I don’t know about your household but it is not uncommon to run our dishwasher 2 or 3 times a day, pretty much every day. In addition to 2 young kids, my wife and I both work from home so we tend to generate tons of dirty dishes.
Coupled that with very hard water (i.e. lots of minerals) where I live, it is critical to minimize the risk of a broken dishwasher with proper maintenance.
Cleaning and Maintenance Steps
Rinse Aid/Agent
Rinse agents like Jet Dry made by Finish (which is the product recommended by Bosch) or Cascade Rinse Aid reduces streaking and water spots by keeping water from sticking to clean dishes and inner stainless tub so this is a must product to use.
Pre-washing Dirty Dishes
I know I know, most people think I am crazy and wasting time by rinsing off dirty dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. But unlike some dishwashers, my Bosch dishwasher does not come with a built-in macerator AND from personal experience, I know that certain hard food particles like small pieces of broken egg shells can damage internal components like the impeller on a drain pump.
So if you want to minimize the risk of your dishwasher breaking down, clean off those leftovers before racking them!
Weekly vinegar Wash
Proteins, fats and/or grease from food will eventually build up inside over a period of time (you will notice it by ever so slight rancid odor in the beginning). I place a cup of generic, distilled white vinegar on the bottom rack in one corner and another cup on the top rack on opposite corner and run my dishwasher empty. At the end of the cycle, I find a sparkling clean tub with lots of foam on the bottom of the tub. Since foam is the enemy of any dishwasher, I usually run a short cycle to rinse it off