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!

  • crime [she/her, any]
    ·
    12 days ago

    +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 think-about-it (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 Care-Comrade