Dishwasher Care: Who Knew?

Wine glasses, originally uploaded by Yooper shooter.

We have a lot going on around the homestead these days but I'd rather focus on mundane tasks, like dishwashing. Somehow they keeps me 'sane'.

Until, that is, I load up the dishwasher after feeding 10 mouths for a few meals and the dishes just don't come out clean. As much as I like an escape I need my dishwasher to do it's job. It's not even a year old and we had our second service call to review why in the hay-who it leaves a horrible cloudy film on my dishes accompanied by some lovely debris. No bueno.

So, the repair man left after a very thorough lesson in the mechanics of the dishwasher and I want to know if it's all just a bunch of huey or does this fall into the category of 'stuff no one tells you but everyone knows' category. Because I didn't know.

1. Dishwashers require maintenance. Say what?!
Evidently you are supposed to give your dishwasher a oil and vinegar cleanse every month (sound like your hair care?).

2. We have hard water.
That means we are supposed to use a lot more detergent. I was a fan of the cascade pockets. WRONG. I am supposed to use the good old fashioned powder with jet dry --and lots of it.

3. Add salt to your detergent.
Because of our hard water I am supposed to add detergent to both chambers (wash and prewash) and 2 T of salt with that. I certainly did not know that before Mr. Repairman paid us a visit.

4. Use only hot water. (Minimum of 160 degrees)
That means you must run your sink water until it is hot and then start your washer immediately. So, the no-need-to-rinse-your-dishes feature is really not a feature (not that we ever fell for it). It seems a little non efficient for an 'efficient' dishwasher to require me to manually heat things up for it to work properly. A bit of waste, no?

5. The delay wash feature is a hoax.
If you like to use your delay wash button and have the dishwasher wash at night don't expect your dishes to get clean. The water isn't hot enough to do the job.

6. All dishwashers on the market today require this routine.
I thanked Mr. Informative Repair Man for his help but this was not efficient or what I wanted to hear. It seems like I'd be better off washing by hand or getting a new dishwasher altogether. To this he politely informed me that we're screwed. With hard water all dishwashers will behave the same.

Now, I am left testing his theories. Any wise words?