Dishwasher issues

[KarenLK]

I have a not new, not old KitchenAide which I love, but recently I have had problems with glasses coming out looking clean, but they have a “dusty” film on them. Any thoughts?

 

[Krteczech]

I would first try dishwasher cleaning liquid.

 

[Sea Six]

is your rinse agent bin full? I use Finish Jet-Dry, but whatever, make sure it's full. They don't hold much, and get empty after very few loads.
And the bottles are very small, so you don't get much at the store.

 

[PigsDad]

We have found hand-cleaning them w/ white vinegar does a good job removing the white film that will build up over time on some of our glasses.

Kurt

 

[controller1]

Add Lemi Shine Booster to your regular dishwashing powder/pod. It does wonders for glassware.

 

[Talent312]

DW soaks 'em in a weak solution of clorox. Shines 'em right up.
.

 

[moonstone]

Our DS was having that trouble as well as sometimes food particles left on the bottoms of the cups/glasses on the top rack with his 2 yr old dishwasher. He was ready to buy a new dishwasher. When we were over there I opened his dishwasher and saw that it had a filter similar to ours. I unscrewed it and showed him that it was packed with food particles, hair, bread ties, chicken bones and you name it. He had no idea there was even a filter in there. I cleaned it off and ran it under the water to get the screening clean. I also told him to add rinse agent when the indicator showed empty. The next load of dishes came out spotless! I told him it pays to read the instruction manual that comes with his appliances!

~Diane

 

[louisianab]

Our DS was having that trouble as well as sometimes food particles left on the bottoms of the cups/glasses on the top rack with his 2 yr old dishwasher. He was ready to buy a new dishwasher. When we were over there I opened his dishwasher and saw that it had a filter similar to ours. I unscrewed it and showed him that it was packed with food particles, hair, bread ties, chicken bones and you name it. He had no idea there was even a filter in there. I cleaned it off and ran it under the water to get the screening clean. I also told him to add rinse agent when the indicator showed empty. The next load of dishes came out spotless! I told him it pays to read the instruction manual that comes with his appliances!

~Diane

This is what I was coming to mention. I take mine all apart every couple months and soak the filter, etc. Makes a huge difference

 

[wackymother]

Yes to cleaning the filter and using rinse aid, plus one more thing. They make these tablets to clean dishwashers--Affresh is one brand. You use them every once in a while. They help, too.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Our DS was having that trouble as well as sometimes food particles left on the bottoms of the cups/glasses on the top rack with his 2 yr old dishwasher. He was ready to buy a new dishwasher. When we were over there I opened his dishwasher and saw that it had a filter similar to ours. I unscrewed it and showed him that it was packed with food particles, hair, bread ties, chicken bones and you name it. He had no idea there was even a filter in there. I cleaned it off and ran it under the water to get the screening clean. I also told him to add rinse agent when the indicator showed empty. The next load of dishes came out spotless! I told him it pays to read the instruction manual that comes with his appliances!

~Diane

Diane; May I ask what brand of dishwasher you are using that has this filter? Do all dishwashers have a filter?



.

 

[CPNY]

Speaking of dishwashers.......... every time I use the dishwashers in a Marriott they never dry anything. All the dishes are soaked the next day.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Speaking of dishwashers.......... every time I use the dishwashers in a Marriott they never dry anything. All the dishes are soaked the next day.

Yes, and they are very loud because they refuse to spend a few extra $$$$ for the stainless steel interior......


.

 

[moonstone]

Diane; May I ask what brand of dishwasher you are using that has this filter? Do all dishwashers have a filter?

Ours was a Whirlpool and at that time at least 20 years old. We now have a newer Whirlpool that is supposedly a self cleaning filter. We cant find anything in the instructions or manual about cleaning or even locating it. Our DS's, I think, was a GE. He has since moved from that house and I cant remember what brand the new one in his new house is but it also has a manual clean filter but it is in a much easier to reach spot on the bottom of the tub.
I am pretty sure all dishwashers have some sort of filter, just that some are self cleaning and some are not. We are careful not to leave big chunks of food, and especially bones, on our plates, but we do not scrape clean or even rinse them before loading them.


~Diane

 

[moonstone]

Speaking of dishwashers.......... every time I use the dishwashers in a Marriott they never dry anything. All the dishes are soaked the next day.

Are you using the heated dry feature? Even when I don't use that on my home one the dishes are dry by morning (about 8 hrs after starting). Some very basic models may not have a heated dry option.

I carry dishwasher rinse agent in a small (was a sample) bottle in our timeshare box. I find most timeshares don't fill or refill the rinse agent and I can taste the soap on the glasses and mugs.


~Diane

 

[CPNY]

Are you using the heated dry feature? Even when I don't use that on my home one the dishes are dry by morning (about 8 hrs after starting). Some very basic models may not have a heated dry option.

I carry dishwasher rinse agent in a small (was a sample) bottle in our timeshare box. I find most timeshares don't fill or refill the rinse agent and I can taste the soap on the glasses and mugs.


~Diane

Yup!! Heated dry feature and still nothing. Probably the rinse agent. I’ll buy jetdri next time. Maybe that will work.

 

[controller1]

Diane; May I ask what brand of dishwasher you are using that has this filter? Do all dishwashers have a filter?

