The Fall Cleaning Challenge Starts Now | Download HERE

Kitchen | YouTube

Dishing Out Deep Cleaning Advice For Your Dishwasher!

September 28, 2022

If you’re a follower of our @GoCleanCo Instagram, then you’ve seen us show some pretty NASTY dishwasher filters. That’s because dishwashers are magnets for filth. And if yours hasn’t been cleaned in a while, now is the time to do something about it before it gets worse.

When we clean our clients’ homes, we can tell if a dishwasher is in need of a clean by the smell or the sight of the filter. Your dishes aren’t getting clean if you have a dirty machine, so it’s important to clean it regularly. Nobody likes cleaning dishes after they’ve been washed! 

When you buy through our links, we may earn a small commission.

Cleaning Your Dishwasher’s Exterior

Depending on if you have a stainless steel or plastic machine, you’ll clean them differently. 

Stainless Steel: One of our most commonly asked questions from clients is “how did you clean my stainless steel appliances?” The best answer: Weiman® Stainless Steel Cleaner always makes stainless steel look brand new. 

Stainless steel tends to be a pain in the butt when it comes to keeping it free of drip marks and fingerprints. Start by wiping the door down with hot water and a small amount of Dawn® dish soap. Don’t forget the sides of the door, either! 

Once it’s completely dry, grab the Weiman® Stainless steel spray (we prefer the spray bottle over the aerosol can). Before you spray, lay down some paper towels underneath the dishwasher. Weiman® can make your floor slippery so this will prevent you having to mop after. Spray down the door and grab some paper towels. Gently buff the product in with the direction of the stainless steel grain. 

Let it sit for about 10 minutes for the product to fully soak in, then grab a clean paper towel and give it one more wipe. You’ll be amazed when you see that shine! 

Plastic: Plastic machines are much easier to clean. Wet a microfiber cloth with hot water and a small amount of Dawn® dish soap. Wipe down the door and sides and let it dry. If you want that extra shine, follow up with some Windex® to polish. 

Cabinets

If you notice splatters or hardened food on the sides of your cabinets around your dishwasher, give them a wipe as well. Just be gentle if it’s on painted surfaces to not leave scrub marks. Our Tide and hot water mix (recipe below) on a microfibre cloth will do the trick.

Cleaning Your Dishwasher’s Interior

First order of importance: DO NOT USE ANYTHING EXCEPT BLEACH TO CLEAN THE INSIDE OF YOUR DISHWASHER. Using any other cleaning products (including splashless bleach) may cause a sudsy nightmare! Move any area rugs out of the way, wear clothes that you don’t mind getting bleach stains on, and wear gloves to protect your hands.

Before you start, open your dishwasher and remove the cutlery tray and shelves.

Filter

This is where you find the real nasty stuff! Most dishwashers have a removable filter and they collect all of the food that doesn’t get rinsed off of your dishes. Most filters can be found inside at the bottom of the machine. Search for your model or check with your manufacturer if you can’t find yours. For most, all you have to do is twist the base of the filter and pull up to remove it, including the screen if there is one. 

If you’ve never cleaned yours before, you may be a little grossed out. We’ve seen some pretty horrifying ones because many people don’t even know their dishwasher has a filter! 

Once you’ve gotten your filter out, bring it over to your sink. Turn on your tap and GENTLY scrub off all of the stuck food with hot water. Grab some bleach in a bowl and give it another scrub before you give it a good rinse. (Be careful as you can break the filter if you scrub too hard.) Once you’re done, twist the screen and filter tightly back into place.  

The Inside and Seal

If you open your dishwasher, you’ll see the black rubber seal that curves around the opening. This seals the door tightly when you close it so no water escapes when running a cycle. Seals can get coated with water deposits and bits of food, so it’s important to clean it too. Use bleach and water on a scrub brush. Be very gentle because they can damage easily. After you’ve scrubbed it, grab a damp microfiber cloth and wipe all the crud away. 

Continue to clean the rest of the inside with straight bleach in a small bowl using a soft cloth or scrub brush. Get in all the nooks and crannies, particularly around the edges and by the door hinges. (Pro Tip: Slide a damp cloth around a butter knife to get into any tight spaces that your brush is missing.) Bleach should help to remove any hard water deposits. Then use a damp cloth to wipe everything down.

