How needy is your dishwasher?

[Bakerposs]

Mine seems to demand salt and rinse aid weekly?
I also have to regularly (like more than once a week) clean the arms and the filter.
It still regularly punishes me by not properly cleaning things but ‘burning’ on the mess so it then needs scrubbing. Or by not draining properly so I have to dig around in the water to get the filter etc.
we do scrape the plates etc before putting them in but dont rinse them. Is this where we’re going wrong?

When did you last use the dishwasher cleaner? I put one of these in the hottest cycle once a month. Cleans all the gunk from the machine and drain pipe. Before running it, I take the filters out and clean them and wipe the door seals. If you use it a lot, you might need to adjust the frequency. Also, you can adjust the settings for water hardness so you are dosing everything correctly. Check it here https://www.aquacure.co.uk/knowledge-base/uk-hard-water-map/

Mine is about once a month, I never used to do it, but I’ve learned the dishes come out so clean and sparkly when I keep on top of it. I can tell when it needs doing as the dishes aren’t as clean. It takes a couple of mins, no big deal, did it this morning, I also rinse out the arm thing at the same time.

i switched off the alarms to tell me when it needs doing as it wasn’t accurate and would need to do it more than necessary , now i judge by the dishes and glasses.

I’m the dishwasher in our house, not overly needy, 8 hours of sleep, daily coffee x 2 ( instant does the trick), 2 cycles a day of washing up, been going somewhat strong for 2 decades (I’m 39 today), do have little breakdowns along the way 🤣

If you have hard water it will probably be more needy, everything that uses water is more needy with hard water as bits fur up and sometimes block, I'm sure our kettle would last twice as long in a soft water area.

OP, I would use Finish dishwasher deep cleaner on a separate cycle every few weeks. My dishwasher has its own cycle to do this and tells me when it needs doing. I check the waste filter and salt after doing this. However my dishwasher is amazing. I put everything in including pots and pans and it comes out amazingly clean on an hour long quick cycle.
I need rinse aid about every 10 days but I usually do 2 loads a day and can do up to 6 loads in a day if we have visitors. I haven’t cleaned the spray arms yet and I have had the dishwasher about a year.

We had one from Ikea that I battled with for about 2 years mystified why everything was coming out dirty all the time. I assumed user error. Luckily it broke and I replaced with one from AO making sure in the reviews there were no mention of things coming out dirty - this dishwasher is a power house and needs no coaxing to wash at all. I don’t rinse. I don’t regularly put in salt and rinse aid (will do rinse aid maybe every 3 months?).

it’s probably not you!!

our new dishwasher is this one if you are looking to replace. Highly recommend. https://ao.com/product/h8iht59lsuk-hotpoint-hydroforce-full-size-dishwasher-black-97376-23.aspx?cmredirectionvalue=Hotpoint+Hydroforce+H8IHT59LSUK

Mine is a Bosch. I use the all in one tabs, always bought discounted, and it doesn’t ask for salt or rinse aid. I clean the filter at the bottom every week or so ,and scrape plates with a rubber spatula. I use the long wash cycle as it’s supposed to better for the machine, and it uses less electricity.

Love my dishwasher and I tell it so regularly.

The spray arms seem like a stupid design to me. Those tiny little holes that get clogged with pieces of crap that you can't then get out without pushing them further in. Yet I've never seen a dishwasher designed any other way to avoid this.

@overunderover Never ever had a clogged spray arm! What on earth is happening in your dishwasher? I’ve had dishwashers for 40 years and never had an issue with a spray arm. How can they get clogged when they spray clean water?

Very, mines texts me when it wants something, which seems to be daily. It texts me more often than some of my mates.

HARD RELATE 😄
We moved house and had to leave our gorgeous old dishwasher in situ. It rarely asked for salt or rinse aid and cleaned beautifully every time. It was happy with a clean out of the trap once a week.
Our new one is exactly like yours - stuck on the Bad Boyfriend cycle.

I had one that the spray arm got clogged, I think it was Electrolux, probably about 15 years ago. I was always trying to clear out the arms, they had bits in them that rattled when you shook them and sometimes dropped out, it looked like scale, even though I used salt. My Bosch one that I have had about 5 years has been fine though.

