how to clean frigidaire dishwasher

The Benefits of Having a Dishwasher

Close Up Of Woman Loading Crockery Into Dishwasher

A dishwasher isn't a luxury anymore – it's a common appliance, even in small homes. Even if your home is small, you can get a dishwasher that fits your kitchen, and if you don't want a fixed appliance, you can get a portable machine that does a good job with dishes, pots, pans, and cutlery. With a choice of desktop machines, built-in appliances, and portable dishwashers, there's no need to wash up by hand anymore, and because dishwashers have been around for decades, they're not as expensive as you might think.

Using a Dishwasher

Most households leave the dishwasher on one setting that is good no matter what's in the machine but you can change the settings if you find that your dishes aren't as clean as you want them to be. As with a washing machine, you'll find that the settings are mainly based on the temperature the cycle runs on. The hotter the temperature, the more energy the machine will use but the dishes normally sparkle a little more. The other settings normally offer an economy mode or a faster cycle.

Dishwasher Safety

Dishwashers can run at temperatures as high as 160 degrees. That's just 52 degrees below the boiling point of water so don't open the dishwasher door while it's running as you might be scalded. The high temperature is all the dishwasher has to sanitize and clean the dishes because there are no brushes or scrubbing implements in the machine, but the temperatures can be dangerous, as can the items you place in the machine. The American Cleaning Institute has made some recommendations that make a lot of sense. Simple things like loading the pointed end of sharp knives in the utensil basket seem pretty obvious but not overloading the dishwasher is a tip most people ignore. Glasses jammed next to one another can crack or break during the cleaning process.

Dishwasher Fires

Don't get too alarmed by the title of this section because dishwasher fires are rare, but they do happen. A defective control board is normally the reason behind the fault that makes your dishwasher look like a barbecue. Some of the two million American households that have experienced this say that the first sign of trouble is smoke seeping through. The control units that overheat eventually catch fire and there's nothing the homeowner can do about it. Between 2011 and 2013 the US Fire Administration reports show that 1,100 dishwasher fires occurred which led to 40 injuries.

Dishwasher Recalls

As with other products like cars, dishwashers are recalled when the manufacturer knows of a serious fault like the control unit issue mentioned before. A fault that affected Bosch and Kenmore machines in 2017 also led to fires when the power cord of some of their models was found to overheat. This recall affected half a million machines in America that year. In 2016, Samsung recalled close to 200,000 washing machines for a similar reason so this type of fault isn't restricted to dishwashers. Any appliance that generates massive amounts of heat can cause fires.

Can Dishwashers Be Fixed at Home?

You don't need an expert or a qualified plumber to fix your dishwasher because most of the faults are simple things that can be carried out with a standard toolkit. The good thing with a fault on a dishwasher is that it's rarely an emergency. If it simply stops working or doesn't clean as it should, take a look at your manual and work on it yourself. The machine will stop if the valves are clogged with deposits from the dishes or if the circuit breaker has tripped. If you're confident to work on these things yourself, you'll fix the issue in most cases without the help of a professional.

Hard Water

Dishwashers are very simple machines that spray hot water onto your dishes and then dispose of the dirty water created by the process before drying off the load, but because they rely on water to clean without any tools to scrub the dishes, the hardness of the water can cause users some issues. If you see mineral deposits in the machine's pipes and in the appliance itself, you should install a water softener. It's installed into the home's water supply so it will benefit your taps, the bath, and shower as well as the washing machine and the dishwasher.