Dishwasher help please

[sawtooth]

In the last couple of days everything coming out of the dishwasher is covered in a white, chalky coating. I took everything out of it tonight had a look inside, the door and walls of the machine are covered in the same chalky substance.

I give it a good clean, walls, filter, and topped up the salt (which wasn't empty) and put the machine on again, it seems to clean OK but the same result with the horrible whitish residue. Everything feels chalky and powdery its not streaks from water marks as you sometimes get on glasses.

Never had this problem before and we haven't changed the salt or tablets recently.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

 

[Hobbit]

Cut an orange into quarters and place in the top tray.












Won't make any difference but at least you'll have lovely clean, salty oranges

 

[sawtooth]

Cut an orange into quarters and place in the top tray.










Won't make any difference but at least you'll have lovely clean, salty oranges

Ha Ha I might have tried that.

Currently running it with a cup of white vinegar as per a tip on the internet. Apparently its calcium build up and vinegar might shift it. Yeah right.....

 

[Hobbit]

Ha Ha I might have tried that.

Currently running it with a cup of white vinegar as per a tip on the internet. Apparently its calcium build up and vinegar might shift it. Yeah right.....

Joking apart, when I was a Medical Physics engineer we cleaned the dialysis machines with a citrus wash.

 

[SocketRocket]

Maybe this 'Calgone' stuff might help

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Invest in a water softener, or you can get devices that attach to the water feed pipe that inhibit the calcium build up.

Or buy a vat of Cillit Bang and watch it eat your dishwasher

 

[Fish]

Never had this problem before

Nor me, I pile everything up in the sink and in the morning it's miraculously all washed and put away :smirk:

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Do you run it on a hot wash every so often? We don't have hard water issues up here but we did have other problems. Reading up about it you need to run the machine every few cycles on its hottest wash to clean it out.

This wont clear your current issue but for future this plus the other tips given may help keep it clean. That or move north where the water is better.

 

[Rooter]

Water softener is the best thing we ever bought. Eradicated the kids eczema, kettle looks brand new inside after 3 years, dishwasher is sparkling, as is the washing machine, wash the car and i don't need to dry it. The benefits are awesome.

I have mine on a rental basis and pay about 16 quid a month (plus about 5quid of salt)

 

[Bunkermagnet]

If you're putting salt in regularly (I always recommend topping up once a week as everyone will forget at some point), and the softenor setting has been increased from the default "average" setting, then it would suggest to me the water softenor unit within the dishwasher has failed.
Salt is used to help clean the resin chamber, that all the water passes through, of all the impurities within the water supply making the water soft for the dishwasher. The resin needs a "salty flush" after every program or else it effectively clogs within and ceases to soften the water.
The cloudy glasses is etching of the glass surface through the detergent not dissolving correctly in the hard water, and prolonged use like it will ruin the glasses completely, as well as the wash motor seals.

In hard water areas, salt is vital regardless of which detergent you use.

What make and age is the dishwasher?

As for an independant softenor, the softenor unit within the dishwasher is much more accurate for the dishwasher, and I would always suggest keeping the dishwasher on the untouched water supply.

 

[Golfmmad]

Ha Ha I might have tried that.

Currently running it with a cup of white vinegar as per a tip on the internet. Apparently its calcium build up and vinegar might shift it. Yeah right.....

Have you tried an actual dishwasher cleaner? The one you put in an empty diswasher and run a full programme.
You end up with it sparkling inside!

 

[sawtooth]

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm pleased to say that machine seems OK and seemingly free from calcium build up or whatever it was.

I filled a cup with white vinegar and placed it in the bottom of the empty dishwasher and ran it. Followed this up with a bottle of proper dishwasher cleaner.

Also ran it with some baking powder thrown in it for good measure.

One or all of those helped and now back to normal.

Will keep an eye on salt levels and run it on hot temp every so often, tbh its normally goes on quick wash.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Whilst I'm glad you feel it may be sorted, I suspect you have just sorted the effects, not the cause.
Keep the salt container fully topped up, and hopefully after 10-20 washes correct operation will return ( quite often the resin chamber can be revived just through correct use of salt).
Dishwasher programs are not like washing machine programs, so washing at a hotter wash won't affect your problem, and all programs (with the possible exception of the rinse and hold) will do a regeneration cycle for the water softener unit(resin chamber).
If the whiteness returns to the inner cabinet/door panel or the wash quality continues badly and salt is always in good quantities then I would suggest the water softener unit has probably failed.
Good luck with it