Helpful Tips for Dishwasher Problems

Have you ever finished a wonderful dinner, put the dishes into the dishwasher, and then started the cycle before bed, only to wake up to dishes that don’t shine? Dishes that don’t have the sparkle you bought your dishwasher for? Nothing is more frustrating and aggravating then running dishes through the dishwasher and still having dirty dishes. At Abt, we want all of our customers to enjoy the full benefits of the dishwashers we carry, so we searched high and low to find some common dishwasher problems and tips to avoid them.

If your dishwasher is not cleaning well

Are your dishes and the inside of your dishwasher plagued by ugly white streaks?  Don’t worry; it’s not the dishwasher but the detergent inside! With the removal of phosphates, many detergents won’t fully dissolve, leaving those unsettling streaks. To remedy this, try some of the following:

1. Clean the dishwasher with Lemi-Shine, GlassMagic, or Glisten. You can even leave the dishes inside while cleaning.
2. Use only fresh detergent
3. Complement your detergent with one teaspoon of one of the additives listen above. Feel free to experiment; add more or less to reach the desired effect.
4. Use a rinse-aid like Jet-Dry, Cascade, or Crystal-Clear to help remove spots and aid drying.
5. Run the sink until the water it hot, and then start the dishwasher.

Soap left in the dispenser

Left over soap can cause a huge mess and spoil the work done by your dishwasher. If you have soap left in the dispenser after a cycle, make sure large plates or baking pans are not blocking the dispenser door and preventing water from spraying into the dispenser. Also, make sure the spray arms aren’t blocked from spinning by escaped silverware, or any odd shaped items in the top rack. Always be sure to add fresh detergent to a dry dispenser.

Excess Suds

Is the dishwasher foaming at the mouth? An abundance of suds could be from too much, or the wrong type of detergent. If soap (Dawn, Palmolive, etc.) was used, cancel the cycle immediately, and open the door to allow the bubbles to settle. Open the fridge and find the nearest non-dairy coffee creamer. That’s right, coffee creamer. Add about a half a cup to the bottom of the dishwasher and resume with a rinse-only, or light/china setting without heat.

If too much detergent was used, you won’t see an excessive amount of foam but, there will be leftover detergent on the dishes and in the dishwater. If you’re unsure, open the door mid way though the cycle. You should see the water foaming, not the dishes. You can also run and empty load and again, check mid-cycle but remember that if you check during the rinse cycle you may see some foam from the rinse-aid, which is completely normal.

-Scott H.