Dishwasher Question

This is probably caused by minerals in your water. It won't hurt you. Rewashing isn't necessary unless you just don't like the way they look.

One thing that may help, if you don't want to get involved with water treatment, is to turn off the dishwasher when it starts the dry cycle and let them drip dry. The dry cycle uses a heating element that evaporates the water faster, leaving a higher concentration of minerals.

Ensure that there is always dishwasher salt in the respective container. Ensure that the detergent has a rinse-aid included, if not you must keep the rinse aid container topped up (normally a liquid). It must also be said that some manufacture of glass unavoidably stains white. Generally once this occurs the stain is permanent.

Cheers

Peter

I had the same problem, refilling the salt sorted the problem.

I didn't get a second dishwash machine, I got married, but still ended up doing the heavy dishes.

Wash by your blessed hands or ask a trusted relative or friend to do that for you.

The second dishwasher with the same problem means it's soap(either too much or the wrong kind for your machine). Also forced drying is bad. It does drain properly, right?

Put a cup of vinegar in and run it through a rinse cycle. Add a tbl spoon of vinegar with each load. Not too much detergent.

_{Disregard post #2. He's obviously delusional.}

That would be sad if the poor person is on their second dishwasher, only to find out they were putting in too much soap.

Typical "hard water" problem, your kettle probably has scale built up on the element. Use a small amount of water softener in the soap compartment.

Or give the wife a clip around the ear and tell her to do the job properly!

I wonder why I'm divorced?

OH, Jesus Christ, can't we leave religion out of this???

Could you say that nicely please. You're not being very sensitive.

I'm tired of being nice.

You aren't nice, we wouldn't expect any different of you. Keep it up!

We should have a grumpy section, membership by invitation only.

I know that I will regret this forever. If you have a life, don't even start: Re: Bath Breaking Technique Read at your own risk. I never got hooked, like some of the weaker ones.

Kramarat ,you are Pakistani background,do not get involved in something does not concern you.

Uncle Jimmy............................Is that you?

It looks like you had your head in a dish washer while it was on. Or was it that you had your head in something else that you could not handle?

Hope they are supplying you with enough of that white powder

What?

What's religion got to do with it?

Both dishwashers I fornicated with, divorced me.

Well, you can safely eliminate the dishwasher. ;-)

As others have said, this is a water problem.

Common water spots, but at a larger magnitude. Do you have a water softener? What is your water source (well or city)?

It may be useful to have your water tested. The hardness of the water is most likely the problem (particularly with well water). That is, there are minerals dissolved in the water. Typically, you can add a water softener machine to the supply side of your water supply. Most use salt as a means to recharge a container of beads that strip out minerals from the water.

Note, there are other substances that can get into your water supply that a water softener will not remove, so testing is a good place to start.

The reason that I suggest starting here is because this same water is what you bathe in and wash clothes. So that same scale is present on you and your clothes to some extent.

Another tact is to try a different detergent to remove the deposits as the dishes are washed. Detergents differ from soaps because the detergent is designed to soften the water as you wash through the magic of chemistry. You will probably have to experiment to see which works best. However, treating your water before it enters the house is the best course of action here.

As a stop gap measure you can simply hand dry your dishes when the wash and rinse cycle is complete. Right now you do this anyway.

The problem is probably due to hardwater, an inappropriate detergent (commercial dishwasher detergents are formulated for various water properties) and an insufficient dose of rinse aid.
Try increasing the rinse aid dose.
Also give the machine a good clean out, I'm sure plenty of people never clean the filters.
I'm assuming we are discussing a domestic dishwasher here, yes?
Del

Probably the detergent manufacturers don't care that you use too much, but it is possible that you are. You don't need to fill the cavity with powder, a teaspoon is often ample. Excess powder is hard on the machine, the envirnment and the wallet. I have found that a wash with no powder (something gets in the way of the flap so it doesn't open) can be surprisingly good, but I have a Bosch which we found the best washer, just replaced by a new one after our secondhand 30year old one died. I suspect different machines will require more or less depending on their efficiency.

A lot of great answers (hard water).. Ever see the movie Cable Hogue?

Try his dishwashing method... Watch the flik of course.

Most dishwashers contain a water softener unit which is an ionic exchanger in order to remove calcium and magnesium ions can resulst scale. Its capacity is not infinite so there is a conductometer built into the machine which measures the electric conductance of the water on the outlet of the exchanger. The high conductivity means the ionic exchanger needs regeneration. That means that you have to wash trough the unit with saturated sodium chloride solution. The dishwasher contains a salt tank so regeneration would be done automatically. When the salt tank becomes empty you will get a visible signal and you have to reload it otherwise the ionic exchanger will not be regenerated and the dishes will be covered with a thin layer of limescale.

If your dishwasher does not "consume" salt something went wrong: either the conductometer or the salt level meter.

GA.

Using water softener large salt tablets will a) fix your problem and b) mean you probably only need to replenish them 3 to 4 times a years....We find them here in big DIY supermarkets.....

You use far less salt AND your machine will be properly regenerated each time....

