Dishwasher Not Cleaning Well? It's Probably Not Broken

Poor cleaning is one of the more common dishwasher complaints we hear, and it's also the one most often mistaken for a broken machine when quite often there's nothing mechanically wrong with it at all. The usual suspects are clogged spray arms, a worn door seal, or water that isn't reaching the temperature it needs to actually break down grease and food residue.

What to check before assuming the worst

The spray arms are the easiest thing to check yourself. Pull the bottom rack out and spin each arm by hand: if it's stiff, or you can see the little jets are caked with mineral deposits or food debris, that's very often the whole problem. A clogged arm can't distribute water evenly, so some dishes get properly cleaned and others don't get touched at all.

Water temperature is the other common cause, and it's easy to overlook because the dishwasher itself isn't necessarily at fault. If your water heater is set low, or the dishwasher is run right after another hot-water appliance has used up the hot water in the tank, the wash cycle can run at a lower temperature than it's designed for and simply not clean as well.

When it's a different problem

Standing water in the bottom of the tub after a cycle is a separate issue from poor cleaning, and it usually points to a clogged drain filter, hose, or pump instead. And if you're seeing water outside the machine rather than inside it, that's most often the door gasket or a hose fitting, worth handling promptly given where the water goes.

Is it worth fixing?

For cleaning performance specifically, yes, almost always, since the fix is frequently as simple as clearing a spray arm or replacing a seal. We'd only start talking replacement if the dishwasher is old enough that parts are getting hard to source, or if several unrelated problems are showing up at the same time.