dishwasher leaves everything white

hampshirebabe

We've had our dishwasher about a year I think and always used whatever tablets are on offer or cheapest at the time, and often break them in half. But recently its not been cleaning things so well, leaves some plates, cups, etc still dirty and everything else seems to be covered in a white powdery film. I clean it regularly but dont use salt or rinse aid as the tablets usually say they have everything included.
We do live in a very hard water area.
What do you use or suggest?

wallbash

You have told us the answer

but dont use salt or rinse aid as the

Forget the adverts , I don't care if you use the most expensive powder/ tabs
USE salt/ rinse aid .

Go back to the manual .
Stop breaking the tablets in half.
Buy a dedicated cleaning container ( Finish ?? )

Give your dishwasher some attention

Kandipandi

I think it is very likely that you washed something that had quite a lot of oil/fat on it.
This happens to us each time we forget and put the poorly rinsed drawer from the george foreman in it!

sunshinetours

Hard water area will need salt whatever the tablet manufactureres claim!. Rinse Aid maybe but the salt is a must

pelirocco

sunshinetours wrote: »

Hard water area will need salt whatever the tablet manufactureres claim!. Rinse Aid maybe but the salt is a must

We have a water softener , so our dishwasher instructions say dont use rinse aid , BUT we still have to use salt ...................mind you stuff still comes out dirty , or with this white bloom on it

kaya

ignore the advertising gumph, the salt has to go in your dishwasher salt compartment in order to regenerate the crystals in your internal softner, there is no point in putting it in the chamber whatsoever, your white marks are calcium as your softner cant do its job without salt

27col

I am in Hampshire and the way that I know that the dish washer salt needs refilling is because the dishes and glasses come out of the machine streaked with white. Form your own conclusion as to what is the problem and also the solution.

hatewashingmachines

I agree with all the above, you MUST use salt in your dishwasher. You will notice the difference straight away. In the manual to our dishwasher it says if you live in a hard water area you should use the salt as well as your normal dishwasher tablet/liquid/softener.
HTH

shown73

Hate to disagree, but we live in the chalky chilterns, and have done away with salt for years. We use Finish Powerball thingys, with the red dot in the middle. Used to have the problem, but not for a long time, and our water is pretty hard.

hampshirebabe

Kandipandi wrote: »

I think it is very likely that you washed something that had quite a lot of oil/fat on it.
This happens to us each time we forget and put the poorly rinsed drawer from the george foreman in it!

It could well be that, I'll keep an eye on what gets washed with what results, its not every wash that has the white powdery residue.
I tried adding salt, (we got some for our front steps in the snow) and I tried using a whole tablet, ( I started using only half after reading it as a money saving tip on here and it didn't make a difference for a long time) but nothing made much difference. DH just bought some finish tabs that are on special in sainsburys at the mo, so we'll see how they go too. Thanks

ginvzt

You do know that dishwasher salt is not the same as table salt, right?

I had my dishes coming out white when I didn't screw the salt cap on properly. Get a decent dishwasher cleaner and give it a run. Also, I have never rinsed my dishes before putting in dishwasher and all is fine.