A Dishwasher question

[mooseberry]

OK, I never needed, owned or even wanted a dishwasher until I opened my B&B.
It worked fine for over 1 year and all of a sudden I have this milky white film on my glassware and my silverware stains. What gives?
I always used the same detergent and have a good level of drying agent.
Any suggestions? Does the inside of the washer has to be cleaned seperately ?
Answers, tips and suggestions greately appreciated
Thanks everyone
Maggie

 

[EmptyNest]

Usually this has to do with the hardness of the water and even water temperatures. IT becomes a build up over time. Do you use any additives in the dishwasher for spot free drying etc???

 

[Morticia]

Does the film wash off or is it permanent?

 

[swirt]

We've run into this too. Here are some ways to return it all to normal.

• Check to make sure your water softener is working correctly.
• Use less detergent (you don't have to fill the detergent cups all the way up)
• Make sure the water is hot enough. If your hotwater tank is not hot enough you may need to use the setting on the washer that heats the water (on ours only the "heavy duty" and the "Sanitise" setings heat the water. The others just get whatever water temp is delivered by the hotwater tank.
• Pull out the racks (so they don't rust) and run a rinse load with half a cup of white vinegar in it.

Somebody on here a while back said the repair man told them to run a cycle with "Tang" in the washer. I tried that and can't say it did anything for me....except give me a reason to now have partially used container of Tang in the pantry in case we get an Astronaut guest

 

[EmptyNest]

We've run into this too. Here are some ways to return it all to normal.

• Check to make sure your water softener is working correctly.
• Use less detergent (you don't have to fill the detergent cups all the way up)
• Make sure the water is hot enough. If your hotwater tank is not hot enough you may need to use the setting on the washer that heats the water (on ours only the "heavy duty" and the "Sanitise" setings heat the water. The others just get whatever water temp is delivered by the hotwater tank.
• Pull out the racks (so they don't rust) and run a rinse load with half a cup of white vinegar in it.

Somebody on here a while back said the repair man told them to run a cycle with "Tang" in the washer. I tried that and can't say it did anything for me....except give me a reason to now have partially used container of Tang in the pantry in case we get an Astronaut guest .

I think that is the citric acid..which they think will eat away at the build up. I do believe however, that once the build up is on the glassware, there is nothing that will take it off. We just threw out our glasses and bought new. Nothing we tried would take it off.

 

[Baygirl]

I get the same problem. We do have hard water and no softener.
For the glasses if you soak them in the sink with vinegar water it will take the film off them. The silverware I have tried Brasso and it works. Don't need much to make the silverware look like new again.
Unfortunately these aren't permanent fixes, but it is cheaper than replacing glasses and silverware.

 

[swirt]

We've run into this too. Here are some ways to return it all to normal.

• Check to make sure your water softener is working correctly.
• Use less detergent (you don't have to fill the detergent cups all the way up)
• Make sure the water is hot enough. If your hotwater tank is not hot enough you may need to use the setting on the washer that heats the water (on ours only the "heavy duty" and the "Sanitise" setings heat the water. The others just get whatever water temp is delivered by the hotwater tank.
• Pull out the racks (so they don't rust) and run a rinse load with half a cup of white vinegar in it.

Somebody on here a while back said the repair man told them to run a cycle with "Tang" in the washer. I tried that and can't say it did anything for me....except give me a reason to now have partially used container of Tang in the pantry in case we get an Astronaut guest .

I think that is the citric acid..which they think will eat away at the build up. I do believe however, that once the build up is on the glassware, there is nothing that will take it off. We just threw out our glasses and bought new. Nothing we tried would take it off.
.

we've run into both....etching that works its way into the glass and you cant get rid of it .... I think because it erodes the surface of the glass. The other is just mineral residue that does come off.
In both cases though I think it is the result of too many minerals in the water or too much detergent. One place I read that if you prewash your dishes it leads to it because the detergent needs something to act on and if the dishes are essentially clean to begin with then there is too much detergent. That was not the issue here...we never pre-wash

 

[hawley]

Our water softener people told us not to use the rinsing agent in our dishwasher.
I put vinegar in the rinsing agent dispenser.
about 1 tablespoon dishwashing powder (much less than the full cup or 2 cups that mine has)
about 1 teaspoon dawn squirted on the door before starting the load.
I run the water until it is hot, then start the washer for light wash.
We have hard water, so have a water softener. When we first started out we had the glasses turn white and I ended up disposing of them. So then went to the above procedure. No more white glasses, water spots or anything else.

