How to Clean and Maintain Your Bosch Integra Dishwasher

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

Monthly Dishwasher Magic Wash – Dishwasher Magic by Glisten will sanitize and get rid of the protein/fat build up at the same time; I don’t use this every week because it is somewhat harsher than vinegar and it’s expensive. BTW, if you have a stainless steel tub, DO NOT use bleach!

Inspect Check Valve – check valve makes sure that dirty water does not flow back into the dishwasher. This component is crucial if your drain hose is hooked up to a food disposal off a sink drain. To inspect, I simply take the cover off the drain pump (from the inside) and remove/inspect the check valve

Drain Loop – Make sure that your drain hose maintains a high “loop” just before connecting to the sink drain. Without it, all kinds of yucky stuff can potentially get into the drain hose, possibly getting back into your dishwasher!

Dishwasher Removal – Done twice a year, I like to pull out the dishwasher so that I can inspect the floor (for signs of leakage), water supply/drain hoses and peek at the internal dishwasher components from the side for signs of failure; when pushing the dishwasher back in, I check the unit for level and plumb so that dirty water will drain properly