Dishwashers do all the dirty work to clean up your dishes and in order to make sure they continue working properly, you need to make sure you clean them thoroughly!
A lot of people do their routine cleaning for other appliance with bleach, but are not sure whether it is safe for their dishwashers or not.
Any dishwasher that is labelled as “bleach safe” or has a plastic interior is safe to use with bleach. Additionally, if the dishwasher is not stainless or does not have stainless steel, then you can easily deep clean it and get rid of stubborn mold, stains, and mildew with the help of bleach.
Bleach works wonders for removing and cleaning the mildew and molds. It also maintains your dishwasher’s capability to clean the dishes effectively and guarantees that your dishes come out spotless.
Though bleach is good for some dishwashers, it might be a great problem for others.
Let’s take a look at some of the events when you should never put bleach in your dishwasher.
When Should You Avoid Using Bleach In A Dishwasher?
Bleach is a great surfactant for most dishwashers but it also creates problems for others.
Such as, when bleach is used on stainless steel it results in an aggressive reaction. These two are incompatible when brought into contact with one another.
When you use bleach to disinfect your dishwasher, it breaks down into salt, which becomes extremely corrosive when used on steel equipment.
The chlorine ions in salt pierce through the stainless steel’s protective coating and eventually cause it to corrode.
Therefore, it is never advised to use ordinary bleach in the stainless steel dishwasher.
However, dishwashers with plastic tubs typically handle bleach well and resist having it in them.
What Is The Purpose Of Using Bleach In the Dishwasher?
When there are a lot of other dishwasher cleaning agents available in the market, people are confused about what makes bleach stand out from the competition.
The bleach can disinfect and sanitize the interior which makes it superior to other cleaning agents. Not only this, but it also helps to get rid of the grime or the gunk.
Bleach typically performs the task of slicing the grime and releasing it from the washer’s interior.
It also aids in removing mineral buildup from the hard water and bad smells that have developed over time.
Moreover, bleach also has an extensive bactericidal property that kills bacteria and acts as a disinfectant and a sanitizer at the same time.
What Is The Recommended Method Of Using Bleach In Dishwashers?
Now if you are convinced to use bleach in your dishwasher but aren’t sure how to use it properly, then follow the guidelines below.
In the first step towards learning when and how to use bleach, we need to go over the entire dishwasher cleaning procedure.
All you need to do is apply white vinegar to the dishwasher.
But prior to this step, you should empty the dishwasher of all the foreign objects and give it a quick rough clean to get rid of any large particles and residues.
Additionally, it is a great time to clean out the pores on the sprayer’s arm to make sure that water is squirting out smoothly.
After that, you should run the entire washing process on a hot setting, preferably the highest, and then put a small heat-safe bowl filled with white vinegar at the top rack of the dishwasher.
This enables vinegar to perform its functions of disinfecting, cleaning, dissolving mineral deposits, unclogging, and removing gunk and grime.
When you’re done with all of this, it’s time to add the baking soda. Around a cup of baking soda should be sprinkled at the base of the washer before performing a brief hot water cycle.
This gives the cleaning a spark because it gets rid of gunk, grime, and odor.
Now the last and final step is to add bleach. This will help to clean the washer and get rid of any mildew or mold growth.
You can use 1 cup or ½ cup of bleach in a bowl and put it in the dishwasher’s top rack and then use the hottest setting on the machine.
You can also repeat the baking soda and white vinegar steps until you have a spotlessly clean machine.
Final Words on Using Bleach in the Dishwasher
As long as the interior of the dishwasher is not coated in stainless steel or does not include areas coated with stainless steel covering, bleach can be used without any risk.
While bleach can corrode stainless steel tubs, it works well with plastic tubs.
Therefore, you should avoid using it with stainless steel as such materials degrade readily when exposed to bleach resulting in a damaged product.
