To celebrate an error code on my useless dishwasher

@Twodogsonthecouch I had a Smeg dishwasher which was excellent. I can't necessarily advocate the brand, as that is the only thing of theirs I have ever owned. I only bought it as I wanted something with Smeg written on it.

It finally gave out after about 14 years.

yabu for keeping the piece of shit so long. unless you need an excuse for swearing

tbh we are happy with the bosch that came with the house and would likely go with a bosch again as they have a good range of under counter ones.
I really like the eco cycle that uses less than 10l water for a full load.

lidl 4 in 1 tablets are good. if you are in a hard water you need extra salt.

I'd forgotten about the shortage of dishwashers for a while. That's how we ended up with our Bosch, but it's been fine.

We got an inexpensive one from AO and it works great, and is very quiet too.
This one

The range is Bosch/Neff/Siemens. Bosch are the bottom of the range.

The Zanussi to AEG, if you like.

Op, that could be down to the dishwasher tablets. I have noticed this with mine. Washes perfectly until I try some other brand and everything comes out gritty.

Keeping rinse aid topped up as pp said and not using short cycles as the norm.

I used a few short cycles around Christmas to keep up with the never ending flow of dirty pots and pans but this completely threw my DW and it was awful for a normal cycle or 2 after.

Do you clean your filter in the bottom? Mine gets quite grimy and greasy. Just a quick rinse under a hot tap with a bit of washing up liquid does the trick.

<whispers> It'll just be something in the filtery bit not letting it drain properly.

Yes this is usually the culprit for us too. A topped up rinse aid keeps a happy dishy 😆

Grit can be due to things not rinsing properly because the spinner thing is blocked. It's easy to remove and check (unscrew then run water through it so that anything in there pops up, and give it a few shakes)- usual culprit is a lemon pip or pine nut in the hole.

We've had Mieles for over 30 years. Dishwashers,tumbledryers, washing machines. I find they perform well and are reliable. They are expensive to buy but IME last 15-20 years so pay for themselves after about 10 years.

I don't prewash the plates but do wipe any excess food off with a bit of kitchen roll. I've never cleaned the sprayer arms.

When we built our second home 18 years ago we couldn't afford Miele so went for less expensive choices. They were all ok but don't have the build quality.of a Miele. I was very happy when they gradually wore out and I was able to replace them with Mieles. One good thing about them is there is no need to go for the top of the range models - the basic carcass and motors will be identical whether you choose an £800 one or a £1500 one.

We use all in one tablets, hard water area, no grit and can't remember when we cleaned it. We got a new Bosch washing machine though that rinsed out all fabric conditioner, so I feel your pain. The arguments with their customer "service" were extraordinary. Eventually made them take it back and delighted with a Samsung. Friday afternoon manufacturing flaws perhaps.

I've never cleaned my (Bosch) dishwasher arms! Should I? I occasionally clean the gunk from the filter.

We have a Bosch and use the expensive all in one tablets- pretty useless. This Xmas Dd put in salt and rinse aid and it is transformed- shiny clear glasses every time. I agree with Pp- the tablets lie!

My Indesit is great. Cheap as chips, 8 years old, never had a problem with it.

It replaced another Indesit that lasted 12 years.

Buy a new one. But I would have played merry hell with anyone telling me I need to clean the dishwasher arms

What a load of tosh. Same as the dishwasher cleaner thing.
Clean the filter occasionally and avoid too much mashed potato as that's what makes them leave fine grit over everything.

My FIL a former repair man told me I should rinse everything before I put it in. What a waste of time and water that would be. They're designed to clean! The filter filters anything that needs filtering.

We had a beautiful Bosch dishwasher. It lasted for over 12 years. Then just stopped working. My head was turned by a Samsung. It's shit. Am waiting for the day that an error code appears on it

Our dishwasher was shit for ages. Eventually man came out to fix it as per error code. We discovered that we were not locking in the filter at the bottom. We took it out...rinsed it etc but didn't lock it back into place. Et voila...... dishwasher has worked perfectly since. You def also need rinse aid and salt. Ignore what the tablets tell you. Have had no problem with bosch. Sorry !

My last one was a Bosch, it only dried one side. Replacement was purchased during a shortage and couldn't get the one I wanted which was a Beko, a basic one.

I ended up with a Siemens one while not wanting a Bosch but had no choice other than more expensive, and the Siemens was well overpriced for the quality. Unfortunately it is Bosch Siemens now. so I would suggest avoiding anything that says Siemens. It only dries by appoiuntment about once every 20 washes and only fits certain styles of crockery in the racks. It also leaves crockery and cutlery dirty. I use rinse aid. I clean the filter. I clean the machine. It is rubbish. Expensive rubbish.

My neighbour got a new one a while after, and got the Beko I wanted, it's good. She, however got it from AO which I refuse to use due to them delivering but not wanting to install, leaving an appliance in the middle of the kitchen and telling customers to get someone else to fit it and get a refund for the installation. They tried it with me and I told them to take it away. They also did it to neighbour. She was left with a dishwasher in her hall.

So, I would suggest getting a fairly basic one, and not Siemens if you don't want Bosch and not from AO if you want it fitted on arrival.

If you hate it that much (I assume because it doesn't do it's job properly) then why not buy a new one? Seems crazy to keep something running which causes more angst than it gives help.

An ex massive Bosch fan here! (Note EX!)

I used to have everything Bosch in my house but noticed about 6 years ago that the quality and reliability was reducing drastically. Last dishwasher only lasted 4 years!

I made a big jump last time and replaced with a Hisense. Best decision ever!
Great programmes, very reliable and looks/feels really good quality at a much lesser price than Bosch. Two and a half years later I still love it.

I would be wary of Miele personally. My sil and her DIL - massive “Keeping up with the Jones’s” types - always buy Miele and are constantly plagued with issues. Again, like Bosch, Miele used to be really good years ago but not so reliable nowadays. No longer offer the 10 year guarantee 😒.

The engineer insisted that the problem was that we weren't washing the dishes thoroughly enough before putting them in there.

i.e only put clean plates in?
This made me laugh a lot!

Current dishwasher is a six year old Bosch. We use Tesco DW capsules, salt and rinse aid and have had very few problems. I can't remember the last time I had to clean the arms, but I do chuck in a Finish in-wash cleaning tablet occasionally which seems to do the trick.

Before this we had a fairly basic Miele, which lasted 12 years before we got rid. We had just replaced the washing machine when it broke, so couldn't afford another Miele. Our neighbours have one that is 20-odd years old and still going strong.

I wouldn't recommend Zanussi (if they still make them...we had this one 18 years ago). Ours caught fire - a known fault with the circuit board apparently.

Happy dishwasher shopping OP!

I had a tumble drier that dried washing if it wanted, when it wanted, for as long as it wanted. It never dried a load in one go. It broke down in the spring and I dumped it and got a new one which works EVERY TIME!

Just get a new one!

Bosch varies a lot across the range. Series 4 are politely called entry level and are built to be affordable.
Series 6 are better quality, so don't necessarily rule out a Bosch, just don't buy a cheap one.

Miele also cost more as you go up the range, but the build quality is supposed to be the same. You get more tech with the higher priced ones.