When you wash your dishes or utensils and find a foul odor after the wash, then it means something is wrong with your dishwasher. The most common problem is the stuck lime and food particles underneath the drain pipe and filters.
So how do you stop dishes from smelling after a dishwasher cycle?
Dishes may smell after a dishwasher cycle if the dishwasher is dirty. You can eliminate the smell by ensuring your dishwasher is always clean by unclogging the drain pipes and the filter and cleaning the dishwasher with baking soda or vinegar. You can remove the smell from the dishes by washing them in vinegar and hot water.
You must clean your dishwasher regularly to ensure that your dishes are left smelling nice and clean. It would be good to schedule regular dishwasher maintenance with professionals to ensure that all the parts all working correctly.
This post explains why your dishes may have a foul odor after a dishwasher cycle and how to stop them from smelling.
Why Your Dishwasher Makes Your Dishes Smell Bad
After removing them from the dishwasher, it is not uncommon to sense a foul, irritating smell on your dishes. It isn’t a pleasant experience since you’d have to wash them manually.
And not only that, if you fail to clean them again, you won’t have an enjoyable meal as the foul odor will ruin your appetite.
You may be wondering why something meant to clean your dishes would leave them smelling bad. Don’t worry; below are reasons why your dishwasher leaves your dishes with a foul odor and how to fix it.
1. The Interior of Your Dishwasher is Dirty
A dirty dishwasher is often the primary reason for the foul smell on your dishes after cleaning. When your washed dishes give off a bad smell, you can be sure your dishwasher’s interior needs some cleaning.
The solution is disassembling the parts of the machine and thoroughly cleaning them using a scrubbing brush, hot water, and soap.
2. Over-Stacking Dishes Inside Your Dishwasher
Piling or over-stacking dishes in the dishwasher could be a significant reason why your dishes do not clean well and come out still smelling of food and dirt.
Piling may also jam your machine and cause damage to its components.
A standard recommendation is that dishes should be spaced during loading so that all the dishes receive a single washing. In this way, all containers will receive a proper wash one by one.
Therefore, if you cant wash them all at once, it would be best to have two cycles rather than overstacking and having non-clean and smelly dishes.
3. Stuck Stains Inside the Dishwasher Drain
If your dishes still have a bad smell after a dishwasher cleanup, the problem could be food particles, and grease stuck deep in the drain. These remnants are responsible for the foul smell since water from the gutter is usually dirty.
You will have to use white vinegar for this type of problem since the vinegar dissolves any stuck material and removes the foul odor.
Pour vinegar solution down the drain and wait for a few minutes to dissolve the stains and dirt, then rinse with hot water.
4. Burnt Plastic
Although some plastics are dishwasher safe, some not so much. So when you are placing utensils in the dishwasher, take caution and remove all the thin and flimsy plastics.
However, not everything will turn out as you planned, and by accident, a bottle top or plastic spoon may slip in the dishwater and get lodged in the coils.
And no doubt it will end up melting. This will leave your dishwasher and dishes smelling like burnt plastic.
The primary prevention method is by counterchecking and ensuring no plastics are in the dishwasher before beginning your cycle.
But if it happens, wash your dishwasher using store-bought detergent, then place a cup of baking soda in the dishwasher and leave it overnight to absorb the remaining odor.
Then it would be best if you soak all your dishes in a basin mixed with four parts water and one part vinegar. Then rinse them and place them on a rack to dry.
What to Do to Stop Your Dishes from Smelling
If you notice your dishes are smelling after a dishwasher cycle, it means that something is wrong with your dishwasher. And some of the reasons are discussed above. But what should you do to stop your dishes from smelling?
- Ensure that your dishwasher is clean
- Perform regular maintenance on your dishwasher to fix any malfunction with clogged drain pipes or filters
- If the coil has rusted, your utensils will smell like rust, so ensure that it is replaced
- If your utensils smell like burnt plastic, wash them using vinegar and hot water. Also, make sure to clean your dishwasher.
How Often Should You Clean Your Dishwasher?
There is no specific answer when it comes to cleaning your dishwasher. It all depends on personal preference, which cleanup method is used, how often you use it, whether you scrape food off the plates before placing them in the machine, and manufacturer’s guidelines.
However, experts in the field have stated their recommendations regarding dishwasher maintenance and sanitation. These recommendations are guidelines to help the user maintain a clean and functioning dishwasher.
