Smelly Dishes

[Smelly in Battle Ground]

Hello: 

We are the proud owners of a new Bosch SHX55R55UC/64.  Something we have wanted for a long time, but sadly, it has not fixed one major issue we’ve had for a few years. Our dishes and glasses smell like wet musty dog.  But first a little history.

We built our house 5 years ago at which time we installed an entire kitchen suite of KitchenAid appliances.  Super disappointed!  Everything but the microwave has had problems. 
We first noticed the dish smell issue about 6 months into using the super fancy, super expensive, double drawer dishwasher.  At first we thought it was the porcelain dishes, so we replaced them, then we thought it was because there was standing water in the dishwasher, so we manually sucked all the water out with a turkey baster after each and every wash.    We have hard water so we bought a very expensive water softener.   None of these steps repaired the issue so, we decide to bite the bullet and buy our dream dishwasher, the Bosch.  We thought, “that will certainly fix the problem!” Sadly, it has not.  I have scoured the internet and this seems to be a common problem, but I cannot find a solution.  I thought I’d go to you, the experts…. 

We have had a plumber tell us that nothing is wrong with our piping.  Frankly, we have tried everything. 
We have tried:
various detergents.
leaving the door open after the cycle has completed.
tossing a lemon in the garbage disposal before washing.
pouring baking soda in the dishwasher basin.

And the best part about this is that it doesn’t always happen.  Only sometimes…….   

One more detail: there is another house on our property that was built in 1996.  This is not a problem in thier house, so I have pretty much rulled out the water source. 

[tgoods]

My first thought was it's related to hard water and the transition of the dishwashing detergents to no phosphates a couple of years ago. But, since you've installed a water softener, that should have fixed the problem if that were the case.  Maybe you can install an inline filter, they make them specifically for dishwashers. Have you tried a rinse agent like Jetdry?

[Smelly in Battle Ground]

Thank you for the ideas.  We do use Jetdry. 
I will look into an inline filter.
One question.  I've read that there is a rod in the hot water heater that can go out yet still heat the water.  Is this a viable possibility?

[dab147315]

Try some lemi-shine that is a dishwasher cleaner and you can get at walmart for about $3.75 in a plastic bottle good to clean dishwasher and has 3 different methods of using it on the bottle and one method is using it in the soap cup and closing soap cup door and putting  your detergent in the bottom of dishwasher.I would use it to clean dishwasher by putting it in soap cup and some extra in bottom to clean the tub.There is enough for about 18 cleanings.Also very important is to run the hot water in your sink before you put on your dishwasher to flush out the cold water in your pipes.Also use some of the longer cycles on the dishwasher as todays dishwasher use less water.

[dab147315]

How about disposal do you get odors from that?

[Smelly in Battle Ground]

We do not get any odor from the disposal. 
I clean out the traps on a regular basis (generally, nothing there) and the dishwasher is super duper clean. 

[dab147315]

I still would try that lemi shine it will not hurt.All dishwasher today and washer machine today you have to use a cleaner to clean the washer or you could get a smell.They use less water.38 years in business.
less

[dab147315]

Is that the only place in your house you get a smell?

[jimbo6679]

Thank you for the ideas.  We do use Jetdry. 
I will look into an inline filter.
One question.  I've read that there is a rod in the hot water heater that can go out yet still heat the water.  Is this a viable possibility?

     Water heaters have an anode rod, which reduces corrosion inside the heater.    Certain rods, combined with certain water ( often well water) can create an odor in the water.    A plumber can change the anode to a different material type for that issue.   If you are not on a well, this is usually NOT a problem.

[Smelly in Battle Ground]

We don't notice a smell in the bathroom.

Is that the only place in your house you get a smell?

[Smelly in Battle Ground]

I have a sneaking suspicion this is the problem....
Do you have any idea/ball park as to cost?

Thank you for the ideas.  We do use Jetdry. 
I will look into an inline filter.
One question.  I've read that there is a rod in the hot water heater that can go out yet still heat the water.  Is this a viable possibility?

     Water heaters have an anode rod, which reduces corrosion inside the heater.    Certain rods, combined with certain water ( often well water) can create an odor in the water.    A plumber can change the anode to a different material type for that issue.   If you are not on a well, this is usually NOT a problem.

[ScottyMo1]

Why are you using an air break in the drain line? I'm seeing alot of drain water standing in the drain line. May be holding flapper valve open in the dishwasher. Might try installed your drain line per the installation instructions and see if that doesn't help.

[haroldsappliance]

My first thought would be, is your drain hose high enoug?. If not, your nasty food residue will drain back into dishwasher and will create bacteria and such as to cause a funky smell. Looking at the pic of the disposal,it looks like there is not a high enough loop to stop such a problem.

[haroldsappliance]

Sorry, didn't see the siphon break. Could be siphoning back to washer. Eliminate siphon break, create a high loop to stop back flow.

[jimbo6679]

Sorry, didn't see the siphon break. Could be siphoning back to washer. Eliminate siphon break, create a high loop to stop back flow.

We don't know where he lives, but many states REQUIRE the air gap connection.    A high loop would minimize  back flow, and of course are still allowed in some states.   But since the high loop is NOT above the top of the sink, it can never completely eliminate the possibility of backflow.     

I see a hammer arrester on the hot water connection, and those can fail and be an odor source...just one more possibility