Got a new dishwasher to replace the one that never really got the dishes clean. It’s a Bosch, and it’s awesome. Very quiet, cleans the dishes, and after the rebates it comes out to around 425.
However, I am noticing a faint odor of an axle-grease when it runs. It definitely smells like some sort of mechanical grease, as opposed to food-grade grease like chicken or beef fat. Anyone have experience with something like this? Is it normal? I think we have run at least 3 or 4 cycles at this point, and the smell lingers.
I’ve noticed that many of the new appliances we install have a lot of grease on the hidden door surfaces. Not just the hinges and moving parts but on the surfaces around the gaskets and even the cabinet face that gets covered by the door when it closes. It is a white lithium grease so it is not that obvious visually. The GE profile fridge I installed recently even had grease all over the gasket surfaces which strikes me as getting awfully close to the food grade interior surfaces of the fridge.
I have never noticed a smell, but you may be more sensitive. Alternatively some grease could have gotten on the motor or some other part that gets hot during operation.
Most European and upper end brands have a stainless interior that uses a drip style drying cycle rather than a heated cycle that vents steam from the door. Some higher end models have both. If you are using a heated drying cycle this can get the door quite hot and those greased surfaces are going to tend smell. If this is the case you could see if the dishwasher has an eco setting that turns the heated cycle off.
Did you tighten all the bolts on your differential before you put it in the dishwasher?
I’ve had two Boschs and don’t remember ever detecting a mechanical grease-like smell before. Two things you might keep in mind. One, make sure you run the full cycle, at least periodically. If it’s a short wash then the dry temp might not be getting high enough to sterilize the contents. Two, how often are you running a load? If some residual water is left in the washer and it sits for several days, it may be approaching a rancid-like quality.
Something you can try is Dishwasher Magic. It’s supposed to rid older dishwashers of buildup and kill odors. Might be worth a try just to get you off to a good start. You can find it at Ace Hardware, etc.
So far as I know, my dishwasher uses a condensation drying system by default, and not a heated-dry setting. You have to do some wierdness with the control panel to enable the heated drying. I will double-check it tonight to see what setting it is using.
Second, this scent is present during the entire wash cycle, not just during the drying phase. We have had the DW for a 5 days, and run it 4 times since then, on the Auto-Wash mode. We are not running half loads and I also would not mistake stagnant water smells for grease smells. I have a front loading washer, so I know what stale water smells like. This is not it.