How to Clean a Dishwasher: Filter, Spray Arms & Smells

How Often Should You Clean Your Dishwasher?

Clean the filter once a month. Do a full deep clean, spray arms, seals, and interior, once every three months. If you run the dishwasher daily or wash a lot of greasy pans, move both up to every two weeks and every six weeks.

That schedule alone prevents most of the smells and cloudy dishes people search for online.

What You’ll Need

Nothing fancy here. You probably have most of this already:

• White vinegar
• Baking soda
• A soft brush, an old toothbrush works fine
• A microfiber cloth
• Rubber gloves

Skip the specialty sprays for now. We’ll tell you honestly later on when a commercial cleaner is actually worth buying.

How to Clean a Dishwasher: 6 Steps

1. Empty the machine completely, including any leftover cutlery.
2. Pull out the bottom rack and remove the filter, more on this below.
3. Rinse the filter under hot water and scrub off any buildup.
4. Wipe down the door gasket, the edges, and the detergent dispenser with a damp cloth.
5. Check the spray arm holes for clogs and clear them with a toothpick.
6. Run an empty hot cycle with a cup of white vinegar placed upright on the top rack.

That’s the whole routine. Fifteen minutes, twice a month if you’re keeping on top of it.

How to Clean the Dishwasher Filter

The filter is the part almost nobody cleans, and it’s also the most searched question in this whole topic. Here’s how to do it properly.

Step 1: Most filters sit at the bottom of the tub, under the bottom spray arm. Twist it counterclockwise a quarter turn and lift it straight out. Some newer models use a push-and-turn lock instead, so check your manual if it doesn’t budge easily.

Step 2: Once it’s out, rinse it under hot running water and use your soft brush to work loose any trapped food. You’ll often find a layer of grey sludge, that’s biofilm, and it’s completely normal if the filter has been neglected for a while.

Step 3: Refit it the same way you removed it, and make sure it clicks or locks back into place. A loose filter lets food debris straight into the sump, which is exactly what causes the smells we talk about below.

Note that filter designs vary quite a bit by brand and model, so if yours looks different, your owner’s manual will have the exact steps.

Cleaning with Vinegar and Baking Soda

Vinegar and baking soda both help, but they do different jobs, and neither one is magic.

White vinegar cuts through grease film and dissolves light limescale, which is why that empty hot cycle works so well. Baking soda is mildly abrasive and helps lift stuck-on residue and freshen up smells between deep cleans.

Here’s what they won’t do. Vinegar will not clear a blocked drain hose, and baking soda will not fix a broken spray arm. If you’ve done both and the machine still smells or leaves residue, the cause is mechanical, not hygiene, and we cover that further down.

Why Your Dishwasher Still Smells After Cleaning

If you’ve cleaned the filter and run a vinegar cycle and the smell is still there, check three things.

• Standing water in the sump. A small amount left in the bottom after every cycle is normal, but more than a thin film usually means a drain issue.
• The drain hose. Food particles collect here over time and rot, which causes a sewage-like smell that filter cleaning alone won’t fix.
• The door gasket. Rinse aid and detergent residue build up in the folds of the rubber seal and grow biofilm if it’s never wiped down.

If you’ve checked all three and the smell persists, it’s worth reading our full guide on a dishwasher not draining properly, since standing water and smells usually go hand in hand.

What a Dirty Dishwasher Does to the Machine

This is the part most cleaning guides skip entirely, because they’ve never actually opened one up.

When a filter goes uncleaned for a year or more, food debris doesn’t just sit there, it works its way past the filter and into the sump and drain pump. Over time this causes:

• Blocked drains from compacted food and grease
• Premature drain pump wear, since the pump has to work harder against debris
• Damaged door seals, as trapped grime breaks down the rubber over months
• Cloudy, gritty glassware, from hard water and detergent residue circulating repeatedly

We’ve replaced drain pumps that failed years earlier than they should have, purely because the filter was never touched. A filter cleaning habit that costs you fifteen minutes a month is a lot cheaper than a pump replacement.

We’ve also pulled filters out of machines after two years of zero maintenance, and the spray arm jets were so clogged that barely any water was making it through. The owner thought the machine itself was broken. It wasn’t, it just needed fifteen minutes of attention it never got. That’s the real cost of skipping this routine, not just smells, but parts wearing out years before they should.

Your Dishwasher Maintenance Schedule

Here’s a simple schedule to keep on your fridge.

If you’d rather not keep track of this yourself, our regular cleaning and maintenance service handles the full routine for you.

When Cleaning Won’t Fix It

Sometimes the problem isn’t dirt at all. If you notice any of the following after a proper clean, the issue is mechanical, and cleaning products won’t touch it.

• Water pooling at the bottom after every single cycle
• A burning or electrical smell during a wash
• Loud grinding or humming with no water movement
• Dishes coming out dirty even right after cleaning the filter and spray arms

These usually point to a failing drain pump, a blocked drain line, or worn seals, and they need a technician rather than more vinegar.