Dishwasher not cleaning properly

tawnyowls

No, if it's a 5 in 1 (or usually even just a 3 or 4), it'll have rinse aid and salt built in. You may need topup salt if you live in a particularly hard water area, but I live in an area with quite hard water, and didn't notice a drop in cleanliness when I switched. Several people on the OS board reckon you only need 1/2 a tablet anyway.

chrisw

tawnyowls wrote:

No, if it's a 5 in 1 (or usually even just a 3 or 4), it'll have rinse aid and salt built in. You may need topup salt if you live in a particularly hard water area, but I live in an area with quite hard water, and didn't notice a drop in cleanliness when I switched. Several people on the OS board reckon you only need 1/2 a tablet anyway.

The salt isn't only for cleaning though, if the water is quite hard the machine itself may be damaged. Which? magazine have tested dishwashers and powders this month and quote one guy who used the all-in-one tablets but ended up paying £100 for a new heating element. The results were that you were better off using separate salt, rinse aid and detergent - Fairy Classic came out best and were one of the cheapest.

tawnyowls

I'm sure it probably does - however, I do think some of these problems are exaggerated. My old dishwasher was still going strong after 6 years, and I lived in an area that was much harder water than I live in now. WM now nearly 9 years old (now with SIL in same v. hard water area) and I've never used Calgon or any of that rubbish, and nor does she.

Nicki

Two things which have worked for me in similar circs are:

1. checking that the water flow pipe has not become dislodged inside the machine itself

2. clearing a blockage in the outflow pipe (in our case as it is shares the outflow with the kitchen sink, this was just a question of pouring drain cleaner down the plughole of the sink.