Dishwasher problems and detergent ?

[mdetloff]

I am at my wits end. We just got a new dishwasher about 6 months ago and everything was working fine. Then I bought Cascade with Dawn detergent and it put a white film on my plastic stuff. And yes, I always have the jet dry filled. So I read online and cleaned it buy using Tang (yes it really worked) and then ended up switching to Palmolive Eco friendly detergent and that worked for a while. The cascade kept leaving a film on the dishes. The eco stuff worked till this last week and started doing the same thing. I have run the Tang, also tried vinegar and still left a film. I run a clean cycle then retry washing the dishes and it puts the film back on. So this week, I bought the powerball Electrasol tablets. Seems to work for a few loads. Now, this last load it put a film on most of the stuff in the dishwasher. UGH! This is getting expensive switching detergents all the time. Has anyone had this problem? I am ready to go back to the store and tell them to come and take this piece of junk. It was not a cheap dishwasher either! Any suggestions would be helpful? Does any have a home made dishwasher detergent recipe to try? TIA!

 

[Hoppy]

I believe the white film occurs due to the "final" rinse...something like calcium buildup.

My guess is that it is not the detergent but perhaps the jet dry. Have you tried plain white vinegar?

Are you using too much detergent? Many of the new dishwashers use half as much detergent.

 

[runwad]

I believe the white film occurs due to the "final" rinse...something like calcium buildup.

My guess is that it is not the detergent but perhaps the jet dry. Have you tried plain white vinegar?

Are you using too much detergent? Many of the new dishwashers use half as much detergent.

Yep this was my problem my repair guy said you should only use a tablespoon full. And he said powder works best. I think the liquid gunks things up?

 

[eduk8r26]

We have hard water here and I've tried everything, including Borax. The only thing that I swear by is Lemi Shine. I put it in the closeable department, and the powder--I only use Cascade--in the open one. Never have a problem when I am using it.

 

[OhMari]

I have the same problem.
I was using Electrasol tablets, but just noticed this past week, everything had a white film on everything.
My dishwasher needs jet dry daily, too. I think the holder leaks.
I'm so sick of junk appliances and we spent a lot of money on our dishwasher too.
Don't even get me started on my dryer.

 

[cmlydia4]

We have hard water here and I've tried everything, including Borax. The only thing that I swear by is Lemi Shine. I put it in the closeable department, and the powder--I only use Cascade--in the open one. Never have a problem when I am using it.

I agree with the Lemi Shine and cascade. Works the best for me too.

 

[kacaju]

I agree with the Lemi Shine and cascade. Works the best for me too.

Ditto!!

I also use a product called Kitchen Magic about once every 6 months when I start having that white build up and it cleans out the dishwasher

 

[lukenick1]

I have that problem too and I also get bits of what looks like food particles in my glasses. I switched to Costco brand detergent and the white film is better but i still get dried stuff in my glasses. Can anyone tell me how to clean my dishwasher???
Thanks

 

[scrapquitler]

Our dishwasher at work was caked with white film...I think it has to do with hard water. Anyway, I read online to use Vinegar.. I dumped about a half gallon of vinegar in the dishwasher and ran the cycle, then I repeated it a second time and most of the white stuff disappeared. Now whenever I use the dishwasher at work, I toss some vinegar in during the final rinse, which seems to help.

 

[formill]

Could it be your water not your dishwasher at all? Are you on city water supply? We have a well and a cistern- the well water leaves film on everything- vinegar helps but not 100%. Do you have any filters on your water system that need changing/backflushing? We have switched to always using cistern water which is soft rain water for the dishwasher and everything now sparkles. I can understand your frustration been through it before!!!

 

[skip323]

We have hard water and, at this time, no water softener....it is in the works, though. We believe our white buildup to be due to the hard water. I use Lemishine always (I can find it at Target and at Meijer). When we are out of Lemishine we have problems. We use dishwasher tabs with it (usually method) but the main thing that helps is the lemishine.

 

[SaveTheSeaTurtles]

Hi !

We have hard water too. The only thing that we found that works is Cascade - but it needs to be the powder Cascade Complete.

Regular Cascade doesn't work for us (white film on everything). Liquid Cascade does not work either.

We also tried Electrosol but it didn't work for us here.

Adding some vinegar to the dishwasher helps tremendously because when the liquid Cascade wasn't working, I was too cheap to throw it out so added vinegar to the loads with it - dishes came out sparkling clean !

 

[floridascgirl]

Same problem here. I tried the Lemi Shine and it actually made things worse. I thinks it's just our water and not the washer. Our is only 2 years old (and a nice one) and it has been happening since day 1.

 

[WVMomof3]

We are having the same problems. I had been using Electrosol tabs, then just switched to Liquid Cascade. I have tried the vinegar thing before, maybe I did not do it right. I have always put it in the jet-dri thing. Is this not right? To those that are doing vinegar, are you doing it with dishes in or just an empty cycle? Also what is Lemishine? Will I find it by the other dish detergeants?

We have been looking for a new dishwasher. Maybe I can get a few more years out of this one, but I do really want new appliances, just not the price of new appliances.

 

[floridascgirl]

Hi !

We have hard water too. The only thing that we found that works is Cascade - but it needs to be the powder Cascade Complete.

Regular Cascade doesn't work for us (white film on everything). Liquid Cascade does not work either.

We also tried Electrosol but it didn't work for us here.

Adding some vinegar to the dishwasher helps tremendously because when the liquid Cascade wasn't working, I was too cheap to throw it out so added vinegar to the loads with it - dishes came out sparkling clean !

Where and when do you add the vinegar?

 

[pwdebbie]

One word of caution about vinegar in the dishwasher. A few years ago, I read somewhere to use vinegar instead of rinse agent. Big mistake. All of my Oneida stainless steel dinner knives (expensive set that I bought when I got married back in '77 before reality set in, lol) became "pocked" because of the vinegar. Totally ruined them in terms of appearance, not function. But at $50 a piece to replace, it was a costly mistake (and no, I did not replace them).

 

[summerrluvv]

Do you have well water? My mom has that problem and she has well water. I have city water and we've never had an issue and I use Cascade Complete powder. That Palmolive eco friendly didn't get our dishes clean at all.

 

[pampam]

I tried the homemade dishwasher detergent with washing soda and borax but it too put a white film on my glassware.

 

[formill]

re; when to add vinegar- I always waited till the rinse cycle opened the door and squirted a lot in- probably a cup or more-in the rinse aid compartment it was never enough to make noticeable difference. I also tried filling a cup with vinegar in the top rack and leaving the full cup right side up so it would splash out steadily. If I missed the rinse cycle I would have to do a quick separate rinse only cycle- dumping in my vinegar and let them air dry.