Cleaning the dishwasher is a task most companies don’t want to do. Some companies never think about washing the dishwasher. While most of the commercial dishwasher we sell at Millers UK are self-cleaning dishwashers, its good practice to perform a manual clean too.

Most people will feel that when the dishwasher is cleaning the plates that it’s also washing the dishwasher. But if you take a closer look small particles of food can built up in certain common areas of the dishwasher.

When food particles remain in the dishwasher, they can start to rot. Spreading bacteria and can cause issues with the dishwasher performance. This can also lead to an odour issue inside the machine.

To keep your commercial dishwasher at its peak performance it best to make cleaning the dishwasher common practice. By cleaning the dishwasher manual regularly, you can increase the lifespan of the machine, keep foul odours at bay.

The especially necessary in commercial outfits like cafes, bars, and hotels where hygiene is mandatory. Here are Millers UK we have outlined much time on how to improve your Dishwasher maintenance.

1.Commercial Dishwasher Maintenance - Make It Routine

It can be challenging to make sure that staff are completing their tasks. An excellent way to keep on top of your dishwasher maintenance is too create a checklist. Here your team can sign the list every day that they have cleaned the machine.

When you spot check the machine from time to time, and if it’s not up to your standard you will now know which member of staff isn’t complying with what is required of them.

2 Check The Drain and Under The Baskets

The nooks and crannies are area’s which will always build up mould and residue. Most of the food particles will assemble at the bottom of the machine. Remove the baskets and trays and wash them in a sink with hot water.

3 Rinse The Dishwasher After Cleaning

It’s good practice to raise the dishwasher on high heat after you manually clean the machine. This will make sure that any particles of debris that you have disrupted in the cleaning process, will be removed. Some people will skip this step, and end up with black food particles all over their crockery at the end of the cycle.

4. Remove the waster spray cross arms

These spray arms are the biggest guilty culprit. If there are notches on these spray arms, you will need to remove them and wash them with boiling water. Inside the spray, wings can be a nightmare.

A useful tool in this section can be a baby bottle cleaning brush. They are made of wire so it will give you a better ability to clean inside the spray arm pipes. The bristles are tough which provide enough force to wash the arm thoroughly.

5. Look For Nooks and Cracks

Most of the common problem areas with cleaning your dishwasher will be seen where the Nooks and Cracks are. These areas are seen in the corners of the dishwasher and round the rubber seal.

Over time debris lodged in area’s like this can be problematic. Creating foul odours and spreading bacteria. The trick to removing debris around the seal of dishwasher here is hot water and sponge with scouring pad. The scouring pad can dislodge the debris while the sponge will wipe it clean.

6. Cleaning Around The Drain

Cleaning the drain of the dishwasher is another area which seems to be overlooked. To make sure the pipe doesn’t get clogged or harbour bacteria, it best to scrub this area with a little bit of bleach and hot water.

Bad odours tend to generate from the drain. By performing regular dishwasher maintenance and keeping the pipe clean and clear, it will deliver more efficiently. In the long run, it will improve the life span of your dishwasher.

Again the baby bottle brush will be your best tool to help you tackle the drain. Make sure to use a good drop of bleach to kill any bacteria and pathogens.

It’s best practice to give the machine a rise before use. Here can make sure that no bleach can be found in the machine. This will also remove any fine debris particles that are left from cleaning the drain out.

7. Prevention Is Key

The best advice we can give here is to prevent the food debris. Make sure that plates cutlery have been cleared of any food before they enter the dishwasher if your machine is continuously building up food debris and gunk around some regions of the dishwasher, 99% of the time because the plates haven’t been cleaned properly.

Placing plates with large pieces of food debris is asking for trouble. Most of the issues our dishwashing engineers at Millers UK see this as a common correctly causes call outs.

Most commercial washing machines aren’t cheap. So to improve their lifespan and reduce call out from repair engineers, you must make sure the staff doesn’t load the dishwasher with plates with food debris.

Contact Millers UK For Dishwasher Maintenance

If you are looking for the benefits of a commercial dishwasher for your business speak to our sales team. Our sales team have detailed knowledge of commercial dishwashers and will advise you on the best one for your business.

If your company needs the help of our dishwasher repair engineers, get in touch with our service team to book a call out.

Millers UK has been in business for over 27 years, and we have installed and repaired commercial dishwashers throughout the North West UK.