How often should you clean your dishwasher filter?
Grumpty's answer
Every month
Why bother
A gunked filter means dishes come out dirty. Standard upkeep. Dull and cheap, and a lot less dull than whatever it's quietly preventing.
What the job involves
- Pull the bottom rack out and twist the cylindrical filter counter-clockwise to unlock it. There are little arrows on it telling you which way. Lift it straight up and out.
- Drop it in warm soapy water for about 15 minutes, then go at the mesh with a soft or stiff brush until the stuck-on food and grease let go. That gunk is exactly what it's been catching for you, so it's earned the scrub.
- Rinse it under hot running water until the mesh runs clear, then wipe out the filter well in the floor of the tub with a damp sponge while you're in there.
- Drop the filter back into its hole and twist clockwise until it locks firmly. Give it a wiggle. If it lifts, it isn't seated, and a loose filter does nothing.
Do it yourself, or pay someone?
Yourself. No tools, no electricity, no plumbing, and it's in the owner's manual: about 10 minutes at the sink. Only call a pro if it still won't drain or clean after the filter's spotless, and that runs around $75/hour, or $50-$400 to diagnose and clear a won't-drain.
What skipping it costs
$100-$400 is a damaged dishwasher drain pump, parts and labor, and that's the bill the filter is quietly holding off. A clogged filter stops trapping food, so the machine recirculates grit and pushes it into the drain hose and pump until the pump strains and jams. Before that, the cheaper cousin: a dishwasher that won't drain, $50-$400 to diagnose and clear. A ten-minute rinse sits below both.
Signs it's overdue
- Dishes come out gritty, filmy, or wearing food specks after a full cycle, which is the dirty water getting run back over them.
- A foul or fishy smell drifts up when you open the door, even between washes.
- Standing water is still sitting in the bottom of the tub once the cycle's finished. The filter is choking the drain.
When to start thinking about it
No notice needed, really. Grumpty mentions it the day it comes due and that's that. Mark it done and Grumpty sets the next one, every month, so you can go back to forgetting it exists.
Questions people ask
How often should I actually clean it?
Once a month is the common line from both the experts and the makers. Daily dishwasher, check it every two weeks; a few times a week, monthly is fine. Check your own manual, mind, since Miele, Bosch and Asko set their own intervals.
Does my dishwasher even have one to clean?
Most modern ones do: a manual filter you twist out and rinse yourself. Some older or higher-end models had a self-cleaning grinder that handled it for you, but the manual filter is standard now. Look at the tub floor. If there's a removable cylinder that twists out, that's the one, and it's yours to clean.
Can a dirty filter really break it, or does it just wash worse?
Both. First it washes worse and starts to smell, because the dirty water keeps getting run back over your dishes. Leave it long enough and the debris that slips past clogs the drain hose and strains the pump until it fails. That's $150-$400 for a pump, against a free ten-minute rinse.
Related jobs
Stop keeping this one in your head
This is one job. Your home has dozens more, each on its own clock. Grumpty is a free home-maintenance app: add a job once, it tracks the date, grumbles when it's due, and rolls it forward the moment you mark it done.
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