We vacation for long stretches of time. Last time, on our return, the dishwasher had an awful smill. It took 3 gallons of vinegar to grt rid of the smell. What can I do to prevnt this from happening next time.

There is such a thing as, and this is gross, 'dishwasher cheese' which gathers around the door at the bottom, black and stinky. Must use a lot of elbow grease and scraping to get it off plus a bit of chlorox will do the trick. Good Luck !

This comes about by not rinsing the dishes off well enough before you put them in; dishwashers are not infallible !