Do i need rinse aid and dishwasher salt?

mildredhubble83

I have waited my entire adult life for a dishwasher (family of 6 where I am the only one who does the housework)

I had my preloved slimline washer installed yesterday but do I need rinse aid and salt? Can I improvise with white vinegar or something more eco?

Thanks

suki1964

Mine won't dry unless I have rinse aid in

It's cheap enough, bottle lasts months

I also have to use salt but then a small bag lasts a year or so

I save by buying cheaper tablets and only using half as mine is a slimline

[Deleted User]

Definitely yes to salt.

Rinse Aid is optional but recommended - it removes water from dishes, so they require less drying and avoids spotting

splishsplash

I use cheapy Lidl tablets and use neither salt nor rinse aid.

I live in a soft water area.

Feral_Moon

If you use the combined dishwasher tablets then you don't need either.

Gers

It depends on your water hardness / softness for the salt.

In our previous house we had had very hard water and needed salt, now we're in an area with soft water and it's less necessary.


http://www.dishwasher-care.org.uk/best.html

I sometimes remember to fill the rinse aid but can't say I've noticed particularly any ill effect when I haven't.

Think it's a case of 'suck it and see'.

Enjoy your dishwasher, it's definitely in my top five of household useful gadgets as I hate washing dishes by hand.

Mojisola

I use Aldi All-in-one (always come out very well in independent tests) and salt.

Nargleblast

As others have said, if your area has hard water you need salt to soften it, or use a dishwasher detergent with salt built in.

I used rinse aid for years then discovered white vinegar does the same job much cheaper.

Petula

Ours needs salt as we live in a very hard water area, I do use a rinse aid but will be trying vinegar to see how we go

76rosie

i bought 10kg of dishwasher tabs for 13.00 (approx 600) from ebay.

used half a tab. plates still sparkle. i ve been diluting lidl rinse aid with white vinegar. Plates still sparkle. Vinegar was 20lt for 12.00 from amazon

i have a beko which is water meter friendly.

Anne_Marie_2

Agree with others regarding water softness as to what you need. My dishwasher came with PH strips to test the water, so as to set the dishwasher at the best settings for water softness/hardness.

I suppose it must depend on how hard your water is, as to how much salt you go through. Unfortunately, my water is at the hardest end of the PH scale, so lots of salt needed.

A friend had an engineer out to fix her dishwasher, and was told that because the hard water was so hard, not to use salt, but to use citric acid in every load instead. It goes in a small compartment next to where you would put your tablet/powder/gel in your dishwasher.
Also advised was using powder or gel, rather than tablets. Must admit that have found bits of undissolved tablets in my dishwasher, so agree with this in areas where you have really hard water.
I am adding around a teaspoon of citric acid to every load at the moment. I will have to wait until the salt already in the dishwasher runs out before I can say whether it works or not.

I've never used Rinse Aid, always used vinegar, and never had a problem. I have read though, that using vinegar straight into the Rinse Aid area in some dishwashers can perish the rubber bits, and the answer is to put a little vinegar in a small container and place inside the dishwasher on the top rack.