How to Clean a Commercial Dishwasher

If you’re wondering how to properly clean a commercial dishwasher, it’s actually easy enough and just requires knowledge of a few key steps. Plus, cleaning and maintaining your commercial dishwasher is essential if you want to serve food to your customers on sanitized and safe dishes.

Haddon has many customers in BC and Alberta who run commercial dishwashers in their healthcare and hospitality businesses, so we are experts at maintaining and monitoring everything to do with warewashing equipment—from cleaning to descaling.

How to Clean a Commercial Dishwasher

And, it’s important to note that commercial dishwashers don’t clean themselves. They still need some regular maintenance and know how from your kitchen staff to perform optimally.

Easy Tips for Cleaning Your Commercial Dishwasher 

Here is a really comprehensive How to Clean a Commercial Dishwasher list by Chem Mark

1. Turn the dishwasher off – Press the power button to turn the machine off
2. Open the drains – Open the dishwasher’s door, lift the drain lever or open the manual drains to drain the dishwasher and empty the tank(s).
3. Clean the wash and rinse arms – Inspect, remove and clean out the wash and rinse arms, as well as the rubber gaskets if any.
4. Clean the dishwasher interior – Flush and thoroughly clean the dishwasher’s interior from top to bottom, including all hidden places.
5. Remove the scrap screens and baskets – Once the dish machine is drained and you’ve cleaned scraps from machine walls, remove, wash and rinse the strainer pans and strainer baskets.
6. Remove and clean all pump screens – Clean the pump intake strainer in the sink.
7. Clean the tank and drain screens – Remove any food debris from the tanks, clean the pump cover and make sure the drain screens are clean.
8. Clean the overflow tube – Remove, clean and rinse the overflow tube within the tank.
9. Wash the curtains – Scrub, rinse and allow curtains to dry at the end of each day’s operation. You can also wash them in the dishwasher after you’re done with cleaning the machine.
10. Clean the interior again – Remove remaining soil with a cloth or soft brush and mild cleanser and rinse with a hose.
11. Reinstall the parts – Return all strainer pans, strainer baskets, overflow tube, upper and lower wash arms to proper locations. Make sure all parts are fully seated.
12. Occasionally delime – If it’s time to delime, do it after the dishwasher is thoroughly cleaned and the parts are installed back again.
13. Clean the dishwasher exterior – Use a soft cloth and cleaning chemicals suitable for the dishwasher’s surface.
14. Air out – Leave the dishwasher door open and the curtains removed overnight to air out and dry.
15. Mop the floor – Clean the floor around the warewasher and all cleaning areas to prevent soil accumulation and breeding of harmful bacteria.

How to Descale a Commercial Dishwasher:

Limescale buildup is one of the biggest issues associated with commercial dishwashers, but it can be completely avoided by installing a water softener that runs with your dishwashing machine.

Also, according to Chem Mark:

…hard water doesn’t have negative effects to human health, (but) it represents the death of a great number of dishwashers all over the country. Namely, commercial dishwashers deal with numerous negative consequences of heating hot water. The water gets heated, it evaporates and leaves mineral buildup on the inside of the machine and its parts. In case of limescale buildup, you can de-lime your commercial dish machine, but it is much more important to prevent the buildup in the first place, as scale can cause a lot of trouble and damage. When the buildup forms on the heating element it causes it to work much harder to achieve same or similar results. This will not only be noticeable on your utility bills, but it will also cause the dishwasher to breakdown much faster due to such excessive operation.Scale buildup can also clog the nozzles and pipes, damage the valves, cause leakage and failure and impair dishwasher efficiency. There are numerous benefits of getting a water softener for your business and lowering maintenance and repair costs is just one of them.

If you do have a lot of limescale buildup on your commercial dishwasher, you can follow this helpful video that will show you exactly what you need to do to get rid of it!

To conclude, commercial dishwasher requires cleaning and descaling periodically.    

Get in touch with the chemical team at Haddon to learn more or have one of us come out to show you how to clean and maintain your commercial dishwasher today!