<p>For months not my husband and I have been trying to figure out what the problem with our dishwasher is. Our plates are dirty and feel rough and grimy. Sometimes we run a wash twice and it is still not clean. Everything has a white film on it. Especially noticeable on dark colored stuff like our black cooking ladles and spoons that look filthy. Anyone else having ths problem?</p>
<p>Today I saw an article on the news about them taking phosphates out of dishwashing soap and that is what is causing the problem for thousands of people. Even with taking phosphates out (environmental reasons) you’d think the dishwasher soap people would manage to come up with a product that actually cleans your dishes!!</p>
<p>The even weirder thing I found out is that the dishwasher soap being made for home use is phosphate free, but the one being made for commercial use still contains phosphates.</p>
<p>A thread I can speak to! Okay, so we kept having problems with our dishwasher. For once, we had purchased a five-year plan to service/repair and we have more than gotten our money’s worth. Lots of little specks hardened on the dishes – grime as you say. So I’ve had the same guy out twice. He has explained to me that newer dishwashers aren’t meant to clean, they are meant to sanitize. If every last particle of food isn’t off the plate – and I don’t mean obvious particles – it will get clogged up and end up on the dishes as grime. He also suggested that once a month, I fill a glass with white vinegar and put it upright in the top rack and run a cycle. That cleans it out. Anyhow, bottom line, he says dishwashers aren’t what they once were and the soaps are also not what they once were. He suggested a product, but the name escapes me right now. If I remember, I’ll let you know.</p>
<p>DeniseC beat me to it…
We had EXACTLY the same problem as you…weird film, stuff not getting clean (seemingly happened overnight). A friend suggested LemiShine. That seemed to do the trick. I don’t use it in every wash, but if I use it about 2x/week it seems to have solved the problem. I also switched my detergent from Cascade Complete to Finish PowerBall tablets, which also helped. Before I used the LemiShine, I had seen Finish Dishwasher Cleaner and I used that, which worked great to get the film off the inside of the dishwasher, though I think the LemiShine would do the same.
Glad to hear I’m not the only one!
BTW - I wouldn’t use the LemiShine with good china - we had one mug (not good, just a mug with a school logo on it) that had the logo entirely removed after one wash with LemiShine. Just that one mug - no other problems - but I wouldn’t risk my good china with it.</p>
<p>I use Finish Power Ball tablets or liquid dishwasher detergent and haven’t had any problems with either. I do pre-rinse though since I usually only run it every other day.</p>
<p>Maybe you have hard water. This will leave white spots on many items. I used to use a high phosphate soap every so often when I had this problem (to remove the deposits). Now (in a different house with different dishwasher) we have a water softener, and I think that along with rinse aid is good. I have to say that I used to skip the rinse aid in the old house quite often, and that may not have been so good.</p>
<p>I clean everything off the dishes before I wash them - no soap just a hot water rinse with a sponge off of stuck on stuff.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom, we noticed a big change a few months ago, just like you did. Iridescent film on the stainless, gunk on the dishes, white film on the black plastic spatulas. Plus there was that iridescent film on the stainless steel interior of the dishwasher as well. So I looked closer at the box of dishwasher detergent and it said “Non-Ultra”. Now why would they call it that if not to warn that it wasn’t going to clean as well as the old stuff?
I remembered hearing about cleaning dishwashers with vinegar so I loaded all the filmy stuff in and ran it with 2 cups of vinegar poured in. That helped a lot.<br>
The last box of detergent that we bought specifically says “In hard water areas, always over-fill the pre-wash cup as well”. It’s Cascade “Shine Shield Formula” and does seem to be doing a better job. We have hard water so we always use the rinse-aid liquid as well.</p>
<p>Depending upon who is turning on the dishwasher in our house we use Finish Powerballs (my favorite) or liquid Cascade (hubby’s favorite)…it’s just easier to keep 2 different kinds of detergent under the counter than to fight about it :). We’ve never had a problem like you’re describing. We have an Asko dishwasher that is about 6 years old. We only run the dishwasher every few days so we do rinse off most stuff before loading it into the dishwasher but it’s usually just a cursory rinse - no scrubbing. We don’t have hard water in our area. OTOH, we don’t have any dark dishes other than coffee mugs, so maybe it’s just not showing up.</p>
<p>This probably isn’t causing the sudden issue with dishes getting clean but I do believe they are making appliances a lot more ‘cheaply’ these days. I have a Kenmore refrigerator that is 20 years old and have never had one repair ( and has been moved 3 times!) and I left a 20 year old Kenmore washer and dryer in our last house. I can tell with my current 3 year old washer and dryer that I will be lucky if they make it to ten years. I did have a service person who was working on the 20 year old washer tell me that appliances are deliberately built to last about 7-10 years now, so that you have to keep replacing them. After all, if everyone only needs to buy a new refrigerator every 20 years, how is the appliance industry going to make money???</p>
<p>This problem started for me a few months ago also. Before that the dishwasher cleaned well and it’s fairly new. So I think it’s the non-phosphate detergent, not the dishwasher.</p>
<p>If commercial dishwashers can still use phosphate detergents, I may try a restaurant supply house and see if I can buy it for my home dishwasher. Has anyone tried this? Can home dishwashers handle commercial detergent? </p>
<p>I’ve tried LemiShine also and it’s not working. My problem is that milky, sticky stuff that used to wash off is still there, things like yogurt, cheese, soup, etc. But even coffee rings are still present at the bottom of my mugs. </p>
<p>I’d like to invite the men who came up with this new rule to come to my house and re-wash my dishes for me. </p>
<p>Since washing dishes by hand takes more water than a dishwasher, (and saving water is very important in California), there may be no overall environmental advantage to the new detergents.</p>
<p>I am so glad to see this message! Our dishwasher has been temperamental anyway, but it is on the new side and fancy as heck (came with our new house) but I was thinking we might have to replace it. Now if only they could come up with a cure for the cure!</p>
<p>After watching the news article last night I definitely believe it is the soap, not the dishwasher. They were talking about the fact that the phosphates stop the minerals from binding to the dishes (or something like that). The dishwasher worked fine before they changed the soap formula and we have lived in this house 22 years and never had this problem before (though we do have hard water). I ordered some commercial dishwashing soap with phosphates online last night after doing some research. Hope it works as I had to order 6 boxes of it. If not I will try some of the other recommendations. I will let you know in about a week!!</p>
<p>Okay - so I just unloaded my dishwasher (I used a Finish Powerball tab in it) and still didn’t see any of the issues you guys have been talking about. So, I googled it and found this:</p>
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<p>Yo might want to try the Finish Powerballs, they seem to work very well.</p>
<p>It may make a difference what sort of water you have. Our dishes have been disgusting since they changed the formula. You can even feel the rough film on them. Ugh. Before the formula changes they were fine. I have the commercial stuff on order and will report back. If it does not work i will try some of the other solutions.</p>
<p>We have had the same thing happen. Never used to rinse our dishes and they came out gleaming. Now, yuck. I’ll have to try the finish powerballs…</p>
<p>I ordered the commercial cascade dishwasher sop through an online site (restockit). I will let you know how it turns out. My husband was horrified to see an email with a $50 charge, until I explained it was for 6 large boxes.</p>
<p>I feel like a huge hypocrite. I am very into being “green” but the first time I am challenged I cave :o . On the other hand they still think it’s ok for commercial places to use phosphates (their dishes should be cleaner than ours?). And our neighborhood has a sewage lagoon that does not contain fish for the phospates to kill. Though maybe they still escape into the water table. </p>
<p>Hopefully the manufcturerers will come up with an environmentally friendly fix so I won’t have to justify my actions to myself :o</p>
<p>swimcats, I have very hard well water and don’t have a problem with my 15 y.o. dishwasher (other than having to run vinegar thru every month to get rid of rust stains on the white sides) as long as I use the powerball tabs and a rinse aid. Otherwise my glasses will build up a whitish film over a period of time…no problem with them coming out clean, just the calcium deposits, which do come off with a white vinegar and hot water bath. I know it’s too late since you already ordered, but jik you run into a deal on powerball tabs you might want to try them!</p>
<p>My repair guy also urged me to use less soap. I was using the recommended amount. He said to halve it as more soap tends to leave a film, etc. The guy kept telling me what I was doing “wrong” and I kept telling him that I’ve been using various dishwashers for forty years or so and never had this problem. That’s when he admitted that they aren’t made the way they used to be in addition to the fact that the soaps have changed.</p>
<p>sk8r - yes, I have ordered it so hopefully it will work well as it has 6 boxes. Price wise I think it is about maybe a little higher than I would pay for the regular stuff that isn’t working. Not sure as my husband usually gets it as Sams so I have not paid attention to the prices. The shipping was free so it worked out at $8.50 for a 85 oz box. If it works I won’t really care. Got to be cheaper than running the washer twice then still having dirty dishes. I can’t believe I am so excited to be getting dishwasher soap delivered!!</p>
<p>I have been using Finish Powerball Tabs since I got my Bosch about a year and a half ago and it is only in the last few months that I have started noticing a white dried residue on the formerly pristine stainless steel interior. Dishes are fairly clean, but the dishwasher itself is not. I had also read about the change in detergent formulation and assume this to be the reason for the change in appearance. (Since the tab is a set amount, using less soap is not an issue or option; breaking the tab makes a mess.) Machine also seems to use up rinse agent faster than it used to.</p>