Having a clean dishwasher is the first step to making sure that your dishes are actually going to be able to get clean.
A dishwasher can be a huge time saver in the evening, making it possible to stick your dishes in the machine and move on to spend more time with your family. It’s also a great way to save water and energy usage. According to ENERGY STAR, “a standard-sized ENERGY STAR certified dishwasher costs about $35 per year to run and can save you an average 3,870 gallons of water over its lifetime.”
However, if your dishwasher isn’t clean, then you won’t be able to trust your dishes are fully clean.
The more often you use your dishwasher the more likely you are to find bits of food, grease and other things (like undissolved detergent and water minerals) build up along the interior walls of the machine. This can cause spots to develop along your glassware, dinnerware, and flatware, which is not what you want when you decide to run the dishes through the dishwasher.
For the sparkly shine that you are looking for you need to make sure that the interior and exterior of your dishwasher is in tip-top shape.
What You Need to Clean Your Dishwasher
Unlike other household tasks, cleaning the dishwasher isn’t overly complex. This is something that is going to take a bit of time, but not a whole lot of effort. To clean your dishwasher you are going to need one key ingredient: a special detergent that is designed for treating dishwashers.
This detergent – often called “dishwasher cleaners” – includes soaps that is a bit more harsh and abrasive than what is usually used in a dishwasher cycle, and so breaks down any lingering food particles that are left in the machine.
A lot of top brands carry dishwasher cleaners and you should be able to find them at most big box stores or online. Cascade, Glisten, and Affresh are all brands that have received high marks from Good Housekeeping.
How to Clean the Insight of Your Dishwasher
To clean your dishwasher, run your dishwasher on a full heavy cycle with the dishwasher cleaner detergent treatment in the machine. The dishwasher should be empty when you run it through, which gives the dishwasher a chance to focus on cleaning itself as opposed to cleaning your dishes on the inside. By having an empty dishwasher, you also allow the water cleaner to cover every spot on the inside of your dishwasher as opposed to bouncing off of dishes and utensils.
To keep your dishwasher in tip-top shape, it is recommended that you run a cleaning cycle at least once every six months.
Spot Cleaning Inside and Outside Your Dishwasher
Once you’ve run a cleaning cycle on the inside of your dishwasher, you want to go in and spot clean nooks and crannies on the inside of your machine. Simply use a scouring pad to clean up gunk, and a lint-free cloth to wipe them down dry.
For the dishwasher door, a simple household cleaning solution, scour, and wipe down will keep your appliance looking like new.
In addition to running a cleaning cycle once every six months, there are several cleaning additives that are recommended to help add a streak-free shine to glasses, including Jet-Dry (made by a company called Finish) products and other similar brands.
As long as you are keeping your dishwasher clean by keeping up with the maintenance steps listed above, these additional steps will help to make sure that your dishes look even better and more clean than they would just on their own.
Work with Maid Zen for Other Household Cleaning Needs
While Maid Zen doesn’t clean the inside of dishwashers, we are more than happy to tackle all visible surfaces and countertops in your home’s kitchen. Get in touch with us today for a FREE QUOTE on your home’s cleaning job.
