Have just put soda crystals in dishwasher...

[bonzo77]

... Instead of salt. Accidentally of course, due to being tired and pregnant. Is this going to date the machine? What can I do?

Don't know but clean it out as quick as you can, and before running the machine. It is more common for inexperienced owners to put detergent powder in the salt vessel by mistake.

you can take most of it out with a spoon, when you've taken out what you can, pour hot water into the vessel repeatedly to dissolve it and make it spill out of the vessel. You might be able to bale the overspill out of the filter compartment if you take the filters out.

Thank you. I only put in a couple of table spoons max before I realised. I can't really scoop it out as the vessel is quite small diameter so I can't tip the spoon at the right angle. Also its full of water. It always is. If I dilute it / flush it out with hot water where will the water go? Will it just drain the normal way without me running the machine?

I regularly put a few large scoops of soda crystals in the dishwasher to clean it. Works brilliantly. So I wouldn't worry.

If you pour hot water into the salt vessel, it will spill over the filler into the bottom of the machine, first filling the filter sump, then spreading across the bottom of the machine until it reaches the height of the top of the filler. I suppose you could give it a good stir when your first fill it to help dissolve the crystals. What I have in mind is that the fresh hot water will dissolve the crystals and the solution will mostly be washed out into the base.

It is actually possible to drain the machine without using the pump, by taking the rubber hose away from the waste pipe, and lying it flat on the floor, or preferably in a basin or bowl. If you can't do that, then as soon as you turn the machine on, even for ten seconds, the first thing it does is pump away the water content of the cabinet and the filter sump.

Salt is Sodium Chloride and Washing Soda is Sodium Carbonate. A chemist might know how it would affect the resin in a softener; I don't. It might not do any harm, because of the way ion exchange works, but without knowing for sure, I would try to minimise the risk