 

[swirt]

Our water softener people told us not to use the rinsing agent in our dishwasher.
I put vinegar in the rinsing agent dispenser.
about 1 tablespoon dishwashing powder (much less than the full cup or 2 cups that mine has)
about 1 teaspoon dawn squirted on the door before starting the load.
I run the water until it is hot, then start the washer for light wash.
We have hard water, so have a water softener. When we first started out we had the glasses turn white and I ended up disposing of them. So then went to the above procedure. No more white glasses, water spots or anything else..

Doesn't the Dawn make all kinds of bubbles in the thing? (I guess not...but it seems like it would) I have visions of opening the washer and being greeted by a wall of suds.

 

[Morticia]

Our water softener people told us not to use the rinsing agent in our dishwasher.
I put vinegar in the rinsing agent dispenser.
about 1 tablespoon dishwashing powder (much less than the full cup or 2 cups that mine has)
about 1 teaspoon dawn squirted on the door before starting the load.
I run the water until it is hot, then start the washer for light wash.
We have hard water, so have a water softener. When we first started out we had the glasses turn white and I ended up disposing of them. So then went to the above procedure. No more white glasses, water spots or anything else..

Doesn't the Dawn make all kinds of bubbles in the thing? (I guess not...but it seems like it would) I have visions of opening the washer and being greeted by a wall of suds.
.

Don't ask how I know but if there is too much or the wrong kind of dishwashing detergent used, it bubbles right out the sides...no need to open the door, you know you have a problem Houston.

 

[scrambled_eggs]

I had a milky white film on the glasses and I was using Seventh Generation Dish Detergent to be environmental. Once I noticed the build up I did the next couple of loads using Cascade Liquid and that cleared up the problem. I then went back to using Seventh Generation. I keep some Cascade on hand to do this every once in a while.

 

[hawley]

Our water softener people told us not to use the rinsing agent in our dishwasher.
I put vinegar in the rinsing agent dispenser.
about 1 tablespoon dishwashing powder (much less than the full cup or 2 cups that mine has)
about 1 teaspoon dawn squirted on the door before starting the load.
I run the water until it is hot, then start the washer for light wash.
We have hard water, so have a water softener. When we first started out we had the glasses turn white and I ended up disposing of them. So then went to the above procedure. No more white glasses, water spots or anything else..

Doesn't the Dawn make all kinds of bubbles in the thing? (I guess not...but it seems like it would) I have visions of opening the washer and being greeted by a wall of suds.
.

Note I only use about 1 teaspoon. No problem with suds. Plus it helps cut grease fast.
When my teen daughter first moved into an apartment. She called me one day and said she had suds all over the kitchen. She had filled the dishwasher soap dispenser with dishwashing liquid you would wash dishes by hand. We had a good laugh and she had a good clean up job.

 

[mooseberry]

Usually this has to do with the hardness of the water and even water temperatures. IT becomes a build up over time. Do you use any additives in the dishwasher for spot free drying etc???.

Usually this has to do with the hardness of the water and even water temperatures. IT becomes a build up over time. Do you use any additives in the dishwasher for spot free drying etc???

I use Cascade and JetDry

 

[mooseberry]

Does the film wash off or is it permanent?.

Does the film wash off or is it permanent?

I did hand wash it after and it looked good but after drying it it was still a little milky.

 

[mooseberry]

We've run into this too. Here are some ways to return it all to normal.

• Check to make sure your water softener is working correctly.
• Use less detergent (you don't have to fill the detergent cups all the way up)
• Make sure the water is hot enough. If your hotwater tank is not hot enough you may need to use the setting on the washer that heats the water (on ours only the "heavy duty" and the "Sanitise" setings heat the water. The others just get whatever water temp is delivered by the hotwater tank.
• Pull out the racks (so they don't rust) and run a rinse load with half a cup of white vinegar in it.

