Rusty cutlery from the dishwasher

McKneff

I had this problem with a lot of different sets of cutlery. If your cutlery is quite new and the box said dishwasher safe then take it back and get a refund. I have found the only way to stop this rust forming is to take the cutlery out as soon as the dishwasher is finished and dry it manually.

Penelope_Penguin

We have an earlier thread on this subject. The OP found that reducing the rate at which the salt was dispensed helped them, so it might be a salt problem. With my chemist's hat on, that makes sense - salt will hasten rusting

I'll merge this with the existing thread to see if that gives you more ideas

Penny. x

rabbit8587

Thank you for all the replies and for merging the thread! I will definitely adjust the rate the salt is dispensed and see if it makes a difference. I'll report back as well for anyone with a similar problem

rabbit8587

Update: 2 months later and after reducing the salt rate to zero (because I have 3 in 1 tablets) my cutlery still comes out rusty! Sometimes not much, sometimes lots and I can't find any rational explanation. So I'm just plodding on with rusty cutlery for now... sigh

sandraroffey

a dishwasher works on softened water, which is done by the salt. whats in the tablets isnt enough.

you will get gunky cutlery, stuff not cleaned properly and cloudy glasses.

TomsMom

I stopped putting my cutlery in the dishwaswher as I was getting rust spots. I put it down to them sitting in the damp atmosphere either waiting for a full enough load to put it on (it's never completely dry in a dishwasher) or waiting to be emptied after it's finished.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

I've never used salt in my dishwasher,not through choice just I did'nt know you had to.
To tell you the truth,I never read the manuals.
I've had this dishwasher 3 years and have had a few rust spots on my cutlery,nothing too bad though.

SunnyGirl

I use the 4in1 tablets but have always put salt & rinse aid in seperate as well though. The dishwasher has a light that comes on when the salt or rinse aid needs filling up and it annoys me lol! I did used to get rusty spots on cutlery but haven't done since I've kept the salt topped up. My Mum found the same too.

A._Badger

I'm convinced there is a deeper problem here. My mother, who as had a dishwasher more or less since they became available here, has noticed the same problem and so have I, although I've only 10 years experience of them. Neither of us used to see rust spots - now we do and across a range of cutlery from the really excellent to the absolute rubbish (they're my ones!).

A few years ago I complained to one of the detergent manufacturers (I forget which) and was brushed-off, I felt, with the answer that the problem occurs when you don't remove newly washed metal items from the machine. They said you should do, immediately, and dry them on a cloth.

This may be good advice, but it doesn't explain why the rust spots didn't apear a few years ago.

The one piece of useful information I did get from them was that you can remove the spots by using a car chrome cleaner.

My instinct is that the manufacturers have changed a basic ingredient but won't admit it. Then again, I might just be suspicious by nature!

hlc

Buy 18/10 stainless steel cutlery like they use in restaurants - in a restaurant the cutlery is washed every day in a dishwasher so it'll be fine at home!
I have lovely cutlery from Oneida. Just bought some extra pieces from their website oneida.co.uk. Everything is guaranteed for 50 years, so if there are any issues they'll replace it anyway. You can get 20% off with discount code "easter"...