Clean Dishwasher...

I used a product called Dishwasher Magic not long ago. It may be very similar to CLR. Anyway it did the trick! We had tried vinegar to but I think ours was to far gone as far as hardwater residue clogging up the works. I'm going to try and maintain with vinegar and may try CLR the next time.

Just thought of this....True CLR may be environmentally unfriendly (not sure, may not be too) but I imagine that it is less so than a whole dishwasher in the landfill. ;-).

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it may be your dish detergent try another dish detergent and maybe try a spot free detergent try something different

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It *might* not be the washer. I was getting a build up that looked like sand in the bottom of my cups when they would come out of the washer. It turned out my water heater had sediment at the bottom of it. They drained and flushed out the water heater as part of maintenance on it - and the problem went away.

So if the other ideas don't work - you might look at your water heater as a possible culprit.

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A plumber told us to use Mucuric (sp?) acid in it about every three to six months. You can fin it at a pool supply store. You just let the (empty) dishwasher fill with water then dump in about 1/4 of a bottle and let the dishwasher cycle. Be careful to dump it in there quickly and not to breathe in the fumes or get it in your eyes. It's strong stuff.

Good luck!

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Clean the filter. Most dishwashers you can pull it out and wash it really well. Also you could put a bottle of white vinegar in the bottom and run it on the hottest longest cycle. Make sure your rinse aid is full.

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try a different detergent, make sure there is nothing clogging it up my boys put their plates in the dishwasher and one of them had a plastic wrapper that got left and went through the cycle once I found it and removed the dishwasher started running better again. Check your settings ours cleans better on the heavy/pots and pans setting. How old is your dishwasher? They don't make things like they used to anymore. It seems with washers, dryers, dishwashers, etc you are lucky if you get 5 years even with light use.

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Hi S., this may be environmentally unfriendly, but once a month or so I pour about a cup of CLR in the tub of my dishwasher which always does the trick. We have very hard water here, so there's flakey white build up on all the parts. CLR takes it right off. You can by it in any grocery store where the bathroom cleaners are.

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Use only powder detergent. Run vinegar through a cycle or two. Check the trap that it's not full of food scraps. Use the pre-measured packs of the powdered detergent and NEVER liquid or gel.

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CLR is supposed to actually be OK for the environment. Also, I've heard often about the hot water heater thing. I've heard if you start the hot water before you start the dishwasher, it is better when running the dishwasher. Definitely check the filter. Also, pouring a bottle of lemon juice helps with any odors left behind. Just pour the bottle and run a short cycle.

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mine was doing the same, i ised a cup of clr, and then bought the electrosol dishwasher cleaner cartridge. I also switched detergent from liquid to those little action pak things. they are awesome!

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We bought a plastic container at Lowes, it's in the cleaning supplies, and it is specifically for cleaning the dishwasher. Mine works much better now, I am going to do the treatment every so often.

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We started using those little "cakes" of soap rather than the liquid and we put it in the bottom of the dishwasher rather than the soap dish thing. It definitely improved the performance of ours!

Good luck!
-M

Hi! I've been there with you before. Try a product called Dishwasher magic (you can buy it at Target or your grocery store). My kitchen aid repair man suggested the product. It cleans the dishwasher and gets rid of the build up. You may actually want to get two bottles and run the product twice. Also, you may have a hard water problem. I use Lemi-shine with every load. It's great! Good luck!

might be a water hardness issue. we had a very expensive dishwasher whose performance continued to deteriorate. turns out that we have EXTREEMELY hard water. put in a water softener & everything is clean (and no spots on the shower!).

something is probably clogged. i had mine serviced. and even though they SAY you dont need to rinse food, if I dont I get clogged lines. also jet dry really helps.

was not draining completely. My husband took it out and cleaned all the catch filters underneath and that totally helped the issue.

I've had success with a product called Lemi Shine. I get mine at Walmart, but they probably carry it elsewhere. Follow the instructions on the bottle; it work great:)

Hello, I have to same problem, so I just want to see what everyone says. Thanks for asking this question.
K. K.

Hello S.,
I had the same problem and a friend mentioned that you can buy a dishwasher cleaner in the grocery store. Try looking for one in the same aisle that you buy the soap. It is a small container that you put in the dishwasher for one cycle with no dishes. It made a huge difference for me and was inexpensive in my mind - less than $10.00.
Good Luck!
P.

Take all the dishes out of the washer and run it with a cup of white vinegar. I do this once a month to clean out the dishwasher and get rid of any residue. Works like a charm for me!

Personally I would deep clean your dishwasher. It is really easy to do. You take as much of the base apart that you can easily and use pipe cleaners to clean the little water sprayers holes. Then you put it back together. It is really easy and you might be surprised what you are washing your dishes with... (we are military and do this every move.... the grossest dishwasher was the one that had dog hair and rice in the water spigots. Wonder why the previous residents complained of tummy troubles all the time... or not!)

You may have calcium and lime build up. I had good luck running the dishwasher empty on very hot water with a dose of CLR.....you can buy it at most hardware stores....