Dishwasher Smell

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C317414

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Hello,

I'm looking for some advice.

We have a fairly new Samsung dishwasher that leaves dishes smelling bad:

- The smell seems to occur during the air dry cycle. If I stop the washer right before the dry cycle and pull the wet dishes out, they have no smell.
- The small water residue that remains in the filter cavity does not smell.
- The sink drain and garbage disposal do not smell either.
- The hot water in the house has no smell.

Here's what I have done to date:

- Cleaned dishwasher interior and filters repeatedly.
- Ran dishwasher with vinegar, dishwasher cleaner, bleach, etc.
- Ran dishwasher on sanitizing cycle.
- Replaced 12yo water heater, and replaced the OEM anode with an impressed current anode before installation.
- Recently drained the water heater, refilled and raised temperature to the maximim for a day. Then I lowered temp to a bit over 400.
- Replaced air gap and drain hose.

Again, the smell seems to come when the washer goes into the fan-assisted drying cycle. This washer can be set to automatically pop the door open during the last few minutes of the drying cycle. It doesn't matter if this feature is activated or not. The smell still occurs.

I saw a YouTube video of someone that cleaned out the lower door seal, with a steam injector machine. I have not done this.

Any thoughts?
 

C317414

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Followup - The issue was the water heater

I sanitized the water heater with Hydrogen Peroxide, and that did not work. Then, I followed Bradford White's sanitizing procedure that uses chlorine. This did the trick; no more dishwasher smell.


Incidentally, I installed a Tee and a ball valve on the water heater inlet. To sanitize, I attach a vinyl hose to the ball valve, and dip it into the chlorine container. Then, I open the heater drain valve, and the ball valve. The chlorine is sucked in.
 

Tuttles Revenge

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We get these from time to time but tracking down smells is really difficult. Glad you got yours resolved, this could come in handy for others.
 

Reach4

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Was this city water, or well water? If well, the next time you get symptoms, I suggest sanitizing your well and plumbing.
 

Jeff H Young

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c317414 had stink, Changed water heater still had stink but no where else only at the DW . OK very hard to believe its 2 water heaters causing this only at the DW. perhaps someone would know why?
 
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