Dishwasher Being Silly - Help....!

[Steve Walker]

Hi -

Whirlpool ADP742 dishwasher fairly generic appliance used for ordinary domestic stuff. in a medium/hard water area. Has worked well enough for several years, but recently is being very strange about salt & limescale.

Firstly it seems to be eating salt. I've put several 2Kg bags in during the last few weeks, but I think it's being lost or flushed. Today I loaded salt until it was level with the filler neck, and the floating green marker came up into sight. After just one wash, there's no salt visible, and the floating green marker has gone.

Secondly, the dishes are coming out coated in a dusty scale. I think this actually might be the dishwasher salt, which is somehow mixing into the fill water rather than treating it. It won't wash off with water though, it needs an acidic rinse (vinegar removes it instantly)

I have no idea how a dishwasher ion exchange doobrie works, but I'm imagining a permeable barrier like visking membrane? is it possible that this has failed, and raw salt is leaking in? Or do I just need to keep feeding salt to it until it's 'recharged' (we went for quite a while without using salt, but it's had 3 or 4 2KG bags in the last month).

Any ideas please? Do the ion-exchangers wear out? Can I get another one.... ?

TIA

[Tabby]

You've got limescale forming on the dishes, salt would wash off instantly. It happens when there's no salt or no descaling happening. I'd suspect something may be physically broken, maybe you can disassemble a bit to see if that's so and fix it.

NT

[newshound]

Are you using "simple" powder? If so, the magic "all in one" tablets might be worth a try

[Steve Walker]

Yeah, that's the cheapskate option forming in my mind - we didn't have any problem until I whimsically decided to put some salt in the thing, we'd been using no salt and 3-in-1 for ages without problems. Maybe I just have to wait for the leaking salt to flush through.

Thanks to you & Tabby - if anyone knows a source for schematics or repair manuals that would be really helpful.

[ARWadsworth]

Why not try a dishwasher cleaner through the machine?

My dishwasher was playing up a few years ago (white stains everywhere) and I was told to stop adding salt (very soft water area) put a cleaner in the machine and carry on with the 3 in 1 tablets.

Everything has been spotless since.

[Steve Walker]

Thanks - it's worth trying before spending big money.

[Bob Eager]

Might just be that the resin in the softener needs multiple cycles to regenerate after being starved of salt for all this time.

(I have no knowledge of how long this takes). But the 3-in-1 tablets wouldn't have done it.

[ARWadsworth]

When I say everything I mean everthing, the walls of the dishwasher, the heating elements and the stuff put into the dishwasher that it was supposed to clean.

[Tabby]

I think it must depend on the water, my experience with all in 1 tablets was about the opposite. Salt stil essential. If what you were doing before without salt worked, great, carry on :)

NT

[Andy Champ]

We're not on _very_ hard water, but still found salt was needed. Or at least, it was after the house softener went on the blink.

Andy

[ARWadsworth]

But worth a punt for the £3 needed for a dishwasher cleaner. Bang it in the dishwasher press the start button and see what happens. (I assume that dishwasher owners can afford a £3 punt)

[Tabby]

Is vinegar an adequate substitute? 13p.

NT

[ARWadsworth]

Dunno. But I do a run every now and again with vinegar through my washing machine

[dennis]

Is there anything that vinegar will actually react with? Dishwashers normally have a water softener so don't build up lots of calcium fur for the vinegar to remove. That is unless you actually believe that "salt action" tablets do the salt action needed to regenerate the softener and don't put real salt in the machine. "Salt action" tablets can't regenerate the softener resins as the water they are in doesn't go through the resin so I don't know what "salt action" they are supposed to do.

I actually use dishwasher cleaner but, I put the removable bits from the cooker in as the dishwasher cleaner softens all the grease and stuff that can get on them. ASDA sold off a load of finish dishwasher cleaners in packs.. two cleaners and two fresheners for £1.25 after their last cleaning event so they are quite cheap.

I also find the really cheap tablets/powder is better as its far more caustic than the newer gentle cleaning products. However it can mark glass after a few years.