Talk to me about dishwashers lol

[layla888]

So after 2 years of complaining and moaning DH has ordered me a nice new dishwasher thats coming on Friday. I know you have to put tablets in and never washing up liquid but what's the salt for? Oh and rinse aid? Can you use the stuff from the £1 shop or are the exspensive tablets worth it? Talk to me ppl x

Keep it topped up with salt and rinse aud regularly - you won't need more than a /bottle packet of each every few months.

As for tablet quality I'm convinced it depends on the dishwasher! I've always used Finish, but my Hotpoint dishwasher would regularly go scummy and smell, so I'd need to use dishwasher cleaner regularly (Tesco own brand is great).

My Bosch dishwasher makes everything beautifully clean and sparkly all the time, no need for cleaner so far!

Might also depend on your water softness (I'm in a hard water area) so trial and error needed! HTH :)

Btw rinse aid makes things shiny and can help dishes dry without watermarks. No idea what salt does!

Thanks. We've ordered a bosh one also so fingers crossed it's good

Watch out for special offers in supermarkets on tablets - Sainsburys and Tescos regularly do half price offers on Finish or Fairy tablets (the one that you don't need to unwrap), I only buy them when they are on offer.

Salt is, I think, to counteract water hardness - my Siemens tells me how much to put in depending on the water hardeness, the rinse aid is, I think, to stop streaks.

I love my dishwasher - it seems to be coming towards the end of its life after 13 years being used at least once a day (well its on/off button has broken but it still works and its baskets are a bit tatty) but it is worth every penny.

I've just got my first one. I thought I hated them, but I love it!

I've only been using it a week. Only used tablets, nothing else. Do I really need the other stuff? We have well water, so no chemicals, and have soft water. Everything's been coming out wonderfully clean and shiny so far.

Most of all I'm loving that my DH and teenage SS stack it without being asked, yet it used to be me washing up 90% of the time.

Hang on - first things first. Whether you need salt in a dishwasher depends on the water hardness. We live in the NW - no dishwasher salt required at all. One dishwasher we had came with a pH tester kit for the water. I think your water company can provide info on hardness in your area, probably on their website.

There is often something to set which dispenses salt, if you need it, in the correct concentration. So do read the manual.

I never use separate rinse aid, just Aldi Magnum dishwasher tablets. Works fine.

Salt is a water softening agent. The softer the water, the better it cleans. It also means the dishwasher won't get limescale build up.

Rinse Aid helps things dry. If we don't use it in our dishwasher, everything comes out dripping wet. It somehow makes the water drip off everything in sheets rather the droplets, so you get dry dishes with no watermarks.

I never find 3 in 1 tablets work. Any cheap salt and rinseaid will be fine. I use Finish Classic tablets - 100 for £9.99 in B&M.

I used to always use Fairy platinum but actually quite like the Lidl ones now. Fraction of the price!