Sprayer Arms

If your sprayer arms are clogged, you can also clean them. On most models, you can lift and remove them from the machine; there may be a knob you need to turn to release it. Once you have the arm removed from your machine, you can pull out any stuck food with tweezers or a pin. If they are really clogged you can let them soak in hot water and vinegar and use a scrub brush. Be careful to not pull apart the arms, they often can’t go back together. 

Pro tip: You can replace your filter, rubber seal and sprayer arms if needed. Just search your make and model to find where to purchase a new one.    

Wash Cycle

Return your cutlery basket and shelves back into the dishwasher. Grab some trusty bleach and pour about a cup straight into the bottom of your dishwasher. Close the door and run a long, hot cycle. This will kill any bacteria, cut any unpleasant scents, clean the racks and leave the inside sparkling. 

Heating Element 

Some dishwashers have a visible heating element inside. If yours has one, there’s a chance it may be coated in hard water. Grab some trusty vinegar on a microfibre cloth and wrap it around the element so it can lift the hard water (ensure element has cooled before doing so). Let it sit as long as it needs and then lift and wipe up all of the crud. Run a cycle after with JUST WATER. Remember, we don’t want to mix any chemicals so you’ll do this after your bleach cycle. 

Cleaning your dishwasher is SO important and should be done regularly. This is the kind of thing that makes us question why this stuff isn’t taught in school! Check your filter once a week and rinse it in the sink to keep up with the cleanliness of your machine. Always refer to your model’s user manual for specific machine instructions and troubleshooting. 

Clean Your Home the GoCleanCo Way

Your dishwasher is probably one of the nastiest places in your home. But what about the rest of your house?

Want to learn how to clean your entire home the GoCleanCo way? Enroll in our Basic Training course and get over 75 minutes of interactive content, checklists, and guides that walk you through the specifics of how to deep clean every square inch of your house.

For a list of our favorite products, click here

  • Georgia @GoCleanCo

Recent Posts

Thank you! A confirmation email will be sent to your email

Clean up your inbox.

News, ideas, and recommendations delivered to your inbox. Absolutely zero trash piling up in the corner.

We're big on Instagram.

Follow @GoCleanCo for seriously satisfying videos and top-secret tips. Don’t be shy, come say hi.

gocleanco
Sep 19
10939

We kicked off the Fall Cleaning Challenge by flying to Burnaby, British Columbia and cleaning our Spring Cleaning Challenge (2023) winners house! We had so much fun doing this clean. Lots of team work, planning and love was poured into this project! Getting cheered on by you folks makes it all worth it! Being able to pay our good fortune forward to our followers makes us all warm and fuzzy. Big thanks to our brand partners who generously hooked us up with so much gifted stuff for the winner. We all need to go nap for 3 days now 😂 Did you enter the Fall Cleaning Challenge so that this can be you Spring 2024?! Link in our bio or head to our website to enter. #cleaning Special thanks to @ruggable @bollandbranch @oceansalesltd @proctergamble @amazoninfluencerprogram 💕

gocleanco
Sep 15
14056

Want to open your front door and see our smiling faces coming to clean your house? Then you better get over to bleachpraylove.com on Monday, September 18th and join the Fall Cleaning Challenge! That’s right, the Grand Prize is a house clean by yours truly and my crew. We fly to you and give your house a top to bottom clean like only we can. How does the Fall Cleaning Challenge work? Each week for four weeks follow along and clean your house with me! Plus we have soooo cool many prizes! Each week we will be giving away some of my favorite things like @bollandbranch @ruggable @sharkbeauty blow dryers, and my personal fav cold hard 💰 to help you catch up on bills, buy a new vacuum or hire someone to help you with your looming House Work if you can’t get caught up! If you want to see more of our adventure at the Spring Cleaning Challenge winners house stay tuned in stories for the next few days PLUS we are filming it all for YouTube and you can watch it all the behind the scenes dirty laundry…The good, the bad…the filthy. Love you folks. For reals. 💕 Thank you for making our job so fun! #cleaningmotivation

gocleanco
Aug 25
3720

No visit from @hellohairhouse is complete without a kitchen haircut! #fallhairtrends

gocleanco
Aug 24
9516

The Fall Cleaning Challenge starts on Monday Sept 18th, 2023. Y’all ready? The download will be available on September 18th and the grand prize is a house clean by yours truly! We also have some new vacuum testing coming your way 😈 My garage is FULL of suckers baby and I’m not mad about it. #fallcleaning

gocleanco
Aug 19
8403

Update: It’s a damn ice box in here and I’ve been sleeping like a baby. #airconditioning

