The dishwasher is a real blessing in the household. It is simply fully charged and clean dishes come out after a few hours.
But it also needs to be looked after from time to time, otherwise there will be a nasty surprise: the dishwasher suddenly stinks. In the worst case, the smell even clings to the actually clean dishes.
We reveal what causes a smelly dishwasher and what you can do about it.
Why does my dishwasher stink?
The dishwasher comes into contact with a lot of food residue. Sometimes these are not washed away with the wastewater. They then build up in the sieve, cutlery basket, hoses, seals or at the bottom of the dishwasher. Often there are places that you don't see at first glance.
In addition, eco programs often do not rinse hot enough, meaning that grease residue can remain in the hoses and even on the walls.
If these food residues are not removed, they will begin to rot over time and cause a bad smell in the dishwasher.
Dishwasher stinks: You can do this
Before you try to fix the smell with cleaners or home remedies, you should first find the cause of the smell. Otherwise it's like fighting symptoms and the smell will keep coming back. So do the following first:
- Empty and clean the sieve.
- Also take a close look at the cutlery basket and check whether there are any leftover food in it. Rinse it thoroughly with water once.
- Inspect the door seal; food residue can also accumulate here unnoticed.
After you've done this, you can take action against the smell in the dishwasher.
Reading tip:
The best home remedies for a smelly dishwasher
Sometimes the simplest means are still the best. This definitely applies to the dishwasher. Because often all a musty-smelling dishwasher needs is plenty of hot water.
The hot water ensures that accumulated fat is dissolved and bacteria are killed. In many cases, this is enough to get rid of the smell in the dishwasher.
These inexpensive and environmentally friendly home remedies also help against a musty dishwasher:
citric acid
Citric acid is the number 1 home remedy for a smelly dishwasher. It neutralizes odors and eliminates bacteria. If you spread some of the citric acid on the bottom of the dishwasher, you can ensure that the dishwasher smells good.
Then run the dishwasher empty (i.e. only with the inserts) so that all bacteria and residues are removed.
Important:Do not use the hottest washing program. If the water temperature is too high, calcium citrate can be formed from the citric acid. This causes deposits that are difficult to remove.
Baking soda
Baking soda is effective against fungi and bacteria. If the dishwasher smells musty, it may help to sprinkle two teaspoons of baking soda into the dishwasher. Then let it run hot once.
If the dishwasher still stinks, add a little more of the powder to the machine the next time you use it.
Vinegar
You can also use vinegar to combat the smell in the dishwasher. It has an antibacterial and lime-dissolving effect. However, be careful with the dosage and do not use vinegar essence. Otherwise, hoses and seals can be damaged by the aggressive acid.
Add half a cup of vinegar the next time you rinse. The dishwasher can be full for this because vinegar can also remove deposits on dishes.
Note: Always only use vinegarorBaking soda, as the effects of acid and alkali cancel each other out.
Dishwasher stinks? This helps alongside home remedies
As good as home remedies can be, sometimes you can't avoid conventional cleaners. An example of this: dishwasher salt.
Dishwasher salt has an important function and should therefore always be refilled carefully. It softens the water in the dishwasher. This means that no lime builds up in the hoses to which food deposits can adhere. Dishwasher salt (Shop here on Amazon*) plays an important role in ensuring that the dishwasher doesn't stink.
If all home remedies don't help and the dishes still smell like a wet dog, there are also special hygiene cleaners for dishwashers. These are added to an empty rinse cycle. But here too, all seals and the sieve must be cleaned first.
Then run the dishwasher once with hygiene cleaner at at least 60 °C. Special dishwasher cleaners are available as powder, gel or tabs. Here you canOrder dishwasher cleaner directly in a pack of 6 from Amazon*.
Tips to ensure that the dishwasher never stinks again
To prevent bad smells from spreading in the dishwasher, you can take a few preventative measures.
- Clean the drain strainer and cutlery basket about twice a month.
- As good as the Eco mode is, rinse every now and then in the regular washing program (min. 60 °C) to kill all bacteria and fungi.
- Run the dishwasher on high temperature once every 1-2 months.
- You should always scrape off heavily soiled dishes beforehand so that the leftover food does not end up in the machine. But you don't have to pre-wash the dishes - that's actually counterproductive because the cleaning particles from the dishwasher tablets won't be able to stick to the dishes and work as well.
Shopping tip: Influencer, chef and bestselling book author Stefano Zarrella recommends cleaning tabs from Somat – available for particularly stubborn food residuehere on Amazon*.
Reading tip:
Dishwasher stinks despite cleaning?
Sometimes it happens that the dishwasher smells even after a thorough cleaning. The bad smell can also have technical causes. For example, it may be that the wastewater hose was not connected in front of the siphon. Then the wastewater can collect in the U-shaped pipe and cause a disgusting smell.
It is also possible that the device has been damaged. If the wastewater hose is kinked, wastewater can also collect there and cause a smell.
So if all cleaning measures don't help, the only option is to call the installer. If you are satisfied with the performance of the dishwasher, it is worth it. A repair is then cheaper than a new device. If, on the other hand, it is an old dishwasher, a new one might make more sense.
