Simple Steps to Maintain Your Dishwasher Filter

Until purchasing our own home last year, we have always rented apartments. Most of the apartments we have rented in New England were older homes remodeled into apartments, so there were no dishwashers offered to tenants.

When we moved to our new home, I had used our dishwasher for 3 months before I realized there was a filter to clean.

Since finding this out I clean the filter once a month.

First I unlock the filter from the bottom of the dishwasher. The filter is usually in a large base that sometimes has standing water.

Once I remove the filter I rinse it with hot water and Dawn dish soap, removing some of the debris and residue that has built up within the month.

Then I fill a large ziplock bag with hot water and white vinegar. I let the filter sit in the solution for about 1 hour.

After, I remove the filter from the solution, I give it another hot water rinse. If there is still any debris stuck within the plastic areas of the filter I use a Q-tip to remove it.

After the filter is clean, I replace it back into its well, and lock it into place.

I’ve found that cleaning the filter once a month in this manner makes for a small amount of debris and gunk to build up.