gocleanco
Aug 8
12901

Perfect example that cleaning 👏🏻 is 👏🏻 home 👏🏻 maintenance 👏🏻 Take care of your stuff and it will last longer. This little handy-dandy-doo-dad scrubber is linked in my Amazon Storefront. #cleaningtips

gocleanco
Aug 3
5333

Had fun in the angels’ city chasing fortune and fame 😎 Thanks @amazoninfluencerprogram for #hosting me. And no I didn’t get tickets to any shows this weekend but for the rest of you—take the moment and taste it. 🫶🏼

gocleanco
Jul 19
4721

To the Salon!!!!!! (Or in this case, the laundry room.) Saved these fabulous scuffed up pumps with some @tidelaundrystainremover a cloth and some patience. Just in time for @barbiethemovie premiere! Have fun @lauren_lally always happy to be of service 🫡 #barbiethemovie

gocleanco
Jul 12
3035

Bathroom organization top picks! Everything is in my storefront to 🛍️ #amazonfinds

gocleanco
Jul 11
16887

Summer is here! Clean up your space so you actually want to hangout in it. That hot tub…it’s not mine…k🤦🏼‍♀️ Link in bio for these products, some are on sale for Prime Day, just check the albums for your country.

gocleanco
Jul 11
30730

Robot Vacuum Fight Club! 💪🏻 Things we threw on the floor: Shreddies, Powdered Tide, (clean) Cat Litter, A crumbled up loaf of sourdough and good old dirt! Stay tuned for the results. 🧐 #thiswasmorefunthaniexpected

gocleanco
Jul 8
12534

Spent my morning making a very aesthetically pleasing Raspberry Pie Reel for y’all but it ended up being a Raspberry Scramble 🥴💀 Wasn’t gonna post it BUT when life feels like a scramble it can still be delicious. 🤌🏼🤌🏼🤌🏼 Please consider this my official petition to bring @jello back as a dessert staple.

gocleanco
Jul 7
16754

Shower tracked destroyed with built up hard water minerals? Here’s an easy solution with a simple house hold ingredient and elbow grease. Still gonna take some scrubbing friends, good results take work. #cleaningtips

gocleanco
Jul 6
7254

Is pressure washing considered a form of therapy? Asking for a friend. #backupvocalsduuuuuuuuupe

gocleanco
Jun 29
24492

Years in the making…it’s FINALLY here…and it’s a masterpiece. Over the years I have received thousands of DM’s asking what to pick when renovating your home. What is the easiest to clean? What will survive the test of time? So I compiled it all here in our Home Renovation Guide. Apologies for taking so long but we kept adding and it kept getting longer and longer. This has been a labour of love. Link in bio to purchase or tap to shop! #itsbeenalongtimecoming

gocleanco
Jun 21
16222

Sounds like a lot of you have slime problems. Here’s how we got it out! Sprinkle baking soda on the slime and smush it down into the carpet fibres so it gets in deep. Add straight vinegar and let it sit for about 30 mins. Scrub it with a brush. Repeat until it’s gone! When you repeat, you need to let it sit each time for 30 mins so it starts to break down the slime. We scrubbed for 30 mins too, don’t give up! Think about how expensive the damn carpet is to replace and that will give you lots of energy! As always: It is a good idea to test an inconspicuous spot first (like in a closet) before try you so this because all carpets are different. Try at your own risk but also if you have dried slime all over your carpet I think you are screwed anyways. GOOD LUCK and report back. #slime #slimetoturial

gocleanco
Jun 18
8443

I’m a simple creature. Here’s the haul I promised from the viral sweater set. Yellow usually isn’t my colour but I’m feeling it the most! Wearing a medium, it’s machine washable but I have been laying it flat to dry. Everything is linked in my bio and up in my stories. #amazonfinds

gocleanco
Jun 17
10499

If you thought I was going to miss an opportunity to use this bop, you were wrong. Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there, reminder that a clean tractor is a sexy tractor. @kubotacanada if you wanna detail this thing next year LMK. 🚜 🧽 🫧😎

gocleanco
Jun 16
4215

5 days left to get in that spring clean!!  😂💪🏻 Here’s a round up of all the stuff we’ve cleaned with @mrclean if you need some inspiration! It’s been quite the journey 😵‍💫🤢What else do y’all use @mrclean for? #mrcleanpartner #sponsored

©2023 Bleach Pray Love | Designed by Canned Spinach | Built by Oracast