This is a thing with every dishwasher I’ve had, some models seem better than other. You wash the dishes and when they dry, they have a musty odor I can only describe as “wet dog”. Other people often don’t seem to notice this, so maybe I am just sensitive to it. Though if I point it out, then they smell it.
I have tried:
- Cleaning every nook and cranny of the dishwasher and filter
- Running with orange kool-aid/citric acid/lemishine in dispenser after each wash (works decently well)
- Running a rinse w white vinegar after each cycle (this works the best so far)
- Making sure dishes air dry instead of dry inside the dishwasher (always do this, helps a bit)
In all instances where this happens, the dishes are clean and don’t have food stuck to them or floating around in the water.
Has anybody else fought this problem? What worked for you?
Are you taking out the filter and removing all the food bits?
Yes. And I have experienced this on dishwashers that don’t have filters as well.
are you properly rinsing grease from your dishes? I have moved a lot and had dozens of dishwashers.
The one time i experienced this exact smell (literally like a wet shaggy dog) was after my kid put a pan with like a cup of beef grease in the dishwasher.
The upper and lower rinse arms are propelled by water moving through small pipes and being forced out at speed.
The fat melted into the water but as the water cooled that beef fat solidified inside all the tiny hoses and lines.
I had to run the dishwasher in high temp sanitize mode like 9 times to get the dishwasher to stop smelling bad and greasing up the dishes.