---
title: "Dishwasher smells"
description: "Bosch dishwasher smells — a smell when the door opens, or one that arrives on the dishes."
url: "https://boschmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-smells/"
date_modified: "2026-08-18"
Appliance type: "Dishwashers"
---


# Bosch dishwasher smells

### The fastest diagnosis is the code

There is no code for this one and there does not need to be. Take the filter out and smell it — that answers the question in about ten seconds and it is the answer four times out of five.

### The ten-second version

Take the filter out and smell it. If that is the smell, wash it and you are finished. It is the answer to most of these calls and it costs nothing to establish.

### The one that is not maintenance

The drain hose is supposed to rise close to the underside of the counter before it drops to the waste. That high loop is what stops sink water flowing back into the machine. When a dishwasher is installed in a hurry the loop is often missing, and the result is a machine that smells of the sink and no amount of cleaning will change it.

What is caught in it is what you can smell. Out by hand, under a tap with a brush, and the problem usually leaves with it.

The seal and the door edge

Residue collects along the bottom lip and in the seal channel where no water reaches. Wipe it with a cloth and see what comes off.

The drain hose without a high loop

If the hose does not rise above the machine before it goes to the drain, sink water flows back in. That smell arrives from the sink, and it is an installation problem.

Standing water

A machine that does not fully drain leaves an inch behind, and it goes stale within a day or two. That is the drain page rather than this one.

Not enough hot cycles

A machine used only on eco and short cycles never gets hot enough to clear grease from its own plumbing.

Take the filter out and smell it

The whole diagnosis, most of the time. Wash it with a brush and mild soap.

Wipe the door seal and the lower lip

Where water never reaches. What comes off on the cloth is usually surprising.

Look under the sink at the hose

It should rise up near the underside of the counter before dropping to the drain. If it runs flat or downhill, that is the smell.

Run an empty hot cycle

With a dishwasher cleaner or a cup of white vinegar. If the smell goes and stays gone, it was maintenance.

Almost always maintenance

What it usually means

A stale smell when the door opens

A smell that transfers to clean dishes

Worse after the machine sits unused

The fastest diagnosis is the code

There is no code for this one and there does not need to be. Take the filter out and smell it — that answers the question in about ten seconds and it is the answer four times out of five.

The ten-second version

Take the filter out and smell it. If that is the smell, wash it and you are finished. It is the answer to most of these calls and it costs nothing to establish.

The one that is not maintenance

The drain hose is supposed to rise close to the underside of the counter before it drops to the waste. That high loop is what stops sink water flowing back into the machine. When a dishwasher is installed in a hurry the loop is often missing, and the result is a machine that smells of the sink and no amount of cleaning will change it.

---

**[Read full article: Dishwasher smells](https://boschmiami.support/symptoms/dishwasher-smells/)**