What to Do When Someone Puts Dish Soap in Your Dishwasher

A sitcom character has made a terrible mistake, and soap suds are spewing out of the dishwasher and onto the floor. Now they’re filling the kitchen. That last bit is an exaggeration, but other than that, this is based on a real phenomenon. What went wrong? Someone put liquid dish soap into the dishwasher instead of proper dish detergent. What’s the difference? When dish detergent combines with water, it doesn’t make suds. Dish soap, on the other hand, was born to make suds. When this bubbly mixture expands, it can damage the inner workings of the dishwasher. It can also escape the unit and cause a big mess.

What can you do if you realize that someone (not you of course) has made this mistake in your home? Right away, hit the cancel/drain button to stop that suds-making chemical process immediately, and hopefully reduce some of that lather. Clean up any overflow on the floor and outside of the washer.

Once the drain process is done, carefully open the dishwasher door. Move all the dishes and silverware to the sink, because they didn’t go through a full wash cycle. Now you need to rinse away the soapy residue in the dishwasher. You can use your sink sprayer if it will reach. If not, you can use a spray bottle with water, or a bowl or glass of water. Keep rinsing the interior until the bubbles are gone, and dry out the inside with a towel.

Now run the dishwasher for a short cycle with no detergent or soap. If it seems to run fine, and the interior looks normal, now you can load all the dishes and silverware back in and run it on a normal cycle with dish detergent. Hopefully, this process got all of that dish soap out of the dishwasher, and the interior components are undamaged.

If you need a plumber, call All Star Service and Repair. We have over 60 years of combined experience providing residential plumbing services in Salt Lake County. We do drain cleaning, sewer line repair, trenchless sewer cleaning, whole-home repiping, you name it. We’re confident we can pinpoint the problem and recommend the best course of action using high-tech plumbing inspection equipment. Then, we’ll draw on years of knowledge and training to repair your pipes correctly the first time around. Call us today at (801) 305-3876 or contact us online to schedule the services you need in Salt Lake City, Sandy, Murray, Provo, or Orem.