Dishwasher problem - dishes & glasses all covered in white stuff

Luciecat63

Hi. I have had a cheap Curry's dishwasher for eight years with no problems. I use a cleaner monthly, clear the filters weekly and top up salt and rinse aid after I run the cleaner. I use supermarket own brand tablets, and have never had a problem. At the weekend I ran the cleaner, topped up with salt and rinse aid as usual. When I next used the dishwasher everything was covered in a fine white dust, and the glassware was cloudy. I used a branded tablet as this was all I could buy. I am not sure if this effect was due to the different tablets, or if I topped up the salt or rinse aid too much. I was told by the installer not to use the branded tablets so never have. Is anyone able to help please?

ka7e

Are you using a 3-in-1 tablet? If so, it's possible your machine is still releasing salt and rinse aid and that could cause the problems you describe. Check the manual to see if there is a way to limit the amounts dispensed.

EssexExile

Google your question, there are loads of answers out there. You can't put too much salt or rinse aid in as they only use what they need, or what you set them for, each time. 

dogshome

Read the manual, (hope you still have it), our AEG machine is about the same age as yours and when we Switched from loading salt & rinse aid, to useing 3in1 sachets, we had to re-set the machine by following instructions in the manual.

Makes sense, the 3in1 tabs are dispensed into the machine quite early in the cycle, whilst the Rinse aid is quite be late in the cycle

Luciecat63

Thank you for your replies. I have been using various supermarket branded 3 in 1 tablets with a small amount of rinse-aid, which I found worked best by trial and error. I think the branded 3 in 1s have very different characteristics to the tablets I usually use - my manual suggests the white residue is caused by too little rinse aid, too little salt or unsuitable detergent. I will make some adjustments and try again.

anotheruser

Whereas I switched from branded to supermarket own and found a lot of my dishes didn't clean properly.

I also turned off the salt and rinse aid (nearly all tablets are 3 in 1) but then found a lot of dishes wet at the end of the cycle.

Went back to branded, using salt and rinse aid, pronlem went away.
Although I don't recommend Lidls rinse aid. Switched back to Asda own brand / Fairy and all was well again. 

avoidtheupsidedownbottles

Are you in a very hard water area?

Mnd

I think that when my wife tops up the salt, she overfill it and some salt is in the body of the machine. This is when we get cloudy glasses that are difficult to clean. We only use cheap own store tablets which seems fine, and we do have hard water. 

Luciecat63

avoidtheupsidedownbottles said:

Are you in a very hard water area?

Yes, I am in a hard water area. I have managed to buy some supermarket brand tablets and everything is fine now. I have used Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury's and they are all great but the Finish ones were all wrong for my machine settings.