If the dishwasher in your Alberta rental is not draining properly, it may be clogged by food scraps or grease. Like many other items of modern equipment, dishwashers are a wonderful addition to our lives until they go wrong. When they do go wrong we feel extremely irritated because we have come to rely heavily on these efficient household machines!
The most common places for clogging to happen is under the drainage basket (or screen), the drain hose to the sink or garbage disposal, or in the air gap. (The air-gap is the device that looks a bit like a mushroom which sits at the back rim of a kitchen sink).
Before calling in a local Alberta plumber to sort out your dishwasher there are some simple steps you can take to try to fix the problem yourself.
As a safety precaution, turn off the dishwasher before going inside it with any tools. Then reach inside the machine and unscrew the draining basket. Take the basket out and check underneath to make sure there are no large bits of debris lurking there. Rinse the basket carefully and replace it.
The next step is to make a pourable paste of baking soda and vinegar – say about a quarter cupful – and pour it down the dishwasher drain. Follow it with a cup of neat vinegar. Wait for about 20 minutes then pour about a pint of boiling water down the drain. This treatment should clear most clogs caused by grease. If it doesn’t work on the first occasion, repeat the process.
If the baking soda and vinegar trick is unsuccessful then you have probably got some kind of a solid clog in your dishwasher.
This may be the point at which you call in your landlord. Otherwise, if you are a practical sort of person you could check the drain line or air gap yourself.
Get a bucket and some old towels and put them under the sink. Disconnect the drain hose from the air gap using a screwdriver and empty the hose into the bucket. If there is no obvious clogging, unscrew the air gap from the sink and take the top off. You can then see if there are any food scraps (like chunks of carrot) which may be causing the problem.
