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Saw another post in here about terrible smells when running dishwasher. I’ve cleaned my washer out and have had a plumber and an appliance repair person out who can’t find the issue. I think it’s the wastewater drain tube. Any advice on how to fix it?
It seems to be coming from the disposal, which I’ve also had looked at and have cleaned with multiple solutions
Well, considering that the discharge line from the d/w is connected directly to the disposal- it doesn’t surprise me that there is an odor. The d/w is removing food particles from the dishes, then discharges those particles into the disposal, those food particles don’t always wash through the disposal- they sit inside the grinding chamber and decompose. There is your odor.
I hate this particular plumbing setup! I much prefer that d/w discharge lines have their own trap to drain to...
It seems to be coming from the disposal, which I’ve also had looked at and have cleaned with multiple solutions
The way my dishwasher is hooked up is a hose runs up from it to a "Y" fitting to the vent outlet that is in the sink, then the other side runs down via a flex hose to my disposal.
Check to see if when you run the dishwasher whether water starts to come out of the vent top at the sink.
Mine started to have water come out of the vent, and my sink stank (from the drain/disposal). I pulled off the flex tube from the vent to the disposal and it was blocked at the disposal end with nasty dark disgusting smelling goo.
One way to investigate the smell's source takes two people. Take the dishwasher drain hose off the garbage disposal and set the end into the largest bucket you can. The second person runs the dishwasher on a rinse or prerinse cycle. Once the bucket has a decent amount of water in it, have the other person stop the dishwasher. Look at and smell the water in the bucket. Look at and smell the end of the hose. If the odor is strong the dishwasher drain hose is probably the problem.
Why they often make hoses ribbed makes no sense, but soap scum and food bits get stuck in even the non-ribbed hoses. It is easier to replace the hose than to try to clean it ... which does mean pulling the dishwasher out. While it is out also check the area of the connection of the hose to the dishwasher. A Kenmore model we had a few years ago had a filter there which was so gunked up it was disgusting. No way to access it without pulling out the dishwasher - dumb design!
To clean both my dishwasher and garbage disposal (which does not dispose all as other have said) is to put some baking soda then vinegar then water and run the dishwasher and disposal. I don't do it often because I am sure the components don't like the "volcanic eruption", but goo and scum and food bits get cleaned out.
It seems to be coming from the disposal, which I’ve also had looked at and have cleaned with multiple solutions
Usually it's the rubber gasket/flappy thing on the top of the disposal. It needs to be pulled out and thoroughly cleaned every couple weeks. Also build up of grease and other gunk from the food that goes down it builds up on the inner surfaces of the disposal and bacterial growth makes it super stinky. Wash that gasket, and even run it through the dishwasher. Then get some paper towels and clean the sides of the inside upper part of the disposal where the water splashes, but doesn't really clean the sides. You will be SHOCKED by the black gunk! I also clean my disposal by shoving a couple used wedges of lemon or lime and packing the disposal full of ice cubes, then trickle the water while you run the disposal. You don't have to grind the wedges all the way, just enough to help scrub and deodorize the inside of the disposal.
They make disposal deodorizer/cleaners, but I find the lemon rinds and ice cubes work better, but you usually still need to clean that gasket and the upper portions of the disposal manually.
Thanks! I moved the loop higher, which seemed to help a little, but I haven’t cleaned the hose out or tried to replace it yet since moving the loop up
I do clean the disposal often, every week or so, with either a soap solution for that purpose or with vinegar and baking soda. Plus, it’s been doing the smell since I moved in one year ago, and even having the disposal replaced (it was leaking) didn’t help!
One guy who came out told us to just run hot water every time before we want to do the dishes, which seemed like a silly “fix.”
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