The dishwasher wasn't rinsing properly. I found a bottle of what I thought said "dishwasher cleaner" under the sink, so I put that in the dishwasher, on a hot cycle. Well, I am partially sighted and turns out I misread the bottle. It was actually washing machine cleaner. After several cycles I managed to get rid of the suds, but not the smell. The dishwasher smells terribly of laundry detergent. And it's strongly clinging to the glasses and dishes, making them unusable. I tried putting vinegar in, but it didn't get rid of the smell. I am worried about my landlady's reaction when she finds out. She is already at the end of her tether with me because I am several months behind on the rent. She has spoken before about evicting me due to the money - I'm worried this might be the final straw. what can I do to get rid of the smell?
EDIT: Thanks so much for all the suggestions. After wiping out the filter and multiple cycles, the smell seems to be gone!
See if your dishwasher has a filter you can access. There may be detergent caught up in food or other gunk stuck on the filter. Getting it cleaned up might help.
Side note, if it does have a filter and you're checking on it for the first time... I'm very very sorry for what you're about to experience. Good luck.
Yeah most dishwashers should have a filter at the bottom of the inside, you have to take the bottom rack out but there will likely be a plastic insert that can be pulled out or possibly a circular filter that unlocks with a twist. Yeah those things can get nasty but if you generally prewash dishes it should be fine.
+1 for "keep doing cycles" — I'd use vinegar or dishwasher cleaner to break down the laundry liquid. IIRC dishwasher cleaner is pure citric acid, so it's the same mechanism but stronger, which might be a better bet.) When I did chemistry back in the day, one motto was "the solution to pollution is dilution" so as long as you're breaking up the detergent and removing some each time it'll get better eventually.
It probably depends a bit on what the "washing machine cleaner" was composed of. I was under the impression that washing machine cleaner should be similar to dishwasher cleaner (i.e. acids because the goal is to get rid of suds build up) so I'm surprised that there's now a laundry soap smell.
Postmortem note for future process improvements: If it's possible, I'd recommend not storing laundry stuff under the kitchen sink with the kitchen stuff. Can't get them mixed up with dishwasher stuff if they're not right next to the dishwasher stuff
(I have to do a lot of intentional placement of items like that too because my ADHD loves doing dumb shit on autopilot and means I cannot reliably be counted on to properly read labels.)That really sucks comrade, I hope you're able to get it sorted out
Tbh id just keep doing cycles with reguar dish liquid/powder. Or try baking soda? There is also such a thing as dish washer cleaner that you can buy, search for it online. Or maybe you'd need to get in there and scrub the walls and filter for the machine if the detergent is sticking to the walls/racks. I really dont think it would have ruined the dish washer, its just being stubborn as fuck
Firstly I doubt it’ll do any long term damage it’s just annoying while it sticks around. I would suggest that you want to rinse with a couple of water cycles with nothing in (definitely no dishwasher soap) then you could use a cup or more of white vinegar, and wash it as hot and long as possible - if the dishwasher has an extra hot cycle and an extra rinse cycle program use them. The vinegar is a mild acid and should help strip the detergent without being caustic enough to do damage. The hot water should help too. Otherwise dishwasher cleaner is a thing you can buy but I’ve never used it so I dunno if it’s any good, at the very least though it should replace the smell with something more dishwasher appropriate.
Before you do it, I’d recommend taking the filter out and immersing it in very hot water in your washing up bowl and scrubbing it clean. May help remove any detergent there especially if it’s in any food waste that’s there too.
I took the filter out and scrubbed it as you suggested. It was pretty clean already, it didn't seem to have any food on it, just a few bits of what looked like lint, weird for a dishwasher.
bumping you get your answer, also @Feinsteins_Ghost@hexbear.net might know since they work in the trades?
I think he generally works on commercial plumbing but might have some tips outside of checking the filters in the bottom. I've recently had to do a couple service calls on people who treat their dishwasher like a garbage disposal and something like soap smell makes me think the filters probably have some buildup.
I assume you're still smelling laundry detergent when you run it? Have you looked at the ingredients of the detergent to try and figure out what you could use to clean it?
I have heard vinegar is bad for rubber (silicone?) seals which is why the acidic machine cleaning stuff is usually citric acid. I don't think using vinegar once is that bad, but maybe don't do it in the future.
I don't have anything else to add, but good luck!
