The answer first
Most of the time on a Fisher & Paykel dishwasher this comes down to one of two findings: a dirty filter and sump, or debris and film in the door seal channel. Dishwasher smell is almost always trapped food in the filter, the sump or the drain path, and it clears quickly once the right places are cleaned.
What you are looking at
- A sour or stale smell when the door is opened — Food film in the filter and sump, releasing as the door opens.
- A rotten-egg or drain smell — Usually the drain hose or the sink waste rather than the machine itself.
- One drawer works and the other does not, or a code appears on the drawer panel — A double-drawer machine is effectively two machines, and that comparison is the best diagnostic tool on the appliance.
- NEAR MISS — a burning or hot-plastic smell — That is not an odour problem.
Causes, most likely first
- A dirty filter and sump — Ranked first on a Fisher & Paykel dishwasher because the filter stack is designed to be owner-serviced and is the first mechanical thing to look at. The filter holds exactly the material that produces the smell, and it sits in warm water between cycles.
- Debris and film in the door seal channel — Second here: the drawer lid seal and the door catch are the signature service items on this architecture, not an afterthought.
- A dirty drain hose, air gap or sink waste — A drain smell is different from a food smell, and it usually comes from outside the machine — a hose without a high loop lets waste water sit against the machine.
Check in this order, and why
- First: Twist the filter out and smell it. — It sits first because the filter stack is designed to be owner-serviced and is the first mechanical thing to look at.
- Second: Run a cloth around the seal channel and see what it picks up. — Next, and it needs no tool.
- Third: Note whether the smell is present with the machine dry and idle, and whether nearby drains smell. — Only once the checks above are clean.
The owner-side checks
- Compare the two drawers, and read the code the machine is showing — On a double DishDrawer the working drawer is a control experiment: it shares the supply and the drain but not the pump pod or the lid seal, so the difference between them localises the fault immediately.
About 15 min
- Run the hottest cycle empty with a dishwasher cleaner — This clears the grease from the parts of the circuit you cannot reach.
Tools: dishwasher cleanerAbout 150 min
- STOP before removing the sump housing or the drain hose — A machine that still smells after all of the above needs the hose and sump inspected properly.
Read this before starting
Safety
Wear gloves when clearing a dishwasher filter or sump: broken glass and sharp fragments collect there routinely. Unplug the machine or switch off its breaker before removing any panel, since a capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. Never mix a chlorine product with an acidic descaler inside the machine.
The line between a fix and a call
Call a technician when the smell survives a full clean of the filter, sump, arms and seal plus a hot maintenance cycle — that points at the drain hose or the sump housing. Call a plumber instead if the smell is a drain smell and other fittings in the kitchen smell too.
Nearest pages of this class
What this page does not cover
This page is generalized across the Fisher & Paykel dishwasher range — written for the appliance class, not for one family or model line, and no family- or model-specific page has been published beneath it yet. When one is, it will be the more specific answer and it will be linked here; until then the closest pages are listed below.
Links: - [Common F & P Dishwasher Problems](/blog/f-p-dishwasher-problems) - [F & P Dishwasher: Does Not Clean or Dry](/blog/f-p-dishwasher-cleaning-performance) - [F & P Dishwasher: Controls, Display or Error Code](/blog/f-p-dishwasher-control-fault)
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
