How to Clean Your Dishwasher or Glasswasher

April 2020

Preparing Your Equipment To Use After Covid-19 Alert Level 4

After weeks of your dishwasher being inactive, there will be a lot of built up bacteria around the door seals, wash tank and in the drain pipes. The stagnant water in the drains will have a bad odour. It is very important that you clean your dishwasher thoroughly before you start using it normally.

This step-by-step guide will help you ready your dishwasher for normal use.

  • Check that the water feed to the machine is on, all isolators are ON usually when the toggle is up and down. This is very important, if there is no water flow the elements can burn out.
  • With the dishwasher turned off, remove all drain plugs, filters and rack guides.
  • Remove the wash arms, top and bottom, by unscrewing and set aside.
  • Spray sanitiser around the door frame, inside and out, ensuring that you cover all exposed surface areas thoroughly. If you do not have any sanitiser, use bleach at the recommended dose rate. Using a face mask, goggles and gloves is recommended.
  • Depending on the brand of sanitiser, leave on the surface for at least 15 minutes or as recommended by the supplier.
  • In the sink, spray the filters, rack guides, wash arms and plug with sanitiser and leave for at least 15 minutes.
  • Clean the wash arms with hot water, removing all built up food and bacteria from the spray holes. On some dishwashers, you can use a flat head screwdriver to take them out, this makes cleaning easier.
  • There is no requirement to rinse the sanitiser off any surface, just reassemble the dishwasher and turn on.
  • Before starting the first cycle, check the chemical pick-up hoses from the chemical containers to the dishwasher. If chemicals have not been flowing through the pipes regularly the plastic can solidify or the chemical can crystallise. If the chemicals have crystallised, then please give us a call to replace those hoses.
  • Run the dishwasher through 3 or 4 empty cycles. Drain the machine and refill.

Note: If there is an excess of scale build up, use Descaler as per instructions.

Download a printable PDF of the instructions here.

Recommended Chemicals

Disclaimer: Please refer to the operating manual of your equipment as your item may differ.