GE Dishwashers are a popular choice for homeowners with families thanks to their user-friendly features and quiet operation. You can keep it running in your kitchen without disturbing your day-to-day activities.
Even though these are very family-friendly appliances, you still need to keep up with some general maintenance and cleaning routines to ensure your dishwasher stays in tip-top shape.
One of the most important of these maintenance tasks is cleaning the filter. The filter is responsible for trapping food particulate and debris that gets washed off your dishes before they can make it into the drainage system.
Not sure how to do this? Don’t worry, you’re in the right place!
This article will explain in detail both why you should clean your filter and provide a detailed guide on how to do it. The whole process takes about 10 minutes to complete and doesn’t require any specialized tools.
Why Do You Need To Clean Your GE Dishwasher Filter?
You may be thinking, if the dirty water is just going to run down the drain and into the sewage, why do we even need to bother with a filter at all?
If the filter wasn’t there and food was free to run down the drain, it would clog your drain pipes up pretty quickly. This causes smelly, moldy water filled with bits of food to back up into your GE dishwasher and cause all kinds of problems; not ideal!
To ensure you thoroughly understand why cleaning the filter is so important, let’s first examine the main benefits of keeping your dishwasher filter nice and clean.
1. Improves Your Dishwashers Cleaning Quality
One of the primary reasons why dishwashers use a filter, to begin with, is to help the cleaning process. If the filter wasn’t present, the water used to clean the dishes wouldn’t be as clean.
So emptying the filter can effectively remove the food particulate, which will give your dishwasher an easier time cleaning your dishes.
2. Prevents Clogs in Your Drains
Without a filter, all the food debris would be free to run straight down your drain pipe and out into the sewage. If this happens, you will quickly find your drain pipes clogging up.
Not only will this make dirty water back up into your washer, producing bad smells and stopping your dishes from being cleaned properly, but it will also cost you a lot of money in expensive plumbing repairs, as you’ll need to bring in a professional to unclog it for you.
3. Increases Component Longevity
When food particulate passes straight into the drain, the drain pump needs to work extra hard to turn the impeller and push the water out of the machine. This puts extra strain on the pump and reduces its lifespan.
So by removing the food debris from the water, you can make the drain pump’s life much easier, increasing its lifespan.
4. Reduces Bad Smells and Unpleasant Odors
Any food debris that didn’t get washed down the drain will smell pretty bad if not properly caught in the filter and cleaned out. This bad smell can transfer to your dishes or get into your kitchen if you leave the dishwasher door open to help it air dry.
This will make your kitchen smell terrible and likely draw criticism from housemates and family members. Therefore, the filter helps keep bad smells down to a minimum.
5. Increased Water and Energy Efficiency
By helping minimize the amount of dirty water sprayed out of the washer and ensuring that the clean water can circulate freely, a clean filter helps reduce the amount of water required to complete a wash cycle and even reduces the total wash cycle time.
This makes keeping the filter clean an easy way to increase your washer’s energy efficiency too!
6. Direct Money Savings To You
By increasing energy efficiency and improving component longevity, you will need repairs or component replacements far less frequently.
This means keeping the filter clean directly results in a monetary saving and spares you the hassle of dealing with a repair technician.
How to Clean A GE Dishwasher Filter
Hopefully, we’ve sold the importance of the filter and the benefits of keeping it nice and clean. Now let’s walk through how to clean your filter with an easy-to-follow step-by-step guide.
1. Turn Off the GE Dishwasher
As with any electrical device, before performing any kind of cleaning or maintenance, you should first ensure the dishwasher is switched off and unplugged from the power outlet (or you can also turn it off at the circuit breaker).
This will protect you against accidents or electrical shocks while working on the machine.
2. Locate the Filter
Because the exact location may differ from model to model, you may wish to refer to your user manual if you are unsure. Generally speaking, the filter will usually be placed at the base of the dishwasher under the spray arm.
You may have to remove the bottom dish rack and move the spray arm out of the way to gain access to it.
3. Remove the Filter
Once the filter is located, grab the top handle or knob and twist it counterclockwise to unlock it from the filter assembly. Do this carefully; the filter will be full of food debris and quite fragile; you don’t want to break it.
Once it’s unlocked, carefully lift the filter to remove it from the dishwasher.
4. Rinse the Filter
Start by dumping out the majority of the loose food debris into the food waste bin. Then you can rinse the filter under warm water to eliminate as much of the remaining debris as possible.
Also, you can use a soft-bristled brush, such as an old toothbrush, to assist in cleaning it.
5. Let it Soak
If simply rinsing the filter was enough to get it clean (and if you clean the filter regularly, this will often be good enough), you can skip ahead to the reinstallation stage. However, if the food particles, grease, and grime are particularly stuck, you may need to soak the filter for a while to help break the dirt down.
Fill a bowl or sink full of warm soapy water, or you can use a specialized cleaner if you wish, but this is not completely necessary. Place the filter in and soak it for 10-15 minutes; this will help loosen any stuck-on dirt and break down the grease/oil accumulation.
6. Scrub the Filter
After the allotted time, give the filter a second clean. Once again, take a soft-bristled brush and scrub away at the remaining dirt to remove it, making sure to get in all the nooks and crannies where grease stubbornly accumulates.
While it’s tempting to scrub much harder or use something like a scotch brite at this stage, we recommend against this. A soft brush and some patience are all that’s needed.
7. Re-rinse the Filter
Give it a second rinse once more under some warm water to remove any loose debris you’ve just scrubbed off. Now you should set the filter aside to dry, moving on to the next step while it dries.
8. Clean the Filter Housing
Inevitably a certain amount of food will get stuck in the housing that the filter sits in, and it’s also a prime location for mold and bacteria to grow. So it’s essential we also clean the filter housing before re-installing the filter.
This is usually much easier to do than cleaning the filter, you just need to take a damp cloth and wipe down the edge and the interior of the filter housing to remove any food residue or dirt. If you notice it looks particularly stained or doesn’t seem to wipe clean with just a cloth, we suggest spraying some all-purpose cleaner around the area and wiping it down again.
9. Re-install the Filter
Once the filter is dry and the filter housing is clean, you can now re-install the filter. Place it back in the allocated spot and gently push it down into place.
Once it’s depressed as far as it goes, turn it clockwise to lock it in place. You can then re-install the spray arm.
10. Run a Test Cycle
Everything should now be good to go, but running a test cycle is always a good idea to check it’s all working correctly. Check carefully for leaks and ensure the filter stays securely in place as it runs.
11. Continued Maintenance
The filter cleaning needs to be performed regularly to ensure it doesn’t get full to the point of becoming completely blocked and re-circulating old food particles around your dishes. Generally speaking, repeating this process once a month will be adequate enough to keep your filter in tip-top shape.
But if you use your dishwasher often (more than once a day), you may have to clean it more frequently. Keep an eye on your dishes after they are washed, and if you notice any degradation in cleaning quality, it’s probably a good idea to clean the filter again.
Adrian is an ISCET licensed professional that has completed the National Appliance Service Technician Certification Exam and has the expertise to diagnose and repair any appliance. He is well-versed in the latest technologies and techniques and is always up-to-date on the latest industry standards.
