# How often to clean your dishwasher filter Clean the removable filter in the bottom of your dishwasher about once a month. Make it every two weeks if you run the dishwasher daily or you are feeding a big family. Some dishwashers have no filter to pull out at all, so check your manual before you pick a date. [Whirlpool's own guide puts the number plainly](https://producthelp.whirlpool.com/Dishwashers/Product_Info/Dishwasher_Cleaning_and_Care/How_to_Clean_the_Dishwasher_Filters): as a general rule, clean the filter once a month, especially with frequent use. With a large family, or a dishwasher that runs every day, it says to clean the filter every two weeks so debris does not build up. [Maytag's guide is on the same clock](https://producthelp.maytag.com/Dishwashers/Dishwasher/Other/Cleaning_and_Odor/Cleaning_and_Maintenance/Cleaning_the_Filter/Cleaning_the_Removable_Filtration_System_-_Dishwasher): dishwashers should be cleaned about every 30 days to keep working their best. It also notes that some models have a "Clean Filter" indicator that tells you when the filter needs attention. The manuals say it too. [One Whirlpool owner's manual](https://www.whirlpool.com/content/dam/global/documents/201701/owners-manual-W10903644-RevA.pdf) asks you to clean both the upper and lower filters and rinse them under running water at least once a month. If your water is hard, above 15 grains, it says clean the filter at least once a month no matter what else is true. So the short answer is once a month, twice a month with heavy use. Your manual beats any schedule on the internet, including this one. ## What the filter is doing down there The filter catches the food that comes off your dishes so it does not get sprayed back onto them. Whirlpool describes the triple filter system as two parts. The upper filter assembly keeps big items, foreign objects, and very fine food particles out of the pump. The lower filter keeps food from being washed back onto your plates. When the filter fills up, water stops moving through it the way it should, and the machine starts handing you dirty dishes. That is the whole reason for the rinse. It is just a part that fills up quietly. ## Why your own number may be different Two houses can run the same dishwasher and still need different cleaning. [Whirlpool's blog](https://www.whirlpool.com/blog/kitchen/fixing-removing-and-replacing-dishwasher-filters.html) and [Maytag's blog](https://www.maytag.com/blog/kitchen/how-to-clean-dishwasher-filter.html) both say so plainly: every three to six months keeps most dishwashers running well, and their charts swing all the way from once a week to once a year. Two things move the number. How many loads you run in a week, and what you do to the plates before they go in. Whirlpool's chart lines up like this: - **You scrape and rinse first:** once or twice a year, even at a dozen loads a week. - **You only scrape:** twice a year at a few loads a week, every three months at a dozen. - **You do neither:** once a month at four to seven loads a week, every two weeks at eight to twelve, once a week above that. So the monthly line in the manuals is the safe default, not the only right answer. Run it daily with food still on the plates and monthly is already too slow. Rinse everything first and run it twice a week and you can stretch it out. Either way, look at the filter the first few times. Nearly clean, stretch it. Packed, tighten it up. Two or three looks and you will know your own number. ## Signs the filter is already overdue Whirlpool lists the warnings, and they show up on your dishes before anything breaks: - Dishes coming out dirty - Dishes that feel gritty to the touch - A smell coming from the dishwasher - Food or bits of debris sitting on the filter - Cleaning that is just worse than it used to be Standing water in the bottom after a cycle belongs on that list too. Any of these means clean the filter now, whatever the date says. ## Check your filter style before you make a schedule This is the part most articles skip, and it changes the answer. Maytag's guide splits dishwashers into two filter styles. One style has filters you take out and rinse. The other is described as a maintenance-free filter system that needs no regular cleaning: the pump is protected by a foreign object cup, and you only pull that cup out to dump what has collected in it. Whirlpool draws a similar line between manual clean filters and self-cleaning filters. So before you put a repeating date on the calendar, find out which one you have. Your model number and your manual will tell you in a minute. If your dishwasher has a "Clean Filter" light, let it do some of the work, and follow your manual to reset it after you clean. ## A rinse under the tap is most of the job I am not going to walk you through your model, because the filter comes out differently on each one and your manual has the real steps. A few things are true across the board. - **Rinse the filter under running water** until most of the soil is gone. That is the whole cleaning for most people. - **A soft brush is fine** for stuck-on soil or hard water deposits. An old toothbrush works. - **No wire brush, no scouring pad.** Both Whirlpool and Maytag warn that those damage the filter. - **Pick out foreign objects by hand first.** Toothpicks, olive pits, broken glass. Maytag says those can cause more problems if they drop into the filter area. - **Lock the filter back in before you run it.** Both brands are firm here: do not operate the dishwasher without the filters properly installed. If the upper assembly spins freely, it is not locked in. **Know when the dishwasher filter was last cleaned.** Tobi keeps the schedule, the date it was done, and who did it, for everyone in the house. [Download on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tobi-home-maintenance/id6784417439) ## How to remember a five-minute job every month Rinsing a filter takes five minutes. Remembering to do it twelve times a year is the part that falls apart. Nothing prompts you. A clean filter and a clogged one look exactly the same with the door shut. Most people find out they are behind when the glasses come out gritty, and by then it has been months. In a shared house it is worse: one person rinses it, nobody else knows, and everybody assumes somebody did. [Tobi's maintenance log](/features/maintenance-log) is built for a job on this kind of clock. The dishwasher becomes a record of a real thing in your home, with the model number and the manual link saved on it, so nobody goes hunting for the filter style again. "Clean dishwasher filter" becomes a task on that record that repeats on whatever interval your house landed on. Mark it done and the next date moves forward on its own. Tobi reminds you the day it is due, and again the next day if it is still not done. Every completion is saved with the date, who did it, and notes, so "filter was packed again, moving to two weeks" stays attached to the dishwasher instead of living in someone's memory. Nothing gets written over, so you can look back and see whether your interval is right. Everyone in the [household](/features/household-sharing) sees the same record on their own phone, in real time. So the filter shows as due for the whole house, and once someone rinses it, it is done for everyone. One subscription covers the household and only the owner pays, so the people you live with cost nothing to add. The [pricing page](/pricing) has the numbers. **Home maintenance, finally shared.** Tobi keeps the dishwasher, the filters, and the rest of it on a schedule your whole household can see. [Download on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tobi-home-maintenance/id6784417439) ## When it is a service call instead Clean the filter first, then see what is left. If the dishwasher still smells bad, still leaves standing water, or still will not drain with a clean filter locked in place, the problem is past the filter. That is a repair, not a chore. If someone comes out, write down who it was, the date, and what they told you. A year later that note is the only thing that will remember it. [Keeping track of home contractors](/blog/how-to-keep-track-of-home-contractors) covers what is worth saving. ## How this fits with the rest of your home maintenance The dishwasher filter is one of a dozen jobs in a house that come back on their own clocks. [The furnace filter](/blog/how-often-to-change-your-furnace-filter). [The water heater](/blog/how-often-to-flush-your-water-heater). [The dryer vent](/blog/how-often-to-clean-your-dryer-vent). The smoke alarms. None of them are hard. They just come due quietly, while everyone is busy with something louder. [The home maintenance schedule that actually survives real life](/blog/home-maintenance-schedule) puts the monthly and yearly ones in one place. Go open the dishwasher and look at the bottom. If there is a filter down there, pull it, rinse it, and write down that you did it, so next month is a reminder instead of a guess.