How to Deep Clean Your Pub Glasswasher After a Busy Weekend
Saturday night at Teal Farm we put through around 180 covers plus bar trade. By last orders the glasswasher has handled several hundred cycles across the shift. Sunday morning it looks fine on the surface. It is not fine.
Here is what actually accumulates after heavy Friday-Saturday use, and how to deal with it properly before Monday trade.
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What You Are Dealing With
After a big weekend the glasswasher has built up a combination of detergent residue, beer proteins, lipstick wax, fruit pulp from garnishes, limescale on the elements and spray arms, and a biofilm beginning to establish itself on every surface the brush cannot reach. The machine smells. The glasses are coming out with a slight haze you are blaming on your rinse aid levels when actually the spray arms are partially blocked.
This is also the point where drain pump issues start. If your drain pump is struggling — slow to empty, making a grinding noise, or not emptying fully — deal with it now. A partially blocked drain pump will circulate dirty water back through your glasses all week. Clear the filter housing completely and inspect the pump impeller for debris before you run any cleaning cycle.
Time Required
Allow 90 minutes start to finish if the machine is in reasonable condition. Two hours if it has been neglected for more than a couple of weeks.
Products You Will Need
Glasswasher cleaner/descaler — I use a combined cleaner-descaler on Sundays rather than running separate cycles. Chemipro Ox or equivalent. For a consistent supply, [Glasswasher Cleaning Tablets on Amazon](https://amzn.to/4ukKRuU work for the main chamber cycle and are easy to keep in stock.
Spray arm cleaning tool or thin wire — to clear the spray arm jets individually.
Food-safe degreaser — for the door seals, exterior surfaces and the area around the tank opening.
Microfibre cloths — minimum four. One for the tank interior, one for spray arms and filters, one for door seals, one for exterior.
Descaling solution — if you are in a hard water area and running without a water softener, the elements need descaling separately on a monthly basis. [Limescale Remover for Commercial Equipment on Amazon](https://amzn.to/4ukKRuU is worth keeping under the bar.
The Step-by-Step Process
1. Switch off and drain fully. Never start a clean on a warm machine that has been sitting. Drain, open the door and let it cool for ten minutes.
2. Remove and soak the filters. Take out every filter basket and spray arm you can access. Soak them in hot water with a measure of your glasswasher cleaner for fifteen minutes minimum.
3. Clear the drain area. Remove visible debris from the sump. Check the drain pump inlet for glass fragments, cherry stems, cocktail straw sections — all of which accumulate over a weekend and all of which will kill a drain pump impeller if left.
4. Wipe down the tank interior. Use your degreaser cloth on every internal surface including the ceiling of the chamber. Lipstick and beer protein bond to that surface and are not shifted by the wash cycle alone.
5. Clear every spray arm jet. Hold each arm up to a light source. Any blocked jet needs a pin or thin wire through it. Blocked jets mean uneven wash coverage and glasses that look clean but are not.
6. Reassemble and run a hot cleaning cycle. Use your cleaning tablet or measured cleaner dose. Run it empty.
7. Run two rinse cycles. Empty machine, clean water only. You want no detergent residue before glasses go back in.
8. Check door seals last. Wipe them with food-safe degreaser and inspect for cracking or mould establishing in the folds. A failed door seal is an EHO conversation you do not want.
Record It
Log the clean, the products used and any faults noticed. When the EHO walks in — as they did at Teal Farm in March 2026 — you want a paper trail showing this is a weekly process, not a panic clean.
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