I Fixed My Own Dishwasher!

Last week, I noticed that there were several inches of standing water in my dishwasher after running a load. I ran it again: same thing. So, I turned to the handy dandy Internet and found this wonderful site that a woman had written about how she fixed her dishwasher when she had the same problem. Basically, the problem was that the drain was clogged. But look at the drain basket towards the back in this first picture. I took this right after I used a wet vac to remove all the standing water. It's a little dirty from the standing water, but no obvious clogs, right?

Warning: If you have a weak stomach, do not view these pictures!!


This was what was right under the drain basket.

And this was under that second layer. YUCK!

And this is what the hole looks like with all the drain baskets removed. GROSS!

After I finished mucking it all out, I ran an empty load, with vinegar in the soap dispenser. I plan to do that periodically to keep it from getting to this point again. I also plan to thoroughly run the garbage disposal before ever starting the dishwasher because all of those pipes are connected. I rinse my dishes really well before putting them in the sink, so most of this gunk must have come from the sink disposal. Some of it seemed like soapy residue, as well. I guess the only thing to do about that is the vinegar trick and hope that keeps it from building up.