Bosch dishwasher problem

Oct 29, 2006 48 Replies
U
1) See for some background reading.

2) As some people have correctly said, the salt is used to recharge a built in water-softener (ion exchange resin) in the dishwasher.

3) 'Salt action' tablets do not recharge the water-softener. Instead they contain phosphates. By adding phosphate ions to the water, the calcium and magnesium ions that would normally precipitate out as carbonates (limescale) are kept in solution. Calgon works the same way. The solubility of calcium carbonate in water is a somewhat complicated topic. See

for an indication.

4) The phosphates, incidentally, have been banned from use in washing powder/detergent as they contribute to eutrophication. Using dishwasher tablets is not 'green'.

Regards,

Sid

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G

The message from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

So misleading and wrong is OK provided it's easy to understand.

No wonder we get the government we deserve.

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M

I don't think it IS misleading and wrong, it's a simple way of putting it. You must understand that not everyone has your brain power.

?

I don't understand the correlation. Don't blame me for the government!

Mary

>
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M

Indeed.

We get our tablets from Lidl - at around 4p/tablet (we don't use seperate salt/rinse-aid).

I don't consider that expensive (is it?) however they work *extremely* well. In fact, I'd say they work perfectly.

Mathew

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B

I agree. And Mary's wriggling about trying to 'dumb down' her answer just doesn't wash.

But are you in an area where water hardness is an issue?

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G

The message from "Mary Fisher" contains these words:

But it /is/ misleading. It doesn't "prevent attachment" to the glass, it removes the lime before it even gets into the washing compartment. It doesn't do this by "binding" to it. The salt has nothing to do with removing the lime, that's done by something else. The salt just helps flush away the lime from the softening device.

And I do think there's a connection between people's unwillingness to grapple with subjects outside their comfort zone and the government we have. They wouldn't get away with half their crap if more people thought about what they did and poked their MPs about it.

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M

Pretty hard - 97mg/l Calcium.

Mathew

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G

Which is weird. I'm pretty sure Miele, and damn near all the other makes, are listed on the boxes of big brand dishwasher tabs I've seen.

But why are

The salt indicator shows if salt is low in the dishwasher's descaler. It's nothing to do with the "salt action" of the water. If the indicator ever lights, it means your salt sump still has salt in it, or you've turned it off.

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G

It's because people don't want to have to worry about buying three different consumables for one machine. That's reasonable enough.

The question is whether or not the all in one tablets are actually as effective.

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