How needy is your dishwasher?

Are you using an aggressive drying cycle? I do run regular maintenance washes but don't fill up salt and rinse aid more than every month or two
Unlike the poster above, I run eco washes all the time!

Ah, thanks @LattePatty I might need to reset the water hardness on mine. We are in a very soft water area but I'm pouring salt into the stupid thing morning, noon and night.

Ours is about 8 years old now. It’s a Miele but the most basic model they did at the time. I almost never clean the filter (although when I check it it’s always fine).

after experimenting with different brands I only use fairy dishwasher tablets as I find they are by far the best. Better than finish.

we are in a very hard water area and it Asks for salt every couple months. Asks for rinse aid about once a week now which is an increase in the past so I suspect there’s a leak now.

when you first get a dishwasher you need to set it for your local water hardness - your water company website will tell you the number to use.

scrape plates don’t rinse. The dishwasher will work out how dirty the contents are and if you rinse if disrupts that.

We don't get limescale in our area so we don't need salt but we do have to put rinse aid in quite regularly, if you don't the dishes really don't get clean properly. Still a million times better than having to wash everything up though

I do salt and rinse aid top up every week/every two I'm in a hard water area and do find it need salt more than anything. I use a 'machine clean' setting with dishwasher cleaner every two weeks, if I miss it a little light flashes on and shames me for my filthyness! 😅

Advice from my appliance repair guy. Never ever use eco mode, not enough water flushes the system, cleaning eventually is compromised, and problems are more likely. Also clean the filter after every use and the spray arms weekly. Run cleaning cycle with special product monthly. I follow his advice and our last dishwasher lasted about 16 years with minor repairs.

@Bakerposs What brand of dishwasher? Rinse first for best results and use decent tablets. Did you check quality of wash in reviews before you bought?

Wrong!!! You don't need to rinse dishes first, that's called 'washing up'!! The DW tablet needs the residual food on the plate to work properly. And of course you need rinse aid and salt unless you have a soft water machine.

Unclog your pipes, it's probably the issue.

You are right to use rinse aid and salt, unless your water is very soft. About 1kg of salt each time should be right. Also check your settings for salt and rinse aid, according to water hardness. It should all be in the manual.

Also, yes, scraping but not rinsing is best. The detergent needs some dirt to work on and it saves water.

What brand is it? What type of cycle do you use?

Salt about once a month and rinse aid once a fortnight.
Salt is really important- if you dont have Salt in the reservoir it basically just sits with bacteria filled water in the bottom of your machine which is a huge risk.
I clean the filter once a week too but im not a huge rinser of plates etc

Mine's like yours OP. Constantly demanding attention. It has a particular skill for recognising when I really don't have time for its crap too. Wanker.

Same here!

I am puzzled by this thread. I've had a dishwasher 20 years and have never put salt or rinse aid in. I didn't realise it was a thing!

I have a very middle class friend,a lawyer. She said her dishwasher wasn't cleaning or emptying properly, asked when she last cleaned the filter, she said "what filter"?!! We use all in one tablet but occasionally fill salt and rinse aid. Plates wiped kitchen paper. Filter cleaned monthly, and dishwasher cI eaning pack,only use quick program. However a couple of times a year DH removes the base plate,cleans pipework. It's a small Hotpoint 10 years old.

Not as needy as my bloody car, that’s for sure. My car has conniptions if it gets within 2 feet of a gate post. I’ve had less sensitive horses.

Mine is well over ten years old and I never put salt or rinse aid in it. I use all in one tablets and live in a soft water area though.

Should add that we scrape then rinse before putting anything in there. It sometimes needs a second go to finish off the lasagne dish, but otherwise it's done in one go.

Do you fill the salt right up,you need to pretty much put the whole bag in?

Live in a hard water area and top up the salt every six months and the rinse aid monthly.

Not super careful with scraping the dishes so clean the filter fortnightly.

It has the occasional fit of temperament when it needs to be turned off at the wall. Once it has sung its chirpy heart out to alert us, it normally behaves afterwards. Yours sounds...needy... or perhaps just more complicated.

Don’t the lights or symbols come on when it needs rinse aid or salt?

How old is your dishwasher? Why is it not emptying?

I got a new one a couple of years ago and I feel like I’m forever topping up the salt! Also need to clean the filter frequently.