.

I assume you want to know the location of the filter and what it looks like. Whirlpool, Kenmore, Maytag, Jenn-Air and KitchenAid dishwashers have the filter located in the bottom of the machine under the sprayer arm. Twist the filter to unlock and pull up. Clean by rinsing under running water. Return the filter and twist to lock. See photos below.

 

[Sea Six]

I assume you want to know the location of the filter and what it looks like. Whirlpool, Kenmore, Maytag, Jenn-Air and KitchenAid dishwashers have the filter located in the bottom of the machine under the sprayer arm. Twist the filter to unlock and pull up. Clean by rinsing under running water. Return the filter and twist to lock. See photos below.

View attachment 28156View attachment 28157View attachment 28158

Holy crap, thanks for posting this! My Bosch has a filter like this in the same location. I just cleaned it out. It was clogged with all kinds of plastic bits from containers, bones, stems, glass chards, who knows what. I'm sure to get a much better flow now, plus my rinse agent bin is full again! I always thought this junk flowed into the garbage disposal grinder, but obviously not since this strainer is in the dish washer. You really do have to rinse off your dirty dishes in the sink before you put them in the dish washer. That's the only way to bypass this strainer and get the debris into the garbage disposal. Not every little speck, but at least all the bigger stuff.

 

[KarenLK]

WOW! I found the filter for the first time. Lots of white film, plus a piece of broken glass. Thanks so much!!

 

[Talent312]

We use the Extra Dry feature which adds 20 minutes to the drying cycle.
Our LG seems to do okay, except that usually, plastics still come out wet.
.

 

[KarenLK]

Thanks to all. I have added the rinse agent. I have cleaned the surprising dilated, and ordered a batch of Finish dishwasher cleaner tabs. I guess I am armed and ready!! Thanks to all

 

[stmartinfan]

Re: cleaning the filter. I think many dishwashers used to have a “grinder” type device that caught and then ground up all the crud that accumulated so it could flow out with the rinse water. You could hear the sound of it kicking in when the dishwasher was rinsing. With the move to much quieter dishwashers, that system got replaced with the filter shown in the pictures in earlier posts that you have to clean yourself. I love my super quiet dishwasher, but hate having to clean that crud out myself!

My glasses would get cloudy because of the very hard water here and almost “etched” from the dishwasher detergent. The damage seemed permanent and they'd have to be replaced every year or so. I happened to read an article in the Costco magazine a few years ago about their house brand being reformulated to reduce that problem. I tried it and it worked wonders. Also eliminates the need for the rinse additive (which seems to add to the problem). Using the Costco tablets actually cleared up some glasses that were starting to cloud When I first start to use it and they have stayed looking good. Unfortunately, I'm down to my last box and it is missing from my Costco's shelves right now. Hope I don't need to buy one of the national brands again.

 

[moonstone]

Glad so many folks have discovered the filters! I also read somewhere that some dishwasher detergents, when combined with heated dry, would cause permanent etching/clouding on glasses. I rarely use the heated dry feature and always use a rinse agent so luckily none of our glasses haven't suffered that fate.

I did have a problem with my almost 15 yr old cutlery (Oneida) getting tiny rust spots on them when we first got a dishwasher. I called Oneida and the first thing the rep asked was if I used a citrus dishwasher detergent. I was using a lemon one. He said that was the problem and to just use a regular one, which I switched to and we've not had any further problems.

~Diane

 

[clifffaith]

Sunday project averted! Our almost three year old Maytag does not have that sort of filter. Apparently we have to remove blades to get at it, and since we have no issues and I was only going to rinse the filter because it seemed easily accessible, on to some other chore. This thread did prompt me to add Jet Dry, however.

 

[TheTimeTraveler]

Re: cleaning the filter. I think many dishwashers used to have a “grinder” type device that caught and then ground up all the crud that accumulated so it could flow out with the rinse water. You could hear the sound of it kicking in when the dishwasher was rinsing. With the move to much quieter dishwashers, that system got replaced with the filter shown in the pictures in earlier posts that you have to clean yourself. I love my super quiet dishwasher, but hate having to clean that crud out myself!

My glasses would get cloudy because of the very hard water here and almost “etched” from the dishwasher detergent. The damage seemed permanent and they'd have to be replaced every year or so. I happened to read an article in the Costco magazine a few years ago about their house brand being reformulated to reduce that problem. I tried it and it worked wonders. Also eliminates the need for the rinse additive (which seems to add to the problem). Using the Costco tablets actually cleared up some glasses that were starting to cloud When I first start to use it and they have stayed looking good. Unfortunately, I'm down to my last box and it is missing from my Costco's shelves right now. Hope I don't need to buy one of the national brands again.

Try going on Costco.com and ordering that way. They may have it readily available......



.

 

[wackymother]

BTW, once when the dishwasher really was not getting our dishes clean, we had a repair guy come in to look at it. (We had a service contract.) He took out the filter and snaked the line. He said the cleaning tablet had ALMOST done it, but not quite.

Also, once we had soapy water backing up into the dishwasher so the dishes were not rinsing properly. The repair guy said the dishwasher had not really been installed properly and there's a hose under the sink that is supposed to be higher up than ours was. He sighed a lot, but he fixed it, and it's better now.