Thoughts on using bleach vs specialized cleaners for dishwasher funk?

I had a similar issue with my KitchenAid. Since your water is at 40ppm, you might actually be over-sudsing without realizing it. I used to pack the detergent cup full of Finish Quantum pods, but with soft water, that much soap doesn't rinse away properly. It creates a slimy film in the sump and the heater housing that smells like a pond after a few days.

Instead of Clorox, which can definitely eat your seals over time, I switched to using a tablespoon of Citric Acid powder in the pre-wash cup. It breaks down the alkaline soap scum that the bleach is just surface-cleaning. I also stopped using the "Auto" cycle and went back to "Heavy" with an extra rinse. It uses more water, but it actually clears out the internal lines where that swampy gunk hides.

I acutally think you're looking at this from the wrong angle. It's likely not a soap film issue but a temprature problem. These newer Bosch units are designed to be so energy-efficient that the "Auto" or "Normal" cycles often run at lukewarm temperatures to save power. If you’re washing loads with any kind of animal fats or grease, those fats don't actually liquefy and flush out; they just coat the internal plastic piping and rot. Stop using the bleach immediatly—it’s terrible for the stainless steel tub over time. Instead, start running the "Heavy" cycle with the "Sanitize" option every single time. This forces the internal heater to reach 150-160 degrees, which is the only way to truly clear out that organic gunk. Also, check your kitchen sink's hot water. If it takes three minutes to get hot, your dishwasher is starting its cycle with cold water. I always run the kitchen faucet untill it’s steaming before I hit start on my SHP88. It made a massive difference for my machine's odor issues.

Stop with the Clorox imediately. You're going to brittle the seals on your 800 Series. If you've got that swampy smell despite a high loop, pull your 00165262 check valve. It’s a tiny rubber flapper near the drain pump. If it’s warped or gunked up, sink water from your disposal is siphoning back into the sump after the cycle ends. I’ve seen this on dozens of SHX and SHE models.

Swap it out and run a heavy cycle with Affresh or Glisten on the 'Sanitize' setting to hit that 151°F mark. That’ll kill the biofilm in the corrugated lines that the bleach is just bypassing.

While you might find temporary olfactory relief using sodium hypochlorite, you are inadvertently risking irreversible pitting corrosion on the 304-grade stainless steel interior of your Bosch, which is a far more catastrophic outcome than a mere odor. Beyond the metallurgical concerns, you shoud verify if your turbidity sensor—that little infrared eye that monitors soil levels—is obscured by a biofilm, as a fouled sensor will prematurely truncate the rinse cycles becasue it's erroneously detecting 'clean' water when, in reality, suspended proteins from eggs or dairy are still circulating and eventually putrefying inside the heat exchanger assembly.

Since you are allready dealing with deep-seated gunk in those internal lines, you really need to run an Affresh Dishwasher Cleaner tablet thru a hot cycle. I had the same swampy stench with my Bosch and regular soap just wasn't cutting through the biofilm. These tablets are specifically formulated to survive the initial drain and actually scrub the pump and spray arms where you can't reach. It works way better than bleach and won't kill your rubber seals. I do one once a month now and the smell hasn't come back.