Are you sure your dishwasher is clean? Discover how much dirt can be hiding in the filter
Whenever an appliance such as a dishwasher shows signs of minor underperformance, it is very likely that the cause is dirt in the filter. We do not notice this with the naked eye, or at least, not all the time (unless we look deliberately). There are, in fact, cases in which even after doing the dish washing, we find bits of food around the appliance or on the dishes themselves, but most often nothing is noticed. Indeed, we often open the door of the dishwasher and the entire, internal chamber of the dishwasher seems clean.
Given this, a fundamental maintenance operation is frequently forgotten - that of extracting and cleaning the filter, as well as the housing in which it is located. Many, but not all, know this, and indeed for some, discovering the amount of dirt that lurks in this hidden part of the appliance is a real surprise - as in the case of @madelyncombs1 who filmed her amusing reaction and posted it to TikTok.
In the video, the young woman opening up the dishwasher and everything seems fine, but when she takes out the lower rack and then goes to open the filter's lid, there is a succession of exclamations and screams of horror. The video is a good reminder that we need to clean this part of the appliance that does all the dirty work for us!
But where is the filter located? Normally, it is located on the bottom of the dishwasher, either near one of the rear corners or in the center, just below the rotating blades.
To extract it, you must slide the lower dish rack forward and, if necessary to reach the filter itself comfortably, extract it and place it on the ground. The filter is sometimes a plastic cylinder, with very fine mesh walls and a round cap that you simply have to twist to loosen (there are often arrows indicating which direction to turn the cap, and it is usually in a counter-clockwise direction) and then you can take it off easily. There may also be a slightly larger metal mesh surrounding the cylinder - this is also a filter that you can lift up and remove, to be washed it along with the other filter parts.
On the account of @madelyncombs1, there are also videos explaining how she dealt with cleaning of these various parts. Here, you can find the first clip and here, is the second (click on the links).
A very common method of cleaning the filter parts is to soak them in warm water and dishwasing liquid, but you can also add baking soda. In the most serious cases, and always after having removed the worst of the debris stuck in the gaps by hand (gloved), let the pieces soak in hot water with a little soap (for dishes, or Marseille) and also a few tablespoons of white vinegar, for several hours.
Do not forget to also check the inside of the dishwasher, where sometimes food residue and dirt remains stuck to the interior walls. When you have then cleaned and reassembled everything, spin the blades by hand to make sure they do not encounter any obstacles.
Depending on how often you use the dish washer, these cleanings chores should be done once a week for those who use the machine very frequently, or every 15-20 days in other cases.