Somebody on here a while back said the repair man told them to run a cycle with "Tang" in the washer. I tried that and can't say it did anything for me....except give me a reason to now have partially used container of Tang in the pantry in case we get an Astronaut guest .

I think that is the citric acid..which they think will eat away at the build up. I do believe however, that once the build up is on the glassware, there is nothing that will take it off. We just threw out our glasses and bought new. Nothing we tried would take it off.
.

we've run into both....etching that works its way into the glass and you cant get rid of it .... I think because it erodes the surface of the glass. The other is just mineral residue that does come off.
In both cases though I think it is the result of too many minerals in the water or too much detergent. One place I read that if you prewash your dishes it leads to it because the detergent needs something to act on and if the dishes are essentially clean to begin with then there is too much detergent. That was not the issue here...we never pre-wash
.

I don't prewash, we don't have a water softener and maybe the water is not hot enough. Our water heater temp is set just high enough so you won't get burned using only hot water. I will try on a higher setting and see what happens. i will also try the vinegar.
As for the detergent, I use the little packages...maybe they too have too much for my loads....

 

[mooseberry]

Our water softener people told us not to use the rinsing agent in our dishwasher.
I put vinegar in the rinsing agent dispenser.
about 1 tablespoon dishwashing powder (much less than the full cup or 2 cups that mine has)
about 1 teaspoon dawn squirted on the door before starting the load.
I run the water until it is hot, then start the washer for light wash.
We have hard water, so have a water softener. When we first started out we had the glasses turn white and I ended up disposing of them. So then went to the above procedure. No more white glasses, water spots or anything else..

Doesn't the Dawn make all kinds of bubbles in the thing? (I guess not...but it seems like it would) I have visions of opening the washer and being greeted by a wall of suds.
.

I did that once at a friends house....jut like you imagine it..haha...sudds everywhere in the kitchen...took us hours to get rid of them...hahaha

 

[GeorgiaGirl]

We've run into this too. Here are some ways to return it all to normal.

• Check to make sure your water softener is working correctly.
• Use less detergent (you don't have to fill the detergent cups all the way up)
• Make sure the water is hot enough. If your hotwater tank is not hot enough you may need to use the setting on the washer that heats the water (on ours only the "heavy duty" and the "Sanitise" setings heat the water. The others just get whatever water temp is delivered by the hotwater tank.
• Pull out the racks (so they don't rust) and run a rinse load with half a cup of white vinegar in it.

Somebody on here a while back said the repair man told them to run a cycle with "Tang" in the washer. I tried that and can't say it did anything for me....except give me a reason to now have partially used container of Tang in the pantry in case we get an Astronaut guest .

I think that is the citric acid..which they think will eat away at the build up. I do believe however, that once the build up is on the glassware, there is nothing that will take it off. We just threw out our glasses and bought new. Nothing we tried would take it off.
.

we've run into both....etching that works its way into the glass and you cant get rid of it .... I think because it erodes the surface of the glass. The other is just mineral residue that does come off.
In both cases though I think it is the result of too many minerals in the water or too much detergent. One place I read that if you prewash your dishes it leads to it because the detergent needs something to act on and if the dishes are essentially clean to begin with then there is too much detergent. That was not the issue here...we never pre-wash
.

I don't prewash, we don't have a water softener and maybe the water is not hot enough. Our water heater temp is set just high enough so you won't get burned using only hot water. I will try on a higher setting and see what happens. i will also try the vinegar.
As for the detergent, I use the little packages...maybe they too have too much for my loads....
.

I used to use the little packets of detergent and noticed that I sometimes had a film on my dishes. I also had really gross black slimy stuff growing around the drain in the bottom of my dishwasher.....I ended up putting bleach in it empty and using a toothbrush (my husbands.....not!) to scrub the drain. I ran a cycle then next time it was empty I poured baking soda and vinegar and let that set awhile then ran a cycle. Needless to say, I don't use the packets anymore!