--- title: "Your Dishwasher Has a Filter, and Nobody Told You at Delivery" description: "How to clean filter on jenn air dishwasher: where the filter is in a JennAir dishwasher, how to take it out, how often it needs doing in South Florida water…" url: "https://jennairmiami.support/blog/how-to-clean-a-jennair-dishwasher-filter/" date_modified: "2026-08-25" Category: "Maintenance & Prevention" --- # Your Dishwasher Has a Filter, and Nobody Told You at Delivery ## How to clean filter on Jenn Air dishwasher: under a minute, and nobody mentions it Take the lower rack out. Look at the floor of the tub. There is a cylinder in the middle of it. Give it about a quarter turn counter-clockwise and lift straight up — it comes out in your hand, no tools. Underneath it there is a **flat screen**, which is a separate part and the one everybody forgets. That lifts straight out too. Wash both in hot water with a soft brush and a drop of detergent. Not a rinse — a wash. They should come out looking new. Every JennAir dishwasher in the current line is built in, and most of them are fully integrated behind a cabinet panel — so the door has to be open before you can see any of this, which is a large part of why nobody ever has. Put the flat screen back first, seated properly flat. Then the cylinder, turned until it stops. That is the whole job. ## Why It Is There at All Every dishwasher in this line uses a **removable filter** rather than a food grinder. A grinder chops what comes off the plates so it can go down the drain. It also has a motor and blades, and you can hear one from the next room. Every machine on this make runs at 38 to 39 decibels, and a filter instead of a grinder is a large part of how they get there. The trade is one minute of your time every month or two. The problem is that nobody says so at delivery, there is no light, no beep and no message — so an enormous number of these filters have never been touched. ## What a Full Filter Actually Does Nothing dramatic, which is why it survives so long. In order of appearance: - **Grit on the dishes.** What the filter should be holding is being redistributed instead.- **Film on glassware.** Which everybody blames on the water, and in this city partly is the water — but a loaded filter makes it worse.- **A smell** when you open the door. The filter and the door seal are the two places a dishwasher smell lives, and neither is reached by the spray arms.- **A slow drain**, eventually, because the water has to get through whatever is sitting on the mesh. Four different complaints, one minute of work. That is unusual on this site and it is worth using. ## How Often, Honestly **Every month or two** for a machine in normal use here. More often if what goes in has been scraped rather than rinsed — which is what you should be doing. That last point is worth its own line, because the instinct is wrong. These machines have a sensor that reads how dirty the water is and decides how hard to work. Load them with pre-rinsed dishes and the sensor concludes the job is nearly done and runs a lighter cycle. **Scrape the solids into the bin and leave the rest.** ## Two Things Not to Do **Do not put the filter in the dishwasher.** It is the part that catches what the dishwasher removes; a cycle cannot clean it. **Do not use anything metal or abrasive.** The mesh is fine and a wire brush opens it up permanently. A soft brush, hot water, and a little detergent is all it wants. ## And If It Rattles Afterwards The cylinder is not locked. Take it out, check the flat screen underneath is sitting properly flat — it is easy to get slightly proud — then drop the cylinder in and turn it until it stops moving. A filter that is not seated lets debris straight past into the pump, and that is a much bigger conversation than this page. ## What to Have Ready If You Do Call The model number from the edge of the door, visible only when the door is open. Whether the complaint is grit, film or smell. Which rack is worst, if it is only one. And whether the front is your own cabinet panel, because that decides how long the appointment runs. We repair this equipment across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. --- **[Read full article: Your Dishwasher Has a Filter, and Nobody Told You at Delivery](https://jennairmiami.support/blog/how-to-clean-a-jennair-dishwasher-filter/)**