Your dishwasher's filter is a key contributor to the machine's cleaning effectiveness -- and the reason why pre-rinsing your dishes before loading the dishwasher is largely a thing of the past. (Still, you should absolutely scrape larger food scraps into the trash.) The dishwasher filter's job is simple: keep stray scraps of food from circulating through the system during the cleaning process.
In fact, every expert I surveyed while creating our list of the best dishwashers said one of the biggest contributors to dishwasher repairs and warranty claims is when a user doesn't clean the filter. Let's explore why your filter matters, how often you should clean it and the best way to clean it.
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Why your dishwasher filter matters
An effective dishwasher filter has three benefits: It keeps the water cleaner, protects the water pump and prevents food debris from clogging spray nozzles and drainage lines. As a result, the dishwasher requires less effort to run, and you'll eliminate wildcards that can damage your expensive kitchen appliance.
In contrast, my ancient Maytag PDC3600AWX portable dishwasher lacks any sort of filter. This means I need to be very diligent about scraping and pre-cleaning when loading to keep it running smoothly.
How often should you clean your dishwasher filter?
Keep things simple by scraping your dishes before loading and setting a monthly cleaning schedule. aire images/Getty Images
In the absence of unified manufacturer guidance, I recommend checking your dishwasher filter at least once a month. If it's clean, your job is already done. If not, then it's time to clean it.
Best of all, it's as easy as putting a reminder on your phone, calendar or chore wheel to check and clean the dishwasher filter. However, you should also stay on top of decreased performance or foul odors in your dishwasher, which might mean it's time to clean the filter ahead of schedule.
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