Never had blocked spray arms either (hope I haven’t just jinxed the dishwasher) but I think the water is reused during the cycle so it’s not just clean water that gets sprayed out and might have food particles in.

I don’t use salt or rinse aid (soft water area).
I run it with a dishwasher cleaner every few months and clean the filter regularly.
Usually run it on eco cycle but will do an intensive one every couple of weeks.
Use Aldi all in one tablets
Never have issues with it really, it’s a Bosch

@BertieBotts, re the soaking thing, no idea if it is in the manual for my dishwasher. I do it because properly baked on food residue (cauliflower cheese edges, lasagne edges etc) doesn't fully come off in my dishwasher, even on the hottest (70 degree), longest cycle. My machine is run on the eco cycle 99% of the time (50 degrees). I never use the quick cycle.

The maintenance wash thing is interesting. Mine doesn't have a maintenance cycle. I run it empty on the hottest setting every couple of months or after a heavy period of use (Christmas etc), with a cup of soda crystals chucked in the bottom.

I use the all-in-one tablets too. I wonder if OP has used dishwasher cleaner at all? I do mine monthly.

What brand is it. I had an expensive Bosch that needed the arms cleaned weekly or it would leave dried on stains on things that didn’t have them before they went in. Never had to do that with my previous much cheaper dishwashers I was almost relieved when it died at only 4 years old. Was recommended Becko by 2 different engineers and it’s much better a lot less needy

I have to hold my hands up and confess I've never cleaned our dishwasher's filters (where are they?!) or had to clean the arms. I don't rinse plates but I do remove any chunks of food; anything the size of a rice grain or larger gets flicked off into the bin.

Ours politely asks for salt and rinse aid every now and again, we are in a moderately hard water area. The only strop ours had was when a slug crawled across the circuit board and tripped the electricity. Fortunately circuit boards are DH's specialist subject so we didn't have to trouble Miele with that little issue, he just made it a new one.

We don't wash pans in it as it's a slimline version, we usually wash them by hand while the food mess is still soft and pliable, comes off very easily. I do soak those dishes used for baking shepherd's pie, lasagne, etc, it gets baked on rock hard so needs a bit extra.

Once DS set the dishwasher running without a tablet in it, I could tell because although the majority were sparkling clean, the teaspoons still had their tannin patina...

I use the 3-in-1 tablets, so I’m assuming that means I don’t need salt and rinse aid? It’s a cheap Hoover dishwasher, 7 years old and has never given me a moments grief anyway! Stuff goes in dirty, comes out clean. Occasionally remember to check there’s no crap clogging up the filter thing (there rarely is) and chuck a dishwasher cleaner thing through it every couple of months. So not needy at all really!

We rinse everything before putting in. Had the sam dishwasher for 13 years. It does make a difference.

Ours is the cheapest Bosch on the market (and 12 years old). we remove leftover food from plates/pots, and soak baking dishes/burnt on stuff.
4 people in the house, so gets used daily
no maintenance

I use all in one tablets and mine still demands rinse aid and salt. I probably have to top up the rinse aid every couple of weeks and salt once a month maybe less. It’s a Bosch dishwasher.

If you’ve never unlocked that part in the bottom of the dishwasher to wash out the filter I dread to think how thick the gunk is 😬

Having a water softener reduces consumption of salt and rinse aid hugely, provided your machine has an adjustment for the water hardness or can detected it automatically.

Very basic machines will use more consumables as they have no adjustment, but weekly sounds excessive.

I top up the salt yearly, and the rinse aid monthly, clean filter about once a month on a 5 year old Miele.

We don't rinse the plates and use dishwasher powder (Sainsbury's), which seems to work better and is usually cheaper (10p).

Check your manual but every one I've read specifically tells you do NOT rinse the plates, as that's exactly what it does on its first cycle.
I know it feels intuitive to rinse them but you're just wasting water, energy and time, and it shouldn't make any difference if the machine is working correctly.

You may also notice on the door of the detergent dispenser there are usually some slits, or a tiny area, so a small amount of the powder is added to help the initial rinse cycle, which doesn't happen if you use tables or capsule.

Ours is a Miele, not so much demanding, more inaccurately claiming it needs salt or rinse aid. Think it claims that after a certain number of washes rather than ‘knowing’ it’s run out

The coffee machine, on the other hand, is a bottomless pit of need