We’ve summarized the guidelines we’ve found in the table below to make it easy for you to decide how often you should clean our dishwasher.
| Dishwasher Usage | How Often To Clean It | Type of Clean |
| Heavy Usage | 2-4 Times Per Year | Deep Clean |
| Heavy Usage | 1-2 Times Per Month | Quick Clean |
| Heavy Usage | 1-2 Times Per Week | Clean Filter |
| Moderate Usage | 2 Times Per Year | Deep Clean |
| Moderate Usage | Once Every 40 Days | Quick Clean |
| Moderate Usage | 1-2 Times Per 10 Days | Clean Filter |
| Poor Usage | 1 Time Per Year | Deep Clean |
| Poor Usage | 1-2 Times Per 60 Days | Quick Clean |
| Poor Usage | 1-2 Times Per 14 Days | Clean Filter |
The more you use your dishwasher, the more leftover food will collect at the bottom. This will, eventually, clog both the drain and the spray arms. Clogging your dishwasher will inevitably cause the circulating water to contain leftover food residue and soap.
Clogging the dishwasher will also restrict water flow substantially. Making the dishwasher less effective than before. Therefore, it’s important to keep the dishwasher clean. Failure to clean your dishwasher on a regular basis can (and will) lower the dishwasher’s durability due to filter clogging and drain blockages.
There are different types of cleanup processes. An appropriate deep cleanup process includes taking out the dishwasher parts and cleaning them separately – to get rid of mold, food residue, grime, and other build-ups that accumulate at the bottom of the dishwasher.
Depending on how often you clean the dishwasher, you may or may not need to be as thorough when doing it.
Your deep cleans should always include:
- Remove gunk from the drain. Use a glove and remove everything that you can get out of the drain. Remove the screen if it’s detachable and rinse it to make sure it’s clean as well.
- Run a cycle with hot water and vinegar or dishwasher detergents then remove the build-up, that should’ve loosened a little after the cycle.
- Clean the rubber seal around the door and clean it with a cloth to remove gunk build-up.
- Removing trays and cleaning them. Soak them if needed.
- Using a toothbrush or other fitting brush to reach every nook and cranny, such as the inside of the spray arm, for instance.
Do not use bleach when cleaning your dishwasher.
Less thorough methods should include:
- Running a cycle with a bowl of vinegar inside the dishwasher. The vinegar will help break down the accumulated residue.
- Wiping the inside of the dishwasher with a cloth after the cycle.
- Using a plastic glove, remove any leftover food that has collected in the drain or on the filter.
We suggest that you schedule a maintenance session with experts once in a while to accompany your cleaning. This will ensure that your dishwasher is working as intended.
Signs That You Should Clean Your Dishwasher
It would be best to clean your dishwasher as frequently as stipulated in the User Manual or as soon as you notice that it is clogged or dishes do not clean well.
Most people do not bother to clean the dishwasher and instead wait until the machine malfunctions. This fact calls for action on the consumer as you need to take care of your appliances.
Some of the signs you should look out for and clean your dishwasher include:
- Unpleasant smell as a result of food piling or slime along the drain
- Food build-up in your machine’s filter hence making it hard to drain water
- Food cover on the cutlery or crockery makes it hard to perform an effective dishwashing
- The appearance of rust in the dishwasher’s interior
- Evidence of food particles in the sprayer arm. It would be best to consider this indication as it is one of the most obvious signs that your machine needs cleaning.
- Clogged drain pipes make it hard for water to drain down the pipes
A quick-fix process for clogged drain pipes involves running hot water mixed with vinegar in the dishwasher drainpipes and waiting for a few minutes. Any food particle or stain that clogs the drain or the spray arms will loosen and drain off in hot water.
Experts in this field recommend doing the following.
1. Clean the dishwasher filter regularly.
Experts at the GHI suggest that you should clean your dishwasher filter regularly. Although cleaning it every day may seem tiresome, it will help you avoid future issues.
It is pretty straightforward as you just need to scoop out the goop with a paper towel and dispose of it in the bin.
Then rinse with running water on the filter to dislodge any stuck substance, and after you do this, let the filter dry up, then replace it. If cleaning the filter almost daily seems hard to recall, then you should at least clean it once a week.
2. Deeply clean your dishwasher after every two months
Research conducted by Appliances Direct states that dishwashers are amongst the appliances that users rarely clean.
A survey conducted by the researchers reveals that consumers mainly wash their machines two to three times a year.
Experts recommend a two-month period between each cleanup process, which helps keep soap scum and limescale build-up at bay.
One of the significant ways to perform this process is by utilizing a cup of white vinegar at the machine’s base and running a regular cycle. Doing this cleanup leaves your device sparkling clean and free from mold.
Bicarbonate soda helps maintain a good smell on your dishwasher, a basic grooming procedure.
Final Thoughts
Washing dishes is a common thing in every family. And while not every family is lucky to own a dishwasher, those who do may notice a foul odor once they remove the utensils from the dishwasher; instead of smelling nice and looking pristine.
Some of the reasons your dishwasher may leave your utensils with a foul odor are that the drain pipe and filters are clogged.
Also, overstacking your dishes simply because you don’t want to run your dishwasher twice will leave your dishes not entirely clean and having a foul smell.
So implement some of the solutions discussed above to stop your utensils from smelling and clean your dishwasher regularly.