Detergent drawer
The most heavily contaminated site measured in a domestic washing machine — despite being the part that holds the detergent.
What not to do
Machine dishwashing is unsafe on Detergent drawer
Unsafe
Do not do this. The risk is established, and it is described below.
A removable plastic part that looks obviously dishwasher-safe, and is not.
Evidence
Supported
Sources
How to Clean a Front Load Washer Dispenser (Drawer)
Whirlpool Corporation · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That the dispenser drawer is removed and washed under warm running water with a soft brush, that the housing is cleaned with mild soap and a soft cloth, and that removable parts must not be cleaned in the dishwasher. (states this directly)
Precautions
- Check the manufacturer's instructions
Start here
What this is, what tends to go wrong with it, and what to do about it.
What tends to go wrong
- Washing machine microbiota· no established method
Established communities living on the wet surfaces of a domestic washing machine — which is why the smell returns on a schedule after every treatment.
Why it is difficult: Biofilm, Moisture control and recurrence
Part of Washing machine.
In detail
The detergent drawer is where the study found the highest load of anywhere it looked: the drawer chamber carried roughly 4.2 x 10^4 colony-forming units per square centimetre against a cross-site average of about 2.1 x 10^4. There is something genuinely counter-intuitive in that. The drawer holds the machine's concentrated cleaning chemistry, and it is the dirtiest measured part of it. The explanation is contact time in reverse: detergent passes through in dilute pulses for seconds per cycle, then the drawer sits damp for hours — a better description of an incubator than of a disinfected surface. Residue makes it worse rather than better, since undissolved detergent and softener form a film holding moisture against the plastic. The chamber the drawer slides into is the part nobody looks at, and it is the part the measurement singles out. As with the seal, the evidence stops at where the problem is: the study quantified contamination and evaluated no treatment, so no claim that a product or a wash temperature fixes it has support.
What works
Water is safe on, in specific conditions, Detergent drawer
Safe only in specific conditions
This is only appropriate within specific limits. Outside those limits, no claim is made.
Only within these limits:
- Warm RUNNING water, with the inserts taken out first
- A soft brush for excessive build-up
- By hand only — the dishwasher is prohibited for these parts
- Every two to four weeks with frequent use, or sooner in hard water
Evidence
Supported
Sources
How to Clean a Front Load Washer Dispenser (Drawer)
Whirlpool Corporation · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That the dispenser drawer is removed and washed under warm running water with a soft brush, that the housing is cleaned with mild soap and a soft cloth, and that removable parts must not be cleaned in the dishwasher. (states this directly)
Related
- Detergent drawer is commonly affected by Washing machine microbiota
Hacks and claims involving this
- A hot empty wash cleans the machine Unresolved
- Leaving the washing machine door open Plausible mechanism, untested in this application
Sources for this page
Sources
Microorganisms (MDPI), 2021 · Scientific literature
Relied on for: That the detergent drawer chamber carried approximately 4.2 x 10^4 CFU per square centimetre against a cross-site mean of approximately 2.1 x 10^4, and that detergent drawers were concluded to be significantly contaminated with cultivable bacteria including potentially pathogenic ones. (states this directly)