Tea Stains on Mugs

[Man at B&Q]

It stains the pot. Still not a problem to clean that either.

MBQ

[Man at B&Q]

That was scale build up. The "opaque mess" referred to up the thread is a totally different mechanism. Nothing to do with grit blasting or salt.

GIYF

MBQ

[Chris Hogg]

AIUI glasses going milky in dishwashers can be due to either or both of build-up of calcium deposits due to hard water and no salt in the ion exchanger, or etching of the glass by the caustic nature of the dishwasher powder. See for example

(Usual caveats apply)

[Tim Streater]

Do all you klods make sure that the glasses in the DW are not touching each other as you stack the machine? If they do, then tiny (or larger) movements from the water jets can cause them to bump gently -> abrasion over the years.

[Tim Streater]

Certainly there are. I used to live in the Cambridgeshire mountains south of the A11 at a dizzying 300ft altitude.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Been the case when its happened to me.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I don't use salt in the dishwasher, but have told er indoors to watch out for milkiness as its a sign I forgot to add salt to the main house softener..

[MuddyMike]

Hmmm, Wikipedia! I assumed we were discussing the effect on the types of glass used in the normal home. I had also assumed that folk would be using a type of detergent designed for the purpose as well as loading their glasses so as not to chafe together.

I stand by what I say from personal experience. We have a few very good quality lead crystal glasses some very old and some relatively new, several medium quality, and several more inexpensive ones that get used every day. Over the past 20+ years of them being washed in 3 different dishwashers, using either salt with standard detergent and rinse aid, or branded "3 in

1" detergent as we do now, not one of them has been "grit-blast into an opaque mess" or suffered "etching of the glass by the caustic nature of the dishwasher powder".

Use the machine as it was designed, for what it was designed to clean, with quality additives and the problem simply does not occur.

Mike

[Huge]

No, it's rubbish.

Sigh. I measured the water hardness when we moved in and set the dishwasher appropriately. It gets more salt whenever the low salt light comes on. It still eats cheap glasses.

As you wish. You're still wrong.

[MuddyMike]

Then something is wrong, this should not happen, and does not happen when everything is correct.

Mike

[Huge]

Indeed. You.

[MuddyMike]

He He, Ok you have it. All my glasses are ruined so I must be blind...

Mike

[Huge]

You must work for Microsoft. Your glasses are OK so mine must be too?

And I didn't say "All", I said "cheap".

[MuddyMike]

The ones given away by filling stations a few years back must be good ones then! There is nowt cheaper than "free"

Mike

[chris French]

In message , MuddyMike writes

Yes, a variety of different (domestic dishwasher) detergents over the years. The glasses don't chafe, and anyway the pattern of marking isn't that of chafing, typically it's a more of cloudy/milky haze over part of the glass.

I think we are going to get nowhere with this :-) but IME it certainly does (to some - a minority - of our glasses, not all. Of course this might be because we break most of them before they get old enough :-)).

It's not scale from no salt in the machine, it certainly doesn't go away again. I'm pretty careful with the salt dosing - I remember checking it when we moved. I don't have an explanation for why it happens to me and not to you (maybe it's only certain particular type of glass?), but i'm sure it's a really effect, not 'operator error'

[Ret.]

What tablets/liquid to you use in your dishwasher? We have some cheapo supermarket wineglasses for every day use - and they became badly opaque through putting in the dishwasher. We now just rinse them and dry them by hand.

-- Kev

[Tim Streater]

We used Tesco cheapo dishwasher tablets for a while but found they were discolouring anything silver-plated.

[Ret.]

Spot on. I live in a very soft water area and have never had to use salt in the dishwasher. Some glasses go milky - others don't. I put it down to the type of tablets used. Most current dishwasher tablets are now '3 in 1' or '4 in 1' and obviate the need for salt in the dispenser anyway.

[Ret.]

A quick Google suggests that glass 'etching' caused by the detergent will be more prevalent in soft water areas (which perhaps explains why I suffer from it).:

"Is It Etching?

If the cloudy film on your glassware isn't removed by the vinegar, your glasses may have etching. Etching is a wearing away of places on the glassware. Often it happens more commonly in areas with very soft water. Don't use a water softener. If etching is the problem, don't use a water softener with your dishwasher's water. The softer the water, the more likely you'll be to have etching occur."

[Steve Walker]

I can tell you from experience that our cups and mugs have no problems, our glasses do gradually deteriorate, but they tend to get broken before they've gone very far and the chrome plating on the needle of a 1977 Mercedes' carb is destroyed by it!

SteveW