How to clean the dishwasher: from limescale to bad smells, from dirty seal to accumulated dirt. Here’s how to clean and disinfect your dishwasher naturally.

Human health and the environment do not benefit much from the massive use of detergents. There is no shortage of particular anti-limescale or disinfectant detergents for cleaning the dishwasher, however, these detergents are rich in relatively risky chemicals and above all, they can be very expensive.

An excellent alternative to the use of chemical detergents involves the use of vinegar and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), two economic, safe and effective solutions.

How to clean the dishwasher with vinegar

If the dishwasher has limescale problems, take a cloth soaked in pure white wine vinegar, place it on the affected part and leave it to act for a few minutes, rinse and dry.

For complete cleaning of the dishwasher, you just need to do a hot-water cycle with nothing in it but pouring one liter of pure white wine vinegar into the machine before starting it.

This practice should be carried out periodically and especially after long periods of non-use of the dishwasher. As well as cleaning and sanitizing the dishwasher, vinegar, as well as baking soda, prevents and eliminates any bad odors.

The vinegar is perfect for neutralizing, from the dishwasher, the bad smells of egg, fish, and garlic.

How to clean the dishwasher with baking soda

Baking soda can be used both for washing the dishwasher and for cleaning the dishes themselves during the washing cycles. To assist the cleaning action of the dishwasher, you can sprinkle a handful of baking soda powder on the dishes to be washed and then activate the conventional wash.

To wash the dishwasher with baking soda, the procedure is very similar to that discussed for cleaning with white vinegar. In this case, you just need to do a standard cycle. Washing the dishwasher with bicarbonate is recommended once a month and, similarly to what was said before, also as a pre-wash after a period of non-use of the appliance.

How to proceed? Do a cycle, loading less than 2 oz of baking soda for the rinsing phase. Baking soda exerts an excellent degreasing action, deodorizes naturally and prevents the appearance of bad odors.

For more information, contact Vinny’s Jersey Plumbing, located in Wayne, New Jersey.  We also service other towns in New Jersey, such as Montclair, West Caldwell and Livingston.