Do you use dishwasher salt & rinse aid and if so why?

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The light never lights up for both the salt and rinse aid on my Bosch dishwasher? I live in a soft water area so maybe thats the reason?

Never used either of these products. Will they help my machine perform better?

I do, but I live in an area with water hard enough to slice!

It depends on the water in your area. Ours is very hard water so I use both. I’ve lived in areas with very soft water and not bothered with either.

i never use salt as my dishwasher spits it everywhere and all the plates have a white film on them and my cups taste salty!

I do use rinse aid though

I use both. The machine asks for them, and cleans better once I fill up .
but if yours doesn’t ask I dont know

Hard water area here , use salt and rinse aid.

I live in a soft water area, so no salt necessary. Instead of rinse aid I add vinegar to the dishwasher

I use salt and rinse aid as it annoys me when the lights are lit. I have turned the hardness thing down on the machine as I'm in a soft water area. Rinse aid helps with the drying

Always. Hard water area.

We have very hard water and I use both. Although the tablets say they contain both too.

The dishes are sparkling clean though.

No salt as I live in soft water area ( my washer came with a test kit) . I use rinse aid as it speeds up the drying process ( actually shows in the timer) and I think it’s kinder on glassware. But I am not sure I can prove that .

salt yes, rice aid no.

We used both, but we're also skinflints who buy the much cheaper dishwasher powder rather than tablets.

Current dishwasher tells me off if the salt or rinse aid needs topping up. Previous dishwashers, I can’t say I ever noticed - I think DP used to occasionally top them up when he felt like it.

Current dishwasher is a bit needy, I feel.

No, but I'm in a soft water area. I run it empty with a dishwasher cleaner that sits inside and do it on a hot wash once a year.

I don't need salt as I'm in a soft water area. There was something in the manual about changing the setting.

I use rinse aid because it makes a noticeable difference to how dry things are, especially plastic items. If you don't have a problem with this, I wouldn't bother.

We have a water softener (live in a v hard water area) so have never used salt or rinse aid.

I use both, but have the salt at the lowest setting due to having a water softener.

I also use dishwasher powder, which works fine and is a bit cheaper.

Yes to both.
And I can tell when the rinse aid is running low, as stuff comes out crusty.

We live in a really hard water area and the light seems to be on constantly for both even when we do use them!

Same here. I haven't heard that expression. Made me smile. When we did calibration water test thing for dishwasher the number was almost off the scale (scale being an appropriate word).

Both but we've got ridiculously hard water. If a kettle lasts 3 years we feel like we've won the lottery.

Soft water here, never add anything other than cheap tablets

Hard water area - use dishwasher salt and white vinegar.

We live in an area of very hard water but we have our own water softener so I don't use salt in the dishwasher. I would if the water softener broke down, which did happen once for a couple of weeks before it could be fixed. Generally though, no salt needed in our dishwasher.

I do use rinse aid. I think it does reduce the etching effect on glasses. However, I don't worry if it has only just run out as the tablets do contain some as well.

No to salt as I have soft water but I've recently started using rinse aid and my glasses are coming out gleaming, I feel dead posh and a bit like Nanette Newman in the fairy liquid adverts!
I bought a massive bottle from Lidl but the machine only seems to need about 5ml a time which lasts for ages.