How to Winterize a Dishwasher?

You might not think of a dishwasher as something that typically needs to be winterized, and in most cases, you’d be right. However, if you keep your dishwasher in an unheated location, you’ll need to properly prepare it for the winter months.

A non-winterized dishwasher can be severely damaged by being left in freezing conditions. To properly winterize a dishwasher, you need to make sure it is fully drained and cleaned, and you’ll need to fill it up with antifreeze.

In this article, we’ll be showing you how to winterize your dishwasher, and we’ll also share with you some other tips and information you might need to keep your dishwasher running well all year long.

It’s not necessary to winterize a dishwasher in normal conditions, but it is if you plan on leaving your dishwasher in sub-zero conditions for any point in time. For example, if your dishwasher is located in a garage or a summer home that is not insulated, you’ll definitely need to make sure it’s winterized.

You need to winterize your dishwasher because any water that is still inside it can cause massive damage to the system if it freezes. If you’ve ever had pipes burst in your home during cold weather, then you know exactly how much this sucks.

As for why your pipes are at risk of bursting when the water inside them freezes, the problem isn’t caused by the ice itself, as you might expect. Rather, it has to do with increased water caused by the presence of ice.

When water turns to ice, the water molecules expand. This on its own isn’t enough to burst any pipes, though. Instead, the ice forces any unfrozen water up against the closed faucet or valve that the pipe is connected to.

As more ice forms, the unfrozen water is subjected to immense pressure between the ice and the faucet/valve. Eventually, the pipes burst due to this pressure, most commonly in an area where there is very little ice.

Generally, only the sections of the pipe downstream of the ice clog are at risk of bursting. The upstream sections of the pipe aren’t at as much risk because the water isn’t trapped and can usually go back to its source if it encounters a blockage.

Now, let’s go over how to properly winterize your dishwasher. The process of doing so isn’t too complicated, but you definitely need to do it right in order for it to actually work.

If you do everything correctly, winterizing your dishwasher should take no more than a few hours. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Prepare Your Dishwasher

Before you can really start winterizing your dishwasher, you need to prep it first. This involves making sure your dishwasher is totally empty and that the interior is clean.

• To start, empty out any dishes or cutlery that are still inside the dishwasher
• Remove the upper and lower dish racks as well as the cutlery basket.
• Then, give the insides a wipe with a wet rag and some cleaning solution (or you can run your dishwasher’s self-cleaning cycle, if it has one). 

2. Disconnect Your Dishwasher From Its Water and Power Supply

Next, you need to disconnect your dishwasher from its supply of both water and power. You need to disconnect the water supply to ensure that no water remains in your dishwasher during the winter, and you need to disconnect the power supply in order to safely finish cleaning the dishwasher.

To turn off the water supply to your dishwasher, locate the water main in your home and turn it all the way off. You’ll probably need to drain the water from all of your pipes if your home isn’t winterized, so take this opportunity to run all the faucets in your house and flush all of the toilets until your pipes are as empty as possible.

You should also run your garbage disposal for a minute or so, since there’s a good chance that your dishwasher and your garbage disposal are hooked up to the same plumbing.

Now, disconnect the water supply hose to the dishwasher and allow as much water as possible to drain out from it. Then, disconnect the dishwasher’s drainage hose from your sink’s drain and do the same. 

It’s a good idea to have a bucket or a pan on hand when disconnecting these hoses to prevent water from spilling everywhere and making a mess. Once you’re done, you can reattach the supply hose to the dishwasher and the drainage hose to the sink. 

3. Thoroughly Clean Your Dishwasher

Now that you’ve disconnected your dishwasher from its power supply and have drained all of the water out of it, it’s time to do a bit of deep cleaning. This part may get a little gross, so we’d recommend having some dishwashing gloves on hand for this.

Under your dishwasher’s spray arms, you should see a little cylinder sticking up out of the bottom of your dishwasher. This is the cylinder filter, and you’ll have to remove it in order to clean it.

Related: Dishwasher not cleaning dishes on the top rack?

To remove the filter, simply hold onto it firmly and turn it counter-clockwise. This will release it from the base of the dishwasher. Empty out any loose bits of food caught in the filter, and if you have water to spare, give the filter a quick rinse. Then reinstall the filter.

You might not think of a dishwasher as something that typically needs to be winterized, and in most cases, you’d be right. However, if you keep your dishwasher in an unheated location, you’ll need to properly prepare it for the winter months.

A non-winterized dishwasher can be severely damaged by being left in freezing conditions. To properly winterize a dishwasher, you need to make sure it is fully drained and cleaned, and you’ll need to fill it up with antifreeze.

In this article, we’ll be showing you how to winterize your dishwasher, and we’ll also share with you some other tips and information you might need to keep your dishwasher running well all year long.

It’s not necessary to winterize a dishwasher in normal conditions, but it is if you plan on leaving your dishwasher in sub-zero conditions for any point in time. For example, if your dishwasher is located in a garage or a summer home that is not insulated, you’ll definitely need to make sure it’s winterized.

You need to winterize your dishwasher because any water that is still inside it can cause massive damage to the system if it freezes. If you’ve ever had pipes burst in your home during cold weather, then you know exactly how much this sucks.

As for why your pipes are at risk of bursting when the water inside them freezes, the problem isn’t caused by the ice itself, as you might expect. Rather, it has to do with increased water caused by the presence of ice.

When water turns to ice, the water molecules expand. This on its own isn’t enough to burst any pipes, though. Instead, the ice forces any unfrozen water up against the closed faucet or valve that the pipe is connected to.

As more ice forms, the unfrozen water is subjected to immense pressure between the ice and the faucet/valve. Eventually, the pipes burst due to this pressure, most commonly in an area where there is very little ice.

Generally, only the sections of the pipe downstream of the ice clog are at risk of bursting. The upstream sections of the pipe aren’t at as much risk because the water isn’t trapped and can usually go back to its source if it encounters a blockage.

Now, let’s go over how to properly winterize your dishwasher. The process of doing so isn’t too complicated, but you definitely need to do it right in order for it to actually work.

If you do everything correctly, winterizing your dishwasher should take no more than a few hours. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Prepare Your Dishwasher

Before you can really start winterizing your dishwasher, you need to prep it first. This involves making sure your dishwasher is totally empty and that the interior is clean.

• To start, empty out any dishes or cutlery that are still inside the dishwasher
• Remove the upper and lower dish racks as well as the cutlery basket.
• Then, give the insides a wipe with a wet rag and some cleaning solution (or you can run your dishwasher’s self-cleaning cycle, if it has one). 

2. Disconnect Your Dishwasher From Its Water and Power Supply

Next, you need to disconnect your dishwasher from its supply of both water and power. You need to disconnect the water supply to ensure that no water remains in your dishwasher during the winter, and you need to disconnect the power supply in order to safely finish cleaning the dishwasher.

To turn off the water supply to your dishwasher, locate the water main in your home and turn it all the way off. You’ll probably need to drain the water from all of your pipes if your home isn’t winterized, so take this opportunity to run all the faucets in your house and flush all of the toilets until your pipes are as empty as possible.

You should also run your garbage disposal for a minute or so, since there’s a good chance that your dishwasher and your garbage disposal are hooked up to the same plumbing.

Now, disconnect the water supply hose to the dishwasher and allow as much water as possible to drain out from it. Then, disconnect the dishwasher’s drainage hose from your sink’s drain and do the same. 

It’s a good idea to have a bucket or a pan on hand when disconnecting these hoses to prevent water from spilling everywhere and making a mess. Once you’re done, you can reattach the supply hose to the dishwasher and the drainage hose to the sink. 

3. Thoroughly Clean Your Dishwasher

Now that you’ve disconnected your dishwasher from its power supply and have drained all of the water out of it, it’s time to do a bit of deep cleaning. This part may get a little gross, so we’d recommend having some dishwashing gloves on hand for this.

Under your dishwasher’s spray arms, you should see a little cylinder sticking up out of the bottom of your dishwasher. This is the cylinder filter, and you’ll have to remove it in order to clean it.

Related: Dishwasher not cleaning dishes on the top rack?

To remove the filter, simply hold onto it firmly and turn it counter-clockwise. This will release it from the base of the dishwasher. Empty out any loose bits of food caught in the filter, and if you have water to spare, give the filter a quick rinse. Then reinstall the filter.