But did it work?
Unlike the retired leisured class ( 
), I’ve had some other stuff taking up my time. Need aroundtuit.
Shouldn’t rotting things in the filter be a short term thing?
I mean, food doesn’t rot for months. It will rot for a few days. I suppose if you keep adding to it then it will keep going.
As a single person I run my washer once a week. I do a simple rinse of the dishware before it goes in to wash off the bigger chunks and then I always run my washer on the long cycle (extra rinse and heated dry).
I will say at the end of the week, right before I run a cycle, it can smell a little ripe since some things have been in there for several days. Wash cycle sorts it all out. I suspect the heated drying at the end kills whatever is left living in there. My machine has a sanitize cycle and I think heat is the thing it uses for that.
This washer has been running 3+ years and I have never cleaned it and it has never smelled bad (after a washing cycle).
Every couple of weeks my gf tells me we need to run the dishwasher (to keep the machine/seals happy). Otherwise I prefer to wash the dishes by hand.
When she decides it is time, I pre-wash everything and then put it in. It runs overnight. Never any odor.
I think a clogged filter could create a wet zone in the drain that doesn’t get dried out. Even if the dry cycle is hot enough to kill any mold or other crap growing there it will probably quickly spring back to life between cycles.
Bingo! This will work with the dishwasher also, although a dishwasher door open is less convenient than a washing machine door. We have a Miele brand dishwasher and when the cycle is over the door pops open about 4 inches and his held there by some mechanism until you open it fully. We always run our dishwasher at night so after the cycle is done the door pops open and the inside is completely dry by the time we get up in the morning…no funky smell.
I use cloths instead of paper towels for most kitchen needs. When I wash a load, I use bleach, and use the opportunity to toss in the plastic/vinyl shower curtain to fill out the load. I don’t even bother removing the curtain rings. The shower curtain comes out as pristine as the day I bought it (but without the original chemical stank). And I don’t have to reattach the rings.
Just ran across another discussion on this heated topic.
I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you!
The K-9 solution works, but mine has an annoying whine prior to deployment.
Yes, it did! Thanks all.
I think it still gets a bit musty if I load it but it doesn’t have enough for a full load.
I had been following this thread because I, too, had a pretty significant problem with bad smells. I tried many of the suggestions, including using a dishwasher cleaning solution, but saw no improvement.
Then I saw a comment on another site where someone stated that using a dry powder instead of a liquid detergent solved their smell problem. I’ve used liquid detergents exclusively and had given no thought to this as a possible contributing factor. I bought some of the cheapest generic pods I could find (my local store did not have just plain powders) and tried them out. Bingo! No smell whatsoever. Might not work for others, but it worked for me.
Very interesting. I wonder if over time you’d developed a colony of stinky bacteria that were immune to the ingredients in your particular liquid detergent. Which were duly slaughtered by the new different pods.
If you still have any of the old stuff, it’d be interesting to switch back to it for a few weeks and see if the issue recurs. And if it does, see if a different liquid detergent solves the problem just as effectively as did your new pods. Science!
Waay back when I used loose powder detergent. I’ve also used the goopy liquids, but it’s also been a long time ago. For the last ~20 years I’ve used the hard pelletized powders or the powder sachets encased in dissolving plastic. Now my new wife prefers the liquid-filled pods, so that’s what I/we use now. Never had any persistent odor issue no matter what form of detergent I used.
I’m careful to do that with both the washing machine and dishwasher. I understand it’s especially important with front-load washers, but after having switched to a top-loader, I do it with that one, too. As for dishwashers, the current one – and even the old one at the previous house with the weak door spring – could have the door sit open an inch or two. It’s probably a lot more important for the clothes washer to leave the door open, because there’s going to be a lot of moisture left when you take the laundry out.
I’ve never had odor problems in either machine. In the dishwasher, I’ve been using powdered detergent until maybe a year or two ago when I switched to Finish Quantum Ultimate pods (not the compressed powder, but the water-soluble plastic pods) which do a great job.
Why does my dishwasher smell bad?
It has no nose!
“Bad” is not equal to “badly”.
Well, the joke (the funniest joke in the world) works best translated to German, which does not make a difference between adjectives and adverbs. 