Dishwashers are a common sight in American kitchens. About 60% of all households have one in their kitchen, and they're even more common (93%) in newer homes. While most people have a dishwasher, that doesn't mean that they're using it properly, and bad habits can damage the dishwasher, necessitating costly repairs or even replacements. Here are four bad habits that can break your dishwasher.
Not removing food from your dishes before loading the dishwasher
Before you load dishes into the dishwasher, you should always scrape the food off. You should also rinse them to remove as much food residue as possible. Modern dishwashers are able to remove food from plates, but it isn't good for them. Your dishes will come out looking clean, but the pump and drain lines will end up clogged with food. Anything more than small particles of food has the potential to cause serious harm to your dishwasher, so take the extra few minutes to scrape and rinse everything before you put it in the dishwasher.
Using too much dishwasher detergent
It can be tempting to add a bit of extra dishwasher detergent into a very filthy load of dishes, but using extra detergent won't make your dishes extra clean. What it will actually do is damage your dishwasher. Even if you think you're not using too much, you probably are: according to the New York Times, most people are using between 10 and 15 times more soap than they actually need. Read the directions on your dishwasher detergent of choice and stick to the recommended amount.
How does too much detergent hurt your dishwasher? It forms too many suds, which can make your dishwasher overflow. This flooding can damage your dishwasher, especially if the water gets underneath the machine.
Using the wrong kind of soap in your dishwasher
Have you ever run out of dishwasher detergent and used liquid dish soap, instead? Liquid dish soap is great for hand washing dishes, but it's not so great when you pour it into your dishwasher. Liquid dish soap, unlike dishwasher detergent, is designed to produce a lot of suds. Even a small amount in your dishwasher can cause your dishwasher to overflow with suds, leaving you with a damaged dishwasher and a huge mess on your kitchen floor.
The suds get in the way of the mechanical actions inside your dishwasher, and can damage the moving parts. The overflow of suds can also cause damage to the seal of your dishwasher, and if it gets underneath, can cause it to short out completely.
Never doing any preventative maintenance
If you're like many people, you don't pay any attention to your dishwasher until it breaks down and is in need of repairs. This is a big mistake, since a little bit of preventative maintenance goes a long way towards keeping your dishwasher in top shape. Here are some of the maintenance steps that you should be performing on a regular basis:
- Remove debris from the bottom of the dishwasher before each load
- Keep your sink clog free, since dishwashers and sinks often share a drain
- Clean cooked on food from the walls of the dishwasher
- Check the sprayers to make sure they're not clogged
- Clean the bottom of the dishwasher door to protect the seal
- Clean the top of the dishwasher door around the latch
- Run a cleaning cycle with vinegar or commercial dishwasher cleaners
Doing regular maintenance won't prevent every single dishwasher problem, but it is the best way to prolong the life of your dishwasher.
Breaking these four bad habits can help you avoid problems with your dishwasher. If your dishwasher is already broken due to one of these habits, call an appliance repair company right away so that you can stop washing dishes in your sink.
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