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More Dish Cleaning Service, Less Plumbing Service with 3 Easy Ways to Keep Your Dishwasher Working Hard
If you know how to treat your dishwasher, it can work hard for you for many years. Here are three easy tips from our bluefrog Plumbing + Drain plumbing service providers to encourage faithful service from your post-meal partner. Included here as well are a number of other strategies for greater efficiency and unexpected ways that you can sabotage your dishwasher as well. These work well with any type of dishwasher, from generic ones installed by developers when the home is built to luxurious stainless-steel models that operate nearly silently and do commercial-quality work.
More Maintenance Leads to Less Servicing and Keeps Your Dishwasher Running Smoothly
Protect your investment and defer the disruption of plumbing service calls and dishwasher replacement by checking the manual and following the recommended best practices. Even if you’ve inherited your dishwasher as part of the home or lost the original manual, there’s no excuse to not use it as a guide. For most models, you can find their manuals online, and learn how to take good care of your specific unit. Ask your plumbing service provider for advice, too. Here are a few easy tips to get the most out of your kitchen helper along with a bunch of other ideas to boost its performance and reliability.
Three Easy But Important Dishwasher Upkeep Items
- Keep the Filter and Screen Clear
It may surprise you to know that your newer dishwasher may have a manual filter, but older models tend to have automatic ones that used a noisy grinder to process waste. Some more expensive recent models have a silent filter that uses water pressure to chop food. Most units now have a twist-lock style filter that should be removed and cleaned periodically. If you think you need a plumbing service call for the drain, check the filter first. - Avoid Hard Water Wear and Tear – Clean Deposits if Needed
Hard water is hard on your dishwasher, too. At a minimum it will affect how well the soap works, but it will also leave deposits in various parts of the machine that need to be cleaned out either through physical removal or chemical dissolving. Your plumbing service provider can help to provide a whole-house or local water filter. - Rustproof the Rack and Other Wear Areas
The plastic coating of the rack and other surfaces in your dishwasher will wear over time, leading to rust, eventual loosening of rack wires, and other damage. A simple paint job with vinyl paint and replacing the tips with new ones will protect this area for years to come.
Consider These Dishwasher Longevity Strategies
Overloading
Water, with the help of detergent, does the job of cleaning your dishes and flatware and if it can’t reach everything, it can’t get the job done. Overloading the dishwasher or placing items where they block the spray prevents good cleaning results, which in turn means more washing and re-washing.
Plate Scraping
All you need to do is a quick scrape to remove excessive food and at least most of all harder bits like bone. Generally, rinsing is not needed. By reducing the bulk of material caught in the filter and keeping tough material out, you’re helping the machine live an easier life.
Door Seal
A few times a year, take a rag with some vinegar on it and clean the surfaces and folds of the door seal, removing food material and clearing and preventing mold growth. It’s a good sanitary practice and also helps the seal last longer.
Stick to the Intended Use
Creative uses for the dishwasher can be messy and destructive ones, not to mention the relationship issues that can arise when one partner gets ready to load the dinner plates and finds the other has not yet unloaded the car parts in the upper rack. Yes, people really do this, and there are all sorts of good reasons not to.
Beware of Backup
If your dishwasher drain routes through a garbage disposal, problems in the disposal can result in dirty water and debris backing up into the dishwasher. Have your plumbing service check your air gap and disposal if needed.
Premature Aging:
Door Damage
The door’s lock, hinges, and seal are fairly precise, and people aren’t always mindful of an open dishwasher door. They may bump into it when fully or partially open, lean on it, let it drop if the balancing spring is failing, or otherwise place stresses on it that will cause damage and may even make the unit leak or become unreliable.
Detergent Overuse
Excess detergent can result in damage to the unit’s pump and accumulation of residue that impedes operation of sprays and other mechanisms. If you’re not getting the cleaning results you’re hoping for, the problem may lie elsewhere. It could be sprayer rotation, food accumulation in the filter, or how you’re preparing and loading the dishes for washing.
Small Loads and the Like
In smaller households especially, people will often run small loads or even live out of the dishwasher, using and replacing a few items and running another cycle. Every cycle causes wear and tear on the unit, so frequent small loads amount to an unnecessary reduction in the dishwasher’s lifetime.
Sharp Objects in the Racks
Items like knives cut away the plastic coating of the racks. Load them carefully, or keep them in the silverware compartments, sharp part down of course to avoid surprises when unloading.
Broken Glass
When glasses break, the pieces need to be cleaned out of the unit. They can cause all sorts of problems, from poor washing to wear as they are sprayed around, and damage to the grinder in automatic filter models.
Your Dishwasher Installation and Maintenance Plumbing Service Experts at bluefrog Plumbing + Drain
We’re your complete, experienced plumbing service, ready to help you fix what’s needed in your kitchen and save dishwasher replacement for when your unit has served a long life or you’re ready to upgrade. Call bluefrog Plumbing + Drain for all your plumbing service needs.