Some machines have a control to set the amount of salt water used each time, mine does. You may need to increase this slightly....till the white deposit is gone.....

As many have said already, its calcium......or your machine has a fault and is not rinsing the crockery at all.......

Best of luck.....

try adding a little borax "mule team" along with your detergent during the second wash cycle. it should soften the water and eliminated the hard water residue. you may want to thoughly clean your dishwasher first by running a solution of ammonia and borax. personally, i add a little a little ammonia every time i wash dishes. your soap will react with the ammonia and do a much better job. you won't need to use a rinse aid.

My understanding was that the soaps have changed in the last few years to become more environmentally friendly. As a result, this buildup occurs. Installing a water softener will help with the problem.

Check the following and attempt.

* Check the hardness levels of your wash water used for the dish washer.

*The amount of surfactant, liquid or dispersible powder detergent, you are using. Check the dosage level of the same. If you are adding excess quantities directly to the wash bath, this may form a complex with hardness minerals in water.Better dilute the detergent and add minimum quantities. Pre soaking in dilute soap solution before machine washing should reduce your white deposits.

*If there are more oily residues left over the dishes, better soak it pre hand in a tub filled with water added with diluted dispersion of detergent, so as to reduce soap in dish washer or need not.

*Try vinegar in small quantities as a cleaning agent for dish washer component deposits at times.

*If your dish washer is having in built dryer, don't operate. After the final wash rinse, take out the dishes, wipe with a clean fabric or sponge and room dry. This will reduce the chances of hard deposits of salt/ soap complex over the surface of the dishes.

Maximum possible suggestions are put up. It would be useful to all of us if you could provide feed back on your trials[ Which most of the members and O.Ps don't do]

Best of Luck

Some states in USA have just recently mandated that dishwasher detergent sold in that state remove the phosphate. You can cut back on the amount of detergent you are using until the problem goes away, which it will if you cut enough, or go to a neighboring state and stock up on the old stuff.

Funny, I have never owned a dishwasher with a built in water softener. What part of the world does this happen?

Try using liquid instead of solid detergent.

Several months ago my very reliable and non-energy-star rated 9 year old dishwasher started leaking around the pump, so I decided to take advantage of the "cash for appliances" deal in order to save $50 on a new dishwasher. The new dishwasher is a "green-washed" energy-star model that saves water and electricity. Unfortunately, the savings come from the fact that it does not use enough water to properly dissolve solid detergents, so if I use solid detergent I end up with a white film coating on my dishes - especially on my glasses.

In order to help save the world I am now stuck using liquid detergent, which costs more and does not do as many loads per container. So, instead of "wasting water" by owning a good dishwasher I now waste my money by paying for extra for liquid detergent and the grocers waste more fuel because liquids are heavier and require more room on the truck to transport..

And so it goes.

You'll have your $50 savings eaten up within a year. Thanks for the heads up.

Not even powder detergents? Sad.

The "tablets" ones are a real waste of money, even if they work in your machine.

Some tablet manufacturers say that no salt is needed in the machine, but what this means is that part of the tablet has to treat the water = Less detergent = less effective.

Also, how does each part of the tablet know when to dissolve? I have 40 minute programs and 2.5 hour programs, all using different temperatures!! Thats a damn clever tablet that can sort that out!!!

If you look at the weight of the tablets, the whole package weighs half of what a cheap powder package does!! and costs twice as MUCH!!! So far less "bangs for your buck!"

With the powders and use of both detergent holders I can get very dirty pots and pans (and bits of the oven too!) very, very clean. Try doing that with tablets? They do not even fit in one of the holders on my machine!!!

I have found that careful adjustment of the amount of powder, conversant with the program, even using cheap powder brings remarkably good results.

Also I buy special very hard "tablet" salt (water softener salt) for the machine and only need to add salt 3 or 4 times per year - and our machine runs at least twice a day.......with really excellent results. And its a reduced water usage machine!!!!

In the summer I inspected some of the internal parts, all "squeaky clean"......

Minerals probably, I have same problem. Got some stuff at supermarket called "Lemi Shine." Use regular stuff 1st & put Lemi Shine in for 2nd cycle. Works great!

P.S. There is no salt dispenser or softener on my machine and I always use the air dry setting.

If you live in a hard water area, then you have just told us your problem.....

When you said:-

P.S. There is no salt dispenser or softener on my machine and I always use the air dry setting.

Did you mean absolutely no provision for them? If yes, and you are in a hard water area, then you either need to buy a water softener or a new washing up machine with a built in one......

May I suggest that you check with your local chemist to see if you can buy a hardness test kit and see how hard the water is.....or maybe your water supplier can help.....?

Did you live in a soft water area when you bought the washer? Just a thought....

I personally have never ever seen such a machine without a built in softener in either the UK or here in Germany.......I personally would be very interested to hear from other people with more knowledge/experience in such matters.....

We had the same problem. Someone told us about Lemi Shine, a powder you add according to the directions. Works like a miracle, we have hard water also.

My wife thinks its made in Midland or Odessa, Texas.

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