--- title: "The dishwasher smells" description: "JennAir the dishwasher smells — a smell that meets you when you open the door. It is one of the few complaints on this site where the answer is almost" url: "https://jennairmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-smells/" date_modified: "2026-08-24" Appliance type: "Dishwashers" --- # JennAir the dishwasher smells ### The fastest diagnosis is the code Take the filter out and wash it properly with hot water and a brush, not a rinse. Then look at the door seal, all the way round including the bottom corners, and wipe it. Those two places hold almost everything that smells in this appliance, and neither of them is cleaned by running the machine empty. ### Two places, and the machine cannot clean either The filter in the floor of the tub and the seal around the door hold what smells. Neither is reached by the wash arms, so no cycle you run — empty, hot, with vinegar, with a cleaning tablet — touches them. That is the whole reason this complaint survives everything people try. Twenty minutes with hot water and a brush is the actual repair. ### When it is not housekeeping If the smell returns within a week of a genuine clean, or if it smells of drains rather than of food, the drain path is worth looking at: a hose without its high loop, a slow drain leaving water in the sump, or a disposal connection. Those are real repairs and they are not expensive ones. What it catches is what you are smelling. It needs washing rather than rinsing every month or two. The door seal and the bottom edge Where water and residue sit and never get washed, because the wash arms do not reach there. A drain that empties slowly Water left standing in the sump between cycles goes stale. That is the draining page as much as this one. The drain hose or the disposal A hose without a high loop lets sink water back toward the machine, and the smell arrives with it. Standing unused in a warm house Very common in a second home. A machine left shut for a month in Miami is a small warm damp box. Wash the filter, do not rinse it Hot water, a brush, a drop of detergent. It should come out looking new. Wipe the seal and the door bottom All the way round and into the corners. This is the half people miss. Run a dishwasher cleaner on the hottest cycle Empty, with the product the machine asks for. Once the two places above are actually clean, this finishes the job. Leave the door ajar between uses Especially in a house that stands empty. Air is the whole answer. If it returns within a week, book it A smell that comes straight back after a proper clean is usually the drain path, and that is a real repair rather than housekeeping. And it is almost never the machine What it usually means A stale smell every time the door opens Worse after the machine has stood a few days A smell that comes back within a week of cleaning The fastest diagnosis is the code Take the filter out and wash it properly with hot water and a brush, not a rinse. Then look at the door seal, all the way round including the bottom corners, and wipe it. Those two places hold almost everything that smells in this appliance, and neither of them is cleaned by running the machine empty. Two places, and the machine cannot clean either The filter in the floor of the tub and the seal around the door hold what smells. Neither is reached by the wash arms, so no cycle you run — empty, hot, with vinegar, with a cleaning tablet — touches them. That is the whole reason this complaint survives everything people try. Twenty minutes with hot water and a brush is the actual repair. When it is not housekeeping If the smell returns within a week of a genuine clean, or if it smells of drains rather than of food, the drain path is worth looking at: a hose without its high loop, a slow drain leaving water in the sump, or a disposal connection. Those are real repairs and they are not expensive ones. ### I run it empty with vinegar every month and it still smells. Because the wash arms cannot reach the two places that hold the smell: the filter and the door seal. Running the machine empty cleans the parts that were already clean. Wash the filter by hand and wipe the seal, then run the cleaner, and the order matters. ### It smells like sewage rather than stale food. That points at the drain path rather than the appliance — a hose without a high loop, or a connection to a disposal or trap that lets the sink back toward the machine. It is worth a visit, and it is a plumbing-shaped problem inside an appliance-shaped complaint. ### The house is empty for months at a time. Then leave the door ajar when you go. A closed dishwasher in a warm empty Florida house is exactly the environment for this, and there is nothing wrong with the machine. It is worth adding to whatever list closes the house up. --- **[Read full article: The dishwasher smells](https://jennairmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-smells/)**