As usual salt light came on (usually every 3 months). Topped up salt (as usual). Normally it takes a wash to get the light off. However this time the lights been on for 5 washes.
A quick google suggests the lights float-activated, and the float can get scummy ? I tried pouring boiling water into the reservoir and then topping up again.
Still no joy.
Anyone had similar ?
I *wouldn't* use boiling water here, too much risk of causing plastic parts to deform, perhaps making things worse. Possibly limescale, in which case descaler might be better but then could that damage the ion exchange resin?
Does it really matter? Easy enough to check salt level by opening the lid.
Salt? That's so last millennium. What's wrong with all-in-one tablets? Our salt light is on permanently, though.
Well we do live in the UKs softest water area.
But even with all-in-1 tablets (like what we use) the advice was to use salt ??????
We're in a soft water area and have never used salt at all. Current dishwasher is 12 years old and still works as good as the day we bought it.
We have the same problem. Unfortunately I haven't found an answer yet and, like you, we were advised to continue to use salt with all-in-one tablets. I don't want to dismantle the dishwasher to investigate as it is difficult to get at without damaging the kitchen unit it is under. Google searches didn't provide an answer so any ideas would be useful!
because all in one tablets don't soften the water.
Bosch say their dishwashers are compatible with all in one stuff but that you will get better results from salt, detergent and rinse aid.
Its also cheaper.
If its a built in dishwasher then there is probably a screw mechanism at the front to lower the whole thing so you can pull it out.
On mine the light is disabled if the water softening system is set to zero.
What is also cheaper?
My google turned up "float with magnet, reed contact outside the container". The float may or may not measure the density of the salt solution, i.e. float in salt water, sink in pure water. And apparently salt can get where it doesn't belong, and won't dissolve easily, because the water is a saturated solution of salt.
So maybe rinse out well? Or, if your water is soft enough, some black tape applied over the salt light:-)
Thomas Prufer
"salt, detergent and rinse aid"
We have used the AIO tablets for several years, without salt, and we live in a hard water area. It all works okay. The dishwasher is now 10 years old and gets used once or twice a day. Bosch, btw.
I mistakenly bought the old-fashioned tablets once and we used those (without salt). After only a week or two, we started getting quite a lot of limescale. Fortunately, that all went when I realised and put some salt in.
A hole in the float is a possibility.
I have same problem
Then this might help:
Lynnitt snipped-for-