Shiny, clean dishes make me happy. Call me strange, but it’s true.
We recently moved into an older home with older appliances. The dishwasher, however looked to be fairly new (at least, it was newer than the oven, which looks to be circa 1980). I was dismayed to discover than my dishes, rather than being “washed” in said dishwasher, were in fact coming out looking worse than when they went in. I tried the obvious solutions like running the hottest cycle and rinsing the dishes within an inch of their lives (does that phrase apply to dishes?) with no noticeable difference. As the days turned to weeks, I noticed a milky film building up on my glassware, utensils, and my heretofore shiny stainless tea kettle. This. was. serious.
I did what women naturally do in such a distressing situation: I complained about it to other women. My sisters both thought it was due to a recently passed state law banning phosphates in dishwashing detergents. I knew this wasn’t the case because I have been using Palmolive Eco for over two years with great results. My mom said my dishwasher probably needed cleaning due to the hard water here in Utah (it tends to build up in dishwashers, apparently) and brought me a bottle of Lime-away to scour the interior. I don’t generally have such harsh cleaners around and really didn’t want to use it, but I did find out you could run it through an empty dishwasher. This seemed to help a little, but my dishes were still not coming out clean. I did some research online and came up with a few great tips that seem to be doing the trick. The war isn’t over yet, but things are looking shinier!
1. Check your water pressure. I do have low water pressure in this house, but didn’t think much of it hindering my dishwasher’s performance until I realized that running the washing machine at the same time as the dishwasher seemed to make the dishes come out especially dingy. Ditto for running bath water for the kids. Luckily my dishwasher does have a delayed start option, which I will be incorporating from now on, lest I get all gung-ho and try cleaning clothing, dishes, and children all at once.
2. Clean your dishwasher. It turns out Mom was right on this one. I noticed a white, powdery film coating the walls of the dishwasher’s interior. I also noticed that the heating element in the bottom was white rather than black — coated with film that wouldn’t wipe off. I opted to wipe down all surfaces with a vinegar & water solution and run Lime-away through an empty dishwasher a couple of times. Let the dishwasher fill, and then add it to both detergent cups and re-start the cycle. Turn it off once the drying cycle begins or just set the cycle to air-dry. I will probably use the Lime-away once or twice more, since my dishwasher seems especially bad. If yours isnt’ too bad, and you want a more natural option, try using 2 cups of white vinegar instead, added right to the water after the dishwasher fills. You can also try some citric acid, which is available at restaurant supply stores and on Amazon. (Just put it right in both detergent cups.)
3. Maintain. To get the dingy dishes clean once and for all, and to maintain the cleanliness of the dishwasher, I recommend Lemi-Shine. It’s made from natural ingredients, contains no phosphates, has recyclable packaging, and is available at most grocery stores near the dishwasher detergent. It is a bit pricey (almost $5 for an 18-use package), which is why I recommend using it until you get the dishwasher clean and functioning properly and then use it as needed for maintenance. I can’t believe how much cleaner my dishes are just by adding it to two cycles!
I found some pretty good advice here:
http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-and-Maintain-a-Dishwasher
I also just run an empty cycle with a bunch of bleach. You can put the bleach in the dishwasher cups, but my DH just pours some in the main part of the dishwasher and then turns it on. The whole house smells like bleach for a little while, but it really gets it clean!
Great tips on maintenance! Thanks for the link! It sounds like bleach is a great solution for mold/mildew problems, which I didn’t bring up in this post. Thanks!
I have to say that this post makes me cry a little since I don’t have a dishwasher here in my new house. Do you think you could do a post on washing dishes by hand? Perhaps how to keep it from cluttering your sink and counter? I used a drying wrack and I HATE IT. It’s so ugly to see the dishes out on the counter dry, but I never put it away. Anyway, just an idea for another post. 🙂
Totally had the same dish un washer for a while- finally resorted to washing dishes by hand which was a fruitful and rewarding experience, believe it or not! Finally I switched back to a stronger store bought dish detergent, (I was using a homemade one) and my dishes seem to be fine now. Although I’m sad I’m not using a homemade one anymore. I really don’t know what it was. I have heard though to use vinegar in the rinse cycle, or just put a bowl with vinegar in it in an empty dish cycle and it should clean out anything built up in there. Eek, I really hate bleach, I’d try vinegar first 🙂