If you’ve noticed that your dishwasher is not giving as great a clean as usual, here are my three top tips for getting her back to good health for the New Year and beyond.
1. Clean your filter
This is one of the best things you can do for your dishwasher. If you don’t know how, your manual will have a guide, but it is usually an anti-clockwise turn and pull. A dirty filter will spray food into the top drawer and it will get stuck on to surfaces during the drying stage. However, don’t wait until you start to see this happen. Clean your filter weekly to keep your machine in tip top condition and every few months do a deep clean. This is just a cup of vinegar on the top shelf, a cup of bicarb on the bottom and the longest, hottest setting (or clean setting).
2.Check your spray arms
During each cycle water is pumped from the bottom of the unit through a spray arm under each drawer and, as they rotate, they ensure every dish is reached. However, if the holes in your spray arms are dirty or clogged, it can lead to a host of problems, including, for example, an entire section of a drawer not being cleaned properly or displacement of water. To make sure they are working as they should, remove, inspect and clean often. These come off easily (check your manual for the best how to. They are usually held in place with a nut). A wash with warm soapy water is ideal and a toothpick, straw cleaner or similar can help free anything stuck in holes.
3. Check your salt levels
Dishwasher salt is one of the most underrated elements of a cycle and one you need to know about. Let’s talk about why. For a truly fabulous clean, you need soft water and salt softens water like nothing else. On the floor of every dishwasher there will be a water softening unit, usually at the back left with a cap over it. Water comes through this unit before each wash and so, ideally, it should be filled with salt. But not just any salt, dishwasher salt is the perfect size and content to do the job, as opposed to something like table salt which is too fine and also has too much magnesium. All you need to do is unscrew the cap, pour in your salt about an inch from the top (you’ll have some water spill out but don’t worry, that’s normal). Check every couple of months and top up when needed. This will ensure your dishes, as well as the machine itself, are not impacted by the elements of hard water.
