Friday, June 21st, 2013 11:40 am
[Poll #1920245]

Naturally, I ask because . . . I forgot for several months and now here I am wishing I had access to dragon spit.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 07:05 pm (UTC)
I have never been aware of mould growing in my dishwasher. I run it every single day and I don't see how mould could have a chance to grow, what with the dishwasher powder being quite vicious. Perhaps it's just not warm enough here for it to gain a foothold between washes?
Friday, June 21st, 2013 07:09 pm (UTC)
Mold doesn't grow in *my* dishwasher, anyway. (I checked!)
Friday, June 21st, 2013 07:44 pm (UTC)
Huh. Never seen mold in a dishwasher, myself. Wouldn't the heat and detergent kill it?
Friday, June 21st, 2013 07:56 pm (UTC)
You'd think so, wouldn't you? I use extra detergent and all the hottest settings and I have recurrent mold anyway. If I run it empty with vinegar now and then and bleach some other times it recurs less virulently and less often, but it does recur.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 08:38 pm (UTC)
I don't have a dishwasher any more, but I don't remember having mold problems with the one in my Tucson apartment, and that only got used once a week. Arizona was hot, but never really humid enough for mold to be an issue.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 08:39 pm (UTC)
We run dishes through the prewash cycle with vinegar and a little Dawn, then through the main cycle with bleach and salt.

In twenty years we've never had any mold.

Or spots.

And it's a damn sight cheaper than that goop they sell for dishwashers, too.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 08:42 pm (UTC)
ADDENDUM: To the best of my knowledge, dragon spit is only good for growing back lost body parts.
Friday, June 21st, 2013 09:32 pm (UTC)
I believe my current dishwasher was effectively new when I bought the house 2 years ago. I have not yet observed mold in it. (Sorry to be so excruciatingly precise, but I'm taking a break from composing discrepancy investigation reports and you can't shake that writing style so easily.)
Friday, June 21st, 2013 10:43 pm (UTC)
The only time I've noticed a problem with mold was when running a load before heading out the door for a week+ trip. Well, maybe it finished, and we just didn't think to crack open the door so that everything could dry out. I don't remember there being all that much mold when we got back.
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 12:36 am (UTC)
We don't really have mould, but the dishwasher sometimes develops an off smell which is probably mould. So. We use a specific dishwasher cleaner a couple of times a year.

Now, the washing machine gets black mould. Running once every couple of months on the boil wash (with nothing in it because we don't boil wash anything) does the job.
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 01:00 am (UTC)
There's a procedure here that can mostly be summarized as vinegar and elbow grease: http://www.ehow.com/how_6494959_clean-mold-dishwasher.html.

Bleach is probably not a good idea; it might corrode some of the internal parts. Some dishwashers have filters--might be worth checking yours and seeing if the filter needs cleaning.
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 10:05 am (UTC)
I said dragon spit. I mean the tablet supplied with the machine, to be used once every few months with no dishes in. I don't know if I'd get mould if it weren't used.
Monday, June 24th, 2013 10:40 pm (UTC)
I only run my dishwasher once every week or two, and I've never noticed a mold problem. Maybe a Midwest vs. West Coast thing?