<p>Thanks, swimcatsmom. Powerballs are working pretty well for me in the new dishwasher, but the tea stains are a bit of an issue. I may need to find someone to go in on the powder purchase with me – I’d like a box, not a case. But I’m glad you got your problem solved.</p>
<p>(Next up: stockpiling incandescent lightbulbs. Because I am really, really not a fan of CF bulbs to read by. Sigh.)</p>
<p>Wow. My dad just took apart our dishwasher and put it back together for no reason, then. 
Ours is 20+ years old and we never had a problem until the last few months, and now the dishes are coming out filthy. We have always given our dishes a fairly thorough pre-rinse, in my house we are not allowed to stack dishes-- when you are done eating you rinse your dish and load it in the dishwasher, last person to go to bed turns it on and first person up empties it. Will have to warn them about the soap before they replace the dishwasher for no reason.</p>
<p>I wonder how many people have replaced their dishwashers - and still end up with dirty dishes.</p>
<p>About two months ago I paid for a service call to learn that the Cascade I was using was useless now.</p>
<p>Haven’t read the whole thread, but my dishwasher was cleaned up by running several bottles of Finish brand dishwasher cleaner through, and the dishes are clean now that I have switched to Finish–the pre-measured square tabs with the red dot. The repair guy works for an appliance dealer and could have sold me a new machine, so I am thankful he explained what the problem was.</p>
<p>I can see this is the beginning of an underground life. I was already considering – please don’t judge me – on stocking up on incandescent light bulbs by buying them online. I hate CF light bulbs. (I also don’t get how the mercury makes them a better option. Would you want to deal with a small child and a broken light bulb with mercury in it? They evacuated an entire building at my son’s school when a tiny amount of mercury spilled in a science room.) Now I can see the slippery slope getting more slippery as I consider buying dishwasher soap with phosphates. Where will this end?</p>
<p>Arabrab, I feel better seeing your post about lights. I feel fortified in my resolve to stockpile.</p>
<p><a href=“Next%20up:%20stockpiling%20incandescent%20lightbulbs.%20Because%20I%20am%20really,%20really%20not%20a%20fan%20of%20CF%20bulbs%20to%20read%20by.%20Sigh.”>quote</a>
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<p>I’ve already started stocking up. Those CF bulbs hurt my eyes for some reason. I figure as long as they’re selling them, I have a right to buy them and save them for future use. It’s not like I’m buying them on the black market :)</p>
<p>Ssshhhh…my state already outlawed them. I have to get them on the Internet. I hear they still ship anywhere…</p>
<p>I don’t want to add phosphates. I don’t want dirty dishes.
I was going to buy new dishes, but will wait until the manufacturers figure this out. I think the same thing happened some time ago when phosphates were removed from laundry detergent. It took some time, but the chemists figured out an alternative.</p>
<p>mafool - Try Lemi shine, small investment, makes a difference for us.</p>
<p>Denise, we don’t have hard water. But I may try it anyway!</p>
<p>I got my supply of Cascade with phosphates from Restockit. Ran a load last night. My dishes are clean! No more baked on egg or cheese. No more film on the glasses and silverware. </p>
<p>So glad I read this thread and didn’t call the dishwasher repairman.</p>
<p>I was hoping you would report back. I am still surprised every time I see a shiny spoon!!</p>
<p>I’ve been having the same problems. Does anyone know if the Finish tablets work in European dishwashers? My three-year-old Miele used to clean the dishes beautifully, but now they come out disgusting. I don’t want to use phosphates, but I expect my dishwasher to, well, wash my dishes.</p>
<p>I’m supposed to put dishwasher salt in my dishwasher, but I don’t even know where to buy it.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang -
Buying a small package of Finish tablets is a pretty cheap experiment. If you want to be extra cautious, just call the manufacturer as they should be able to answer that question. They should also be able to guide you to a place to buy dishwasher salt.</p>
<p>Buying the Finish tablets is cheap, but I have been previously told by appliance repairpeople that some soaps/detergents actually damage appliances. For example, if I use more than just a quarter cup of detergent in my washer, it’s bad for the washer, and I’m only supposed to use the HE stuff, not the regular stuff. So anyway, I don’t want to use a detergent that would damage my dishwasher.</p>
<p>CF–Finish tabs are made by a company that is No. 1 in Europe–so yes, they will work in your Miele! And you can use regular salt in your machine, or water softener salt.</p>
<p>I use Finish powerballs in my Asko dishwasher that is made in Sweden.</p>
<p>CF, My repairman told me that the Europeans were way ahead of us in abolishing phosphates, and that the Quantum Finish tabs is what they have been using for some time. So, I’m guessing they are just fine for your machine.</p>
<p>Reporting in:</p>
<p>We do not have hard water. Nonetheless, I ran the Lemi Shine through the empty dishwasher as directed.</p>
<p>Next I used cascade (regular) and lemi shine to wash the dishes as directed. (pretty good results)
Then washed again with Finish Quantum Power Ball. Finally! dishes were clean.
I did the preceding 2 steps with all our dishes, glasses and flatware.</p>
<p>Now I am just using the Finish Quantum tabs.</p>
<p>I plan to run the Lemi Shine through the machine every month.</p>
<p>So far, so good.</p>