5 Maintenance Tips To Avoid Dishwasher Repairs

No matter how much we try, there never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything done. Between work, play and sleep, we also need to tackle the household chores, like washing the dishes.

And sure, you can certainly wash them by hand in the kitchen sink. However, nothing beats the convenience of loading them into the dishwasher and letting it take care of business. The old ‘set and forget’ is hard to look past.

But like any major household appliance, the dishwasher needs to be treated right. To avoid potentially costly dishwasher repairs or an emergency plumbing callout, follow these five simple steps.

Although this sounds a bit redundant, given the dishwasher cleans your dishes, but it also needs to be cleaned. Regular TLC provides ongoing benefits to ensure you never need dishwasher repair services.

Look to clean your dishwasher roughly every three months. And no, you don’t have to get in there and scrub it with a toothbrush. Thankfully it’s a relatively hassle-free process.

All you need to do is fill a sizeable, dishwasher-friendly bowl with two cups of white vinegar. Set it on the top rack of your dishwasher and run the unit on a full cycle. Once that cycle is complete, throw in a quarter of a cup of baking soda on the floor of the dishwashing unit and set it for another cycle.

This will remove any remaining odours and ultimately help you avoid dishwasher repairs.

You see it on television sitcoms from days gone by; the young child who is told to clean his room and stuffs everything into the wardrobe. The room may look spotless, but the wardrobe is bursting at the seams and the second someone opens it, everything spills out.

Well, your dishwasher is similar in that way. An overloaded dishwasher can result in water spilling out, which in turn leads to leaking water at the base of the unit.

The best way to avoid this and any ensuing dishwasher repairs is to never overload your appliance. Yes, you want to avoid half-filling the dishwasher so you maximise efficiency. But you do not want to pile plates or fill up every single gap.

This prevents the soap and water from being able to circulate freely through the unit, reducing its effectiveness to clean.

Tip #3: Use The Hot Water Setting

Setting your dishwasher to clean with hot water offers three key benefits:

• It is more effective at killing bacteria and cleaning your dishes.
• Hot water helps stop the build-up of messy debris in your machine, therefore slowing down the need for dishwasher repairs.
• It can also help prevent your pipes from freezing in the cooler months of the year.

Using the unit regularly, not just once in a while, can also be highly beneficial and minimise the need for a dishwasher repair service specialist later down the line. Running the dishwasher at least once every two weeks helps it to continue functioning properly, preventing outcomes such as the seals drying out.

Did you know that dishwashing machines require different soap to that which you’d use for hand washing your dishes? Though you will typically use a liquid dishwashing detergent for the kitchen sink, it should not be used in a dishwasher. In fact the suds it produces can damage the mechanical components of your unit.

The best and most suitable dishwasher detergent products produced by major brands come in tablet, powder or gel form. Be sure to not overfill the dishwasher with detergent, whether it’s putting too much powder in the dispenser, or throwing in too many tablets into the main unit.

This can put your dishwasher under unnecessary strain. Plus, excess soap can leave an unpleasant residue on your washed dishes. By using the right amount of the right dishwashing detergent, you can avoid recurring appliance repairs.

If you’ve hand washed more than one dinner-smeared dish in your time, you’ll know that leaving remnants of that dinner to harden on the plate makes washing it all the more difficult.

The dishwasher also prefers loaded dirty dishes to be as free of food particles as possible; anything that has been left on the plate or in the saucepan can get into the washer arms and pump screens.

Once they get into these parts of the dishwasher, they can form blockages. This stops the dishwasher from draining properly, and will likely require the expertise of a dishwasher repairs specialist. Scraping off all your plates and dirty dishes first before loading the dishwasher will help avoid this problem.

Consumer website Canstar states that Australian homeowners typically upgrade their dishwashers after about eight years.

In the meantime, the best way to avert the need for a dishwasher repair service is to maintain your dishwasher. Prevention is almost always better than cure. And by following our five simple tips, you can avoid most issues. So be sure to always:

• Clean your dishwasher once every three to six months
• Not overload your dishwasher
• Clean the food particles from your plate before loading the dishes
• Use the right quantity of the right type of dishwashing detergent
• Set your dishwasher to use hot water

You can avoid unnecessary dishwasher repair costs, prolong the life of your unit, and get the very best out of it for years to come. However, sometimes you cannot avoid dishwasher repairs. Other times your unit may not be redeemable.

If this is the case, get in touch with Mr Emergency for your dishwasher installation needs. We always aim to deliver a prompt same day service when your dishwasher stops working. Our plumbers can assist with all major dishwasher brands, so you can continue to get the same great performance at home.