With the shelter in place announced a few months ago, it may seem like the number of dishes you need to wash in a day has tripled overnight. While some like myself, have opted for the disposable plates and utensils route, some others have opted instead for the admirable and chosen to put their dishwasher into overdrive.
For these folks, there are a few tips that we recommend to keep their dishwasher in tip top shape for as long as possible, further decreasing the odds of having to make that long dreaded dishwasher repair service call to their local appliance repair shop.
Below are three tips to prolong the service life of your dishwasher:
Rinse your dishes before a wash cycle
This one seems pretty self-explanatory and basic but is so important. Hence, why we name it the number one tip in the list. This may even have been a tip that your mother engrained in your brain since a very young age. And with good reason. This greatly can affect the quality of your dishwasher in the long run.
However, it seems with today’s culture of now, there are immediate responses expected from everything from food delivery services to medical care. This has embedded a culture of laziness in which the temptation to put a dirty dish directly into the dishwasher is high, and so many do so, knowing that this can damage the appliance.
Loading dirty dishes in the dishwasher forces the appliance to work in overdrive and clean solid food and greasy reside from the dishes. This can lead to clogged drains, can dirty the inside components of your appliance and can also affect future washes by redistributing food residue into these subsequent washes. A simple wash before loading is all that it takes to prevent these things from happening to your dishwasher.
Run it regularly
Using your dishwasher regularly ensures that your appliance is free from excess buildup. The more you run it, the higher chances that whatever food build up or debris was caught inside the machine is washed away.
Though regular washes are imperative to the service life of your appliance, performing a deep clean of the inside of your appliance will, in the end, be the difference between an appliance that lasts less than 10 years and those that last more than 15 years. See below tip.
Perform a self-clean on your dishwasher at least once a month
Once a month may seem like a lot. But trust on this one. Performing a deep clean frequently can greatly increase the efficiency of your dishwasher for years to come. Some popular at home cleaning agents, due to their acidity include lemonade powder, white vinegar, or lemon juice.
The parts of the appliance that need to be thoroughly cleaned are:
Spinning arms
Door (inside, out and on the sides)
Detergent dispenser
Drain
Post written by our friends at Buffalo NY Appliance Repair. Check them out for your next dishwasher repair, washing machine repair Buffalo, or home appliance service need.
Christine Kelley is a dedicated home blogger who has been blogging for over six years. She covers everything home related. Christine also loves writing posts about her travels to Europe with her husband and two children.
