So, guess what happens when one spouse (say, me) leaves a dish full of one part dish soap, one part water mixture in the sink with all the other dishes - without telling the other spouse (Fran)? Well, she decides to do the dishes, which I of course can’t complain about, and doesn’t notice the fluid in the dish in question as it’s put in the dishwasher.

This post is just in case anyone else finds themselves in the same situation, with soap suds creeping out of the dishwasher at an alarming rate. (And so I have it archived somewhere, in case, you know… I need it again):

Here’s the fix:

  • Dump all of your ice cubes into the bottom of the dishwasher to cool the water.
  • Sprinkle salt on the suds.
  • Pour some vinegar into the suds.
  • Scoop out as many of the suds as you can.
  • Turn your dishwasher’s knob (if it’s the old-school kind that has one) to the end of the last part of the cycle. It should be fairly straightforward to find the point where it actually starts draining the water. Usually this is right after the rinse cycle.
  • Once it’s empty, turn it all the way around to the rinse cycle, and let it rinse then drain 3 or 4 times. The first time or two, monitor things so that the suds don’t get out of control. If you did the vinegar and salt thing, it shouldn’t be a problem.
  • After about the 4th mini-cycle, you’re probably safe to do a regular load again to clean the dishes that are coated in dish soap. Again, monitor things, since the residue of dish soap on the dishes could cause a flare up of bubbles.
  • If you noticed dish soap bubbles, yet one more cycle might be in order to get the dishes clean.

What fun!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,