Dishes best served Clean: 5 ways to keep your dishwasher in top shape

There are people who claim to enjoy doing the dishes. For the rest of us, having a dishwasher is certainly handy. Dishwashers are a blessing to a busy mom as they free up much time and energy for her to focus on things that matter. Gone also are the days when using dishwashers meant big utility bills in water and electricity, most modern dishwashers are energy efficient and consume less water than it would if you hand washed the same dishes.

Like all machines, dishwashers need to be taken care of so that they stay in shape to give you trouble free dishwashing without any hassles. Here are some tried and tested ways to avoid dishwasher repair in the early life of your appliance.

1. Clean your dishwasher: Taking care to clean your dishwasher can improve its performance and keep it in good shape for years.A maintenance every couple of monthsis often enough to keep your dishwasher fit.

   Clean the outsides of the dishwasher with a damp sponge and some mild detergent.

   Clean the spray arms: The spray arms of the dishwasher could get clogged over time. You can take them out and poke a wire through the holes to remove any clogs.

   Clean the trap:Remove your dishwasher trap and clean it out to get rid of little bits of food and other particles that did not go out of the drain.

   Take out the racks and wipe clean the insides and the gaskets: Take out your dishwasher racks and wipe them clean. Also, wipe clean the insides and the rubber gasket on the door with a mild detergent to prevent mildew.

2. Disinfect and Deodorizeyour Dishwasher: If left unused for a while, dishwashers can develop odours and mildew.

   Run an empty cycle with vinegar once every month: Dishwashers can get dirty with built-up grease and detergent deposits over time. To remove any odour and to disinfect your dishwasher, run the dishwasher empty without any detergent, and add a few cups of vinegar to the water. The vinegar will take the odours off your dishwasher and make it fresh again.

3. Load it right for optimum cleaning: Loading the dishwasher the right way will make sure that your dishes come out sparkling clean and without any damage.

• Scrape off particles of food before loading dishes into the dishwasher.
• Avoid nesting and overcrowding of dishes to ensure that all surfaces come out clean.
• Load the dishes in such a way that the dirty side faces the water spray.
• Place your large cooking vessels in the bottom racks of your dishwasher so that they get the maximum spray.
• Always, keep like with like. Keep your silverware with other silverware, glassware goes with other glassware and steel utensils go in the same rack as other steel stuff.

4. Use the right detergent and rinse aid: Always use detergent that is made specifically for automatic dishwashers to ensure that you get the most out of your dishwasher.

• Always store your detergent in an airtight container to keep it fresh and dry.
• Do not add too much detergent, it will not clean better if you do. Or worse, it could damage your glass and silverware.
• Using a rinse aid will clean your dishes better by removing any detergent or food residue.
• Vinegar is a good replacement for rinse aid, it is great to keep your dishes smelling fresh.

5. Test your water: Hard water makes cleaning harder and in the long run can be damaging for your dishwasher.For sparkling clean dishes and trouble free operation of your dishwasher, it is important to get your water tested and treated if necessary as

• Hard water consumes more detergent than soft water, and eventually more water is required to wash off the extra detergent.
• Hard water also leaves behind residues that could damage the dishwasher.

  Dishwashers make your life easier, taking out a couple of hours every few months to inspect and clean your dishwasher can go a long way in ensuring that youhave clean dishes and trouble free operations.