Never had a dishwasher before and just got one. Need advice!

[RealLifeClanger]

We have finally got a dishwasher after years of wanting one. It's a Beko. The only thing is, I'm paranoid I'm not using it properly or it's not cleaning stuff properly. There's a sort of odd smell when it's finished. It's not a bad smell as such but just slightly odd. Is that normal? How do I know the dirty water is draining away properly?

We've not bought rinse aid as we're in a soft water area. Do we still need to use it? We're just using the Ocean Saver brand of tablets. Is there a better brand? We've put about 1.5kg of salt in it but I've no idea when it would need topping up.

If anyone has any tips or advice on how to use a dishwasher properly and be sure it's working properly that would be amazing. We've only used it twice so far. Pots seem clean but I still don't trust it! 😂

The salt is the thing that softens the water, that you probably don't need. The rinse aid helps the water drain off completely so it doesn't all look water spotted and is shiny looking that you may need although some tablets are 'all in one' and contain the rinse aid as well (and water softener with some).

Have you been eating eggs? I find if I put a pan in that’s had scrambled egg in or a dish I’ve used to mix egg mayo in, then the whole load smells after so I wash them by hand.

I agree, no rinsing of plates, apparently it reduces the efficacy of the detergent and it's a waste of water. Keep your filter cleaned though.

True. We normally use the all in one tablets and once accidentally used the normal kind for months without any issues because our water is very soft.

Whereas a friend of mine is constantly battling her dishwasher getting scaled up because her water is very hard.

I think if I lived in a hard water area, I'd get an inline water descaler to filter all my water because hard water kills appliances, makes shit tea, causes you to use more toiletries and makes your hair feel awful.

My DD had to learn a multi step process to doing the dishes using a dishwasher in home ec and rinsing was definitely one of the steps!

A filter doesn't work because the limescale is dissolved in the water you need a 'proper' water softener on the cold water inlet. It works much like the dishwasher water softener on a bigger scale and treats all the cold water, you feed that with salt.

I actually meant an inline water softener and had that word in my head as I typed but somehow came out as filter

Thank you all, some really useful info here. I'll check if the tabs we have contain rinse aid and if not I'll get some. I don't think they're scented as such as they're supposed to be eco ones.

I thought both salt and rinse aid were related to water hardness. Maybe we won't need to buy any more salt then.

You’re not.

I don’t bother with rinse aid or salt, in a soft water area too.
I buy the “all in one” tablets
I have tried ocean saver before and they’re not the best , and I have tried a lot of eco brands.
I usually use Aldi brand, or sometimes smol or ecover (the new ones in the tiny box).

Clean the filter regularly and run it with a dishwasher cleaner every few months

In my experience as long as you use rinse aid and salt you can get away with cheap dishwasher tablets,Aldi ones are great or the cheapest Tesco ones.

I use cheap rinse aid and salt alongside all in one tablets. You should be able to adjust your dishwasher to account for your soft water.

Scrape, dont rinse or the detergent has nothing to work on.

The dishwasher usually tells you when anything needs topping up.

They were wrong then. No need to rinse unless its something like weetabix or eggs that will bake on like concrete!

You're not supposed to rinse plates, our manual specifically tells you not to.

I am allergic to perfume, so use unscented pods from Ecozone, with their own rinse aid and salt in the pod. We just prop the door open slightly to aid drying, plastic boxes etc sit on the range overnight to dry off. It's a good idea to use a dishwasher cleaner periodically and to check the filter regularly, cleaning it if necessary.
I don't understand your not trusting the machine to clean properly. If they look clean, they are clean.

Apparently the idea is that the food particles act as scrubbers on the items. Nevertheless I wipe quickly with a piece of kitchen towel or newspaper because I hate cleaning the filters and they’re easier to clean if I do.

Use a dishwasher cleaner every 3 months.

Make sure to adjust the salt usage for your area’s water hardness, which you can find online.

Check the water sprayers every few months as they can get clogged.

Put large flat items on the outside and work inwards.

Knives go in point down

Wipe around inside door edge every week or so.

Although you will want to use it efficiently, resist the temptation to crowd in as much as you can because the water has to circulate easily.

Eco dishwasher tablets are fine eg Ocean Saver, but unfortunately I find that the Finish dishwasher cleaner works best.

Use the cheapest dishwasher salt you can get: salt is just salt, whatever the label.

Perhaps the instructions were based on different dishwashers. Working in kitchens I definitely had to rinse before using the industrial dishwashers.
But we always rinse at home, I can't change that habit now, and certainly things come out cleaner when I fill the dishwasher after rinsing than when my OH does after not rinsing.

We buy bog standard all in one tablets plus rinse aid and salt. I clean the filter at least every other cycle and once a month run it through with a dishwasher cleaner.

The advice for modern dishwashers is not to rinse, just scrape. Rinsing is less efficient that not.

I must be a minger! I've had my Ariston over twenty years now and never used salt or rinse aid. Just had to clean the little holes in the arms now and then. What am I doing wrong. 😊

We use Fairy tablets , Costco salt and finish rinse aid . Our machine ( Bosch) has warning lights for everything . On the first day of the month I always put in one of the Finish dishwash cleaners that you can use in a normal wash cycle and then my husband checks the filters occasionally . Our machine always looks immaculate .

If you live in a soft water area and don't mind if your glasses don't look like restaurant ones then it's fine. The stuff is still clean.

ps I LOVE cleaning out the arms. Really satisfying

You dont need salt.in a soft water area. Any dishwasher I have ever had has a setting when first setting it up that stops the light coming on for salt. It will be in the manual.

I think you've cracked it! I only put the heavy duty cheapo every day water glasses in the dw. I enjoy hand washing the wine glasses etc. with lots of fairy liquid, rinsing them and polishing them with a linen tea towel and holding them up to the light to search for streaks. We obviously don't use wine glasses or other posh stuff very often though!

This is why I don't use our dishwasher. If I have to scrape and rinse the plates I might as well just wash them and set them to dry on the dish rack. Then the whole process is done in 10 minutes rather than waiting 2 hours for the 'eco' dishwasher cycle. Plus I hate the steamy, damp smell when you open it which I assume is what OP is referring to.