dishwasher cleaning problem

[beautifulgirls]

Hi, we just moved into a new house. The dishwasher there just does not seem to clean at all well or dry that well either compared to the one we had at the old house. Stuff is coming out with a greasy disgusting film on it and there is more than the odd drip of water on stuff unlike our old one. The main difference is this house has a water softener and I wondered what difference this makes? In the old one sometimes I used salt and rinse aid with a standard Finish tablet, or other times I used the 5 in 1 tablets and no salt/rinse aid. When we moved I had a stash of the 5 in 1 tabs so was using them in it, despite the soft water. I thought perhaps we were overdoing the salt by using those so I changed to the standard tabs and rinse aid, but no salt as it is soft water. The dishwasher is still as bad as ever though. I have taken out the drain filter and given that a thorough scrub with washing up liquid to remove the greasy residue that had accumulated (foul!) but still I am having to hand wash stuff that comes out after a cycle. Tried all the temp settings and none are any better than the others.

HELP! Please any advice you can offer?

ok.... where i work we had a dishwasher like that (a hotpoint)

it simpley didnt seem to wash stuff and we would often put it on 2 or even 3 times and stuff was still not clean.... we also used the maximum pots and pans cycle etc.

It also took forever... about 3 hours... and considering it was put on 2 or 3 times sometimes the load put on a breakfast was only just finishing at tea time

we had dishwasehr men out loads of times who could find nothing 'wrong' so now they have got so fed up they have gone and bought a new dishwasher that works

(a john lewis one)

IMO some dishwashers ARE crap and you may be better off just replacing it!

We had the same problem. We moved to a house with a dishwasher already plumbed in. Basically it hadn't been 'cared for' properly and was full of grease/gunk etc.

It never got anything clean properly and ended up breaking.

Got a new one now, and I love it. It's my best friend as now I don't get eczema/dermatitis/bleeding hands

Our one hasn't been performing that well lately either. It is over 7 years old though and has had a lot of use. That's a Hotpoint too. I find the Fairy tablets much better than Finish. I do sometimes think that handwashing is the most effective way of washing up.

I have had a number of dishwashers over the years.. hotpoint, Zanussi, kenwood and a french make i've forgotten the name off. hotpoint was crap. Zanussi was ok, Kenwood died after only 6 months and french one was good, but i left it behind when i moved house.

I now have the second from cheapest, basic Bosch and it is wonderful. Stuff is clean as a whistle on 35 degree quick wash, which only takes 35 mins.

My fathers dishwasher has just "died"

it was 22 YEARS old (and in the end the door thing rusted off... (the rubber seal in the powder compartment persished away at least 10 years ago so have been using tablets since then!) it still washed better than ANY dishwasher i have ever come across... but trust me hotpoint dont make dishwashers like them anymore

i have had a bosch, for about 7 years, still brilliant.
lately a bit smelly, sometimes put a empty wash with a cup of white vinegar in it, to clear smell. or buy a dishwasher freshener, that works.

dont know about water softener side of things though

Try checking the shower heads. Our dishwasher started getting fairly useless, and then one of them fell off, and I discovered that it was full of small bits of food that were blocking up the nozzles. Once rinced out it did a much better job. But be warned some machines are just a bit crap.

Ooh I was worried that was what you would all say. The dishwasher at our last house was a bosch and I loved it. Never a problem. This one is a whirlpool. I'm going to try one of those degreasing dishwasher cleaner packs you can get to see if that helps, and also the cup of white vinegar too. Failing that it may well have to be a new dishwasher as I cant put stuff in and have it coming out dirtier than it started. The shower head thingys do seem to be working just fine, so sadly no simple solution there.

Thanks for all the advice.

found the problem - it's not heating up at all so DH taking a look to see if he can see why and maybe replace a part to fix it, but otherwise a guaranteed new dishwasher.....bosch for me next time!

Thanks for all the help though.