I feel embarrassed asking this question, but here goes.....?

Question

I have a new dishwasher, and keep it clean. To make it worth while to put dishwasher on, you have to fill it up. Sometimes it can take more than a day. Now if I have to clean the plates properly, I might as well hand wash them. The problem I have is, I was off the excess food so you can see it still needs a good wash, and I have a big problem with cockroaches now breeding in my dishwasher, obviously eating off the little bit they can get from the plates. What do I do? How do I get rid of them, without poisoning ourselves?

Answer 1

Hi there. Don't be embarrassed....the chances are the cockroaches may have been around before the dishwasher. The infestation may have come in from elsewhere, it is unlikely the scraps of food in the dishwasher are fully responsible although it may have attracted them in from elsewhere.. Not to seem cheeky but 1 are you sure they are cockroaches?....2 is the rest of the kitchen crumb and food free? ....Cockroaches are very hardy and even the heat from the washer may struggle to get rid of them. It is probably best to rinse plates before puting them in the washer. Contact the local council or Rentokil for advice in what the next best step is.

Answer 2

The problem is not your dishwasher, the problem is you have cockroaches living in your house, that just found your dishwasher. Get an exterminator to get rid of the roaches, check to make sure your dishwasher or something in the kitchen area is not leaking. roaches and bugs look for wet conditions, so there is some reason the roaches were there before the dishwasher.

Answer 3

Call an exterminator. OR If you or someone you know can do the spraying contact...http://www.pestproducts.com/ or a do it yourself pest control company close to you. The link I provided is a company in my town, but they ship all over. The kind we use requires mixing in a bug sprayer that can be purchased at a hardware or department store and then spraying around the baseboards of the entire house. You can spray around the dishwasher without every spraying inside it. The roaches don't stay in the dishwasher all the time. They'll find your pest control and they will die. Don't be embarrassed. A LOT of people have pests. If they didn't there wouldn't be pest control companies.

Answer 4

You might try filling the area with bleach...
Then let it sit there for a couple hours...
Then run the dishwasher on the strongest cycle.
There are many nasty chemicals you could use that will not poison you... Your biggest problem is the roaches you DON’T see. I personally would be worried about the possible other sites they may have set up house… You may just want to call an exterminator or “bomb” your residence.

Answer 5

Try this: put your scraped dishes in the dishwasher and add some detergent. Run the dishwasher for about a minute to rinse and to distribute detergent. Then drain. (Or use the "rinse only" setting with some detergent.) This discourages ants in my house. Maybe roaches hate dishwasher detergent also.

Answer 6

put a little bleach in the bottom of the dishwasher, this will all wash away after the load is done
or slide out the dishwasher and put the poison around and under the dishwasher

Answer 7

I don't believe the roaches would get into your dishwasher if you'd latch the door, but not turn it on. If it is sealed properly, they shouldn't be able to get inside. But, these ideas about bleach is very good, and I don't know why I never thought about this before. However, I do keep the door lock in the on position, but not turn the wash cycle on.

Answer 8

First: run it empty to clean it.
If you don't have enough for a full load you can use a clean d/w as a drying rack. Rinse dishes in hot water and they will be dry in a few minutes. You can leave the door open OR dry them on a drying rack.
Run the machine once a month to keep it smelling fresh.

Also, leave off some bug bombs to kill the roaches! FOLLOW DIRECTIONS and get all humans and animals out of the house for three hours.

Answer 9

If your dishwasher is working properly you will kill them when you run a cycle. They will not live through the hot water and detergent. For the roaches themselves you need the bug man, make sure you find one who guarantees their work. The nationally advertised ones don't like to come back, we have had trouble getting them to stand behind their work. Then they do the least they can when they do get here.

Answer 10

You probably had roaches all along.You will need to put out some bait traps,"Roach Motel",ect.What I do when I do not have a full load of dishes to do,I put @ a cup of bleech in the dishwasher and I turn on the "Rinse Only" cycle.