Dishwasher tips and questions

mamashaz

I have never used salt and have had a dishwasher for years - I didn't know you were supposed to put salt in.

What is the salt supposed to do?

sweetme

Don't put the drawer from your fridge drawer in the dishwasher. It will shrink and never fit the fridge properly again.

Badrick

mamashaz wrote: »

I have never used salt and have had a dishwasher for years - I didn't know you were supposed to put salt in.

What is the salt supposed to do?

It's to soften the water in hard water areas by preventing calcium deposits on the heater element and in the wash jets and also helps reduce streaking on glassware..

bluebag

mamashaz wrote: »

I have never used salt and have had a dishwasher for years - I didn't know you were supposed to put salt in.

What is the salt supposed to do?

It never use it either, our water is very soft and the test kit said not to use salt with it.

Anything in the dishwasher going orange is due to tomato usually, so I always rinse off tomato based sauces and ketchup.

Chris25

anything tomatoey will leave a stain on any plastic/tupperware type products that are also in the dishwasher, unless well rinsed off before putting in.

There are several posts somewhere that say that tablets, rather than liquid or powder, are worse for the dw because of the stuff that binds them together.

When I bought my stainless steel cutlery from M&S, it came with a card inside saying something like please don't use lemon detergents on me because they're not kind to me.

I have a friend who puts her lead-crystal decanter & glasses on a low wash, every year around Christmas time. I tried it on a vase, and although it looked beautifully clean & shiny, when I picked it up to take it out, it shattered into, what seemed, a million pieces! Perhaps it was because it was still warm, I don't know but I don't personally recommend doing it.

ariba10

suki1964 wrote: »

Even with the all in one tabs you need to add salt no matter what it says on the box

Living in a soft water area have never used salt in the 18 years we have had a dishwasher.

As to what to put in it.

The cooker hood filters.
The metal pan supports off the top of the cooker.

The only no no is anything aluminium.

(And the cat)

babyshoes

I bung almost everything in, including wooden spoons and wine glasses. Nothing I put in the DW is particularly expensive or has huge sentimental value though, so if it gets ruined we can easily replace it. Glass may go cloudy, but for everyday stuff like juice glasses or pyrex bowls it doesn't affect the functionality so I'm not bothered.

I have found that some plastics warp, especially brittle plastics and thin, cheap plastic. We had a 'beer machine' plastic barrel for making beer which OH put in the DW - it warped and wouldn't fit together properly, making it useless. That was a slightly pricy experiment!
Wooden chopping boards are also prone to splitting, though they were cheap to start with. You can get the same effect from letting one soak for too long in the sink.

I'd say that if it's expensive or sentimental then safest to hand wash, otherwise give it a go. At worst you replace the item, at best it saves you the bother of hand washing (which to me is worth a LOT).

Raksha

I'm a dishwasher tart. Everything goes in the only disaster was a handpainted earthenware vase which lost its decoration.

This_Year

ariba10 wrote: »

The only no no is anything aluminium.

(And the cat)

Ooh thanks - is it a self-cleaning model? :rotfl:

We don't dishwash any glasses at all. Or larger dishes/roasting pans etc. The boards we use for meat and fish go in on a regular basis too.

Steve059

Even if they're not aluminium, oily car parts are a no-no.