--- title: "Do You Add Detergent to a Self Clean Cycle? Dishwasher and Washer" description: "Do I need to add detergent for self clean Samsung dishwasher? Whether to add detergent to a Samsung washer or dishwasher self clean cycle, what each cycle…" url: "https://samsungmiami.support/blog/self-clean-on-a-dishwasher-and-a-washer/" date_modified: "2026-09-04" Category: "Maintenance & Prevention" --- # Do You Add Detergent to a Self Clean Cycle? Dishwasher and Washer ## Do I need to add detergent for self clean Samsung dishwasher? Four questions, one page The search data for this brand contains four nearly identical phrases: do I need to add detergent for self clean on a Samsung washer, do I need to add soap, do I need to add anything, and the same question about the dishwasher. That much repetition means the answer is not obvious from the machine, and it is a fair question, because the two appliances behave differently and the instinct — a cleaning cycle needs a cleaning product — is reasonable. ## The washer: empty, and nothing added Samsung's Self Clean cycle on a washing machine runs with **nothing in the drum and no detergent**. That is not an oversight or a simplification. The whole point of the cycle is to remove residue that has built up inside the machine, and the residue in question is mostly detergent and softener that never rinsed away. Adding more of it works against the cycle in the most direct way possible. There is a second, more practical reason. Detergent needs laundry to work against — fabric absorbs it, holds it and controls the foam. A normal dose in an empty drum produces a great deal of foam very quickly, and a Samsung washer that detects over-sudsing does exactly what it is designed to: it reports **SUd** or **5UD**, pauses, and waits for the foam to collapse. You end up with a much longer cycle that has deposited more residue than it removed. A manufacturer-approved washing machine cleaner, used occasionally, is a legitimate addition. Ordinary laundry detergent is not. ## The dishwasher: also empty, but the reason differs A dishwasher deep-clean is a hot cycle run with the racks empty. Some Samsung models have a dedicated cycle for it; on others you use the hottest normal cycle. The difference from the washer is what you are trying to remove. In a washing machine it is detergent residue and biofilm. In a dishwasher it is mostly **mineral deposit and grease** — scale from hard water on the heater and the tub walls, and fat that has cooled and stuck where the spray does not reach. So a dishwasher-specific cleaner, of the kind sold to be run through an empty machine, does something a washer cleaner would not. Ordinary dishwasher detergent in an empty machine is not harmful, but it is not doing the job either — it is formulated to work against food on plates, not deposit on stainless. ## Vinegar, honestly It comes up in every conversation about this, so here is the position. Vinegar is acidic, and acid dissolves mineral deposit. Run occasionally in an empty dishwasher it does help with the white film that hard water leaves, and a great many households do it with no ill effect. Two caveats worth stating. **Frequency.** Rubber seals, gaskets and some plastics do not love repeated acid exposure over years. Occasionally is fine; as a weekly habit it is not a kindness to the machine. **The absolute one.** Never combine vinegar with bleach in the same machine, in either order, however much time you leave between them. Acid and chlorine bleach produce chlorine gas, and a dishwasher is an enclosed cavity in a kitchen. This is the one rule on this page with no nuance attached to it. ## What neither cycle reaches This is where most of the disappointment comes from, and it applies to both machines. **On a washer**, Self Clean cleans the stainless drum. The smell people run it to remove almost always lives in one of three places it never touches: the fold of the rubber door boot, which holds water after every wash; the debris filter behind the lower front panel, which holds standing water and lint between washes; and the housing behind the detergent drawer, where softener sets like glue. **On a dishwasher**, the cycle cleans the tub. The smell lives in the filter assembly at the bottom, which twists out by hand and which most households have never opened, and in the door seal at the base of the door where water sits. Those are hand jobs. Do them once, properly, and then the cycle has something to maintain rather than something to fail at. Skip them and you can run a cleaning cycle every week for a year without improvement, which is exactly what people describe when they say the cycle does not work. ## What actually keeps both machines sweet Three habits, and they matter more than either cycle. **Leave doors ajar.** On the washer, the door and the dispenser drawer. On the dishwasher, the door left slightly open after the cycle, which most machines now do themselves with an auto-release. Air movement is what stops the problem starting. **Use less detergent than looks right.** On both machines. High-efficiency appliances use very little water, so excess detergent has nowhere to go — it stays behind as residue, and residue is what feeds the smell. **Clean the filters.** The debris filter on the washer, the filter assembly on the dishwasher. Both are designed to be opened by the owner and both are routinely never opened. In a South Florida laundry room or kitchen those three do more than any cycle, because the underlying problem is that nothing ever dries out on its own here. ## And on the reminder itself The Self Clean light on a Samsung washer blinks after a set number of washes. Samsung is explicit that it is a reminder rather than an error — nothing is wrong and it does not need running that minute. It is worth not ignoring for months, though. In this climate a drum that never gets cleaned develops a smell that is much harder to remove than to prevent, and by the time it is noticeable it has usually taken the door boot with it. --- **[Read full article: Do You Add Detergent to a Self Clean Cycle? Dishwasher and Washer](https://samsungmiami.support/blog/self-clean-on-a-dishwasher-and-a-washer/)**