Dishwasher virgin - what do I need/ what's best value?

littlesnuggy

Help!

I've just moved into a property with a built-in dishwasher, but I've never had one before. The manual says I need salt, tablets/powder and rinse aid.

Is all of this necessary, and if so, what is best value? E.g. I expect the powder is cheaper than tablets but do some of the tablets remove the need for rinse aid as well?

Off to Sainsburys this afternoon so any pointers for my shopping list would be much appreciated

Oh, and I don't plan on using the dishwasher very regularly - we've managed without til now (just me & OH) and washing up is always his job so he's not getting out of it completely!

milliemonster

yes you will need salt and rinse aid, but just to top up, not everyday if that makes sense, usually a small light will illuminate when you need to top these up.

You can use powder or tablets, tablets are obviously more convenient but cost more, although I know a lot of people on here just use half a tablet.

Try to get them when they are on offer, usually the supermarket cheapy brands are just as good as the more expensive versions, (you will die when you see the price of some of them!)

fluffykins13

I buy those 3 in 1 or 4 in 1 tablets - that have rinse aid and salt etc in them. I've never had a problem with them, although my dishes are never that dirty.....

DCFC79

We buy tablets and the salt, the slat i last got some from aldi and i think it was 89p but cant be 100% sure, the last box of tablets were also from aldi and i think they were 500 for £5, we dont use the rinse as its in the tablet and not had a problem since

littlesnuggy

Thanks all. Well I went to Sainsburys, looked at the shelf for 5 mins and came away with Sainsbury's rinse aid, salt and Basics tablets as there were all a lot cheaper than Finish even though it was currently half price! Will see how we get on with this lot but might go for 'all in one' tabs if I see a good offer.

HelenKA_2

It will depend on the hardness of your water whether you need rinse aid and salt.

We live in soft water area now and I only use Tesco/lidl/asda etc value tablets (because they are better for space than powder) and never use the rinse aid and salt.

We used to live in a very hard water area and I used lidl salt and tablets which worked fine.

I guess you can use up what you have bought then try a bit without and see if you notice any differences.

AndreaE

I have just 'downgraded' to Tesco Value tablets and have seen no difference in cleaning ability to the much more expensive tablets I have bought for many years.

What a waste of money...

Andrea

DCFC79

Yeh we use sainsbury's/tesco value d/washer tabs and they are fine, we rarely buy branded ones except when they are on offer,

nuttywoman

DCFC79 wrote: »

We buy tablets and the salt, the slat i last got some from aldi and i think it was 89p but cant be 100% sure, the last box of tablets were also from aldi and i think they were 500 for £5, we dont use the rinse as its in the tablet and not had a problem since

Hi, i`ve got some of those tablets from aldi, not opened them yet, are they any good? thanks

shinytrousers

We had a problem with our dishwasher at work a couple of years ago where it was leaking for no reason. The engineer that came out said that the super duper 3 & 4 in ones can cause problems in many machines (it wasn't a cheap machine btw) due to them creating too many suds that did not wash away properly. He said buy the cheapest you can buy and ensure that you use the salt as directed and your dishes will be sparkling clean every time.

I suggest start at the cheapest and work your way up if you're not happy.

We had no problems using the basics ranges and the dishwasher got lots of hammer form the office staff and buffet lunches we did.

par151

We buy 25kg bags of salt tablets from our local builders merchants usually about £5.
They last for ages, I means years....