlwaysForget
« clean the dishwasher filter every month »
- Understood as
- Recurring reminder
- Comes back
- every month