Dishwashers w/Water Softener

[Wayne Boatwright]

Are Miele and Fisher & Paykel the only brands of dishwashers available in the US that have a built-in internal water sofetener? Any US brands?

TIA

Wayne

[Edwin Pawlowski]

AFAIK, yes. Do you really want to have the softener in the DW? While it sounds good on paper, I'm not sure just how practical it is.

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Mon 10 Jan 2005 09:18:56p, Edwin Pawlowski tittered and giggled, and giggled and tittered, and finally blurted out...

Actually, yes, I do. It is neither economically nor logistically feasible to install a whole-house water softener in the home we'll be moving into later this year. Even if this weren't the case, we really wouldn't want one. In our past two homes we had excellent water softeners. While we enjoyed the advantages softened water provides for dish washing and laundry, we hate the feel of soft water on the skin. All arguments aside, we could never be talked into having one again.

Integral water softeners in dishwashers are quite common in Europe and the UK and have been used for quite some time. I haven't read of significant problems with them.

Thanks, Wayne

[Art]

I would check the repair records for those 2 brands in COnsumer Reports at the library. If my memory servers me they did not do well although better than Asko which I finally thru in the garbage after it broke 4 times in 6 years.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I found it interesting that the Fisher & Paykel units for sale in the US tout the softener, but it is not mentioned on the New Zealand web page. No doubt that soft water is better for cleaning but maybe it is available detergents in the US that make them sort of redundant? is typical hard water in the US still better than water in Europe?

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Tue 11 Jan 2005 12:25:44p, Art tittered and giggled, and giggled and tittered, and finally blurted out...

Yes, I fully intend to research before purchase. The Fisher & Paykel dish drawers would probably not work well for my purpose, so have probably eliminated them.

Thanks, Wayne

[Wayne Boatwright]

On Tue 11 Jan 2005 05:41:40p, Edwin Pawlowski tittered and giggled, and giggled and tittered, and finally blurted out...

All good questions, Ed. The water where we live in AZ is quite hard. I can't remember the number, perhaps 11? The detergent formulations available here definitely do a good cleaning job, but there is still considerably spotting in spite of the detergent and rinse agent. The water softeners in our pervious houses virtually eliminated this. I'm hoping that a DW with an integral softener might produce the same results.

Wayne