Before you begin. This procedure is general reference information, not professional advice. Equipment varies by manufacturer, model, and year. Always follow the documentation supplied with your equipment — where it differs from this page, follow the manufacturer. Verify that you have the tools, the working conditions, and the ability to do this task safely. If anything is unclear, if the equipment is damaged, or if the task exceeds your experience, stop and use a qualified professional. You are responsible for your own safety and for the outcome. This site accepts no liability for any loss, damage, or injury arising from the use of this information.
Specifications marked unverified could not be traced to a manufacturer source. Do not rely on them — obtain the value from your equipment documentation.
Most dishwashers made in the last fifteen years filter the wash water instead of grinding the food up, and that filter sits in the floor of the tub where nobody looks. When it loads up you get gritty glasses, a film on plastics, and a smell that no amount of rinse aid fixes. The job needs no tools and takes about a quarter of an hour.
This page gives the sequence that is common to every removable-filter dishwasher, and it deliberately does not print the one thing you might expect it to. Filters release in different directions and come apart into a different number of pieces depending on who made the machine, so the release direction here is an instruction to check your own documentation rather than a guess. The cleaning interval is the same story: two manufacturers we checked give two different answers, and both are printed below with their names against them.
| Item | Note |
|---|---|
| Soft brush | An old toothbrush is sufficient. |
| Sponge optional | For the flat parts of the filter. |
| Flashlight optional | The floor of the tub is a dark space. |
| Paper towel | For the soil that you remove from the filter well. |
Estimated 4 min
No tier-1 source was found for this value. Take it from the documentation supplied with your equipment.
WAIT UNTIL THE DISHWASHER IS COOL BEFORE YOU OPEN THE DOOR.
Water and steam from a recent program can burn your skin.
Estimated 2 min
EXAMINE THE FILTER WELL BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR HAND INTO IT.
Broken glass and sharp items collect in the filter. These can cut your hand.
Estimated 4 min to 8 min
DO NOT USE A WIRE BRUSH OR AN ABRASIVE PAD ON THE FILTER.
These tools can cause damage to the mesh of the filter.
Estimated 2 min
MAKE SURE THAT THE FILTER LOCKS IN ITS POSITION BEFORE YOU START A PROGRAM.
A loose filter can let food soil into the pump.
Estimated under a minute
No tier-1 source was found for this value. Take it from the documentation supplied with your equipment.
This page uses one term for each item and holds it throughout, as ASD-STE100 requires. Equipment sellers and other guides use the names below for the same parts.
Stop if you cannot find the filter. Some dishwashers have a filter that you cannot remove. The documentation for your model tells you which type you have.
Stop if the mesh has a hole or a crack. A damaged filter can let food soil into the pump. Speak to the manufacturer for a replacement part.
Stop if water stays in the floor of the tub after a program. A blockage in the drain is not part of this procedure. Speak to an appliance technician.
The two manufacturer sources this page rests on do not agree, so we print both rather than splitting the difference. Whirlpool says once a month as a general rule, and every two weeks if you have a large family or run the machine daily. GE Appliances says every other month, or more often depending on use. Your own manual is the tie-breaker. If the machine smells or glasses come out gritty, clean it now regardless of the interval.
It depends on the machine, which is why this page tells you to look it up rather than printing one answer. Whirlpool describes a quarter turn counterclockwise on the upper filter assembly, then lifting the lower filter slightly and pulling it forward. GE describes twisting the ultra fine filter counterclockwise, and then twisting two separate retaining posts counterclockwise to free the fine filter underneath. Those are two different mechanisms with two different part counts. Never force a filter that will not turn: it is almost always turning the wrong way rather than stuck.
Not all of them do. Older machines and some current models use a hard food disposer that grinds debris instead of trapping it, and those have no user-serviceable filter. If there is nothing in the floor of the tub that twists or lifts, check your manual before you pry at anything.
A loaded filter is the most common reason. Food debris sits in the filter and the sump between cycles and goes off, and no rinse aid or cycle setting will cover it. Cleaning the filter usually fixes the smell within a load or two.
No. The filter is what catches the debris, so it cannot clean itself, and a filter that is out of position lets food into the pump. Rinse it under the tap by hand and use a soft brush on the mesh.
Scrape, do not rinse. Modern dishwashers are designed to handle food soil, and the filter is the part that copes with it. Scraping bones, stones and large scraps into the bin is what keeps the filter well clear of the hard objects that are awkward to fish out later.
Every specification on this page is traced to one of these sources. Tier 1 is a manufacturer document, a published standard, or a government safety authority. See Standards for the full tiering rule.
Current version 1 · updated 2026-07-29 · next review due 2027-07-29
Corrections to this page are listed in the public corrections log. Reports that are credible and not yet verified are listed in the public errata register, and an open one renders above the step it concerns.
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Every step above carries its own report control, which tags the report with that step so a correction reaches the right place. For anything about the procedure as a whole — the order of the sections, a step that is missing, something that did not match your equipment — use this: report something about this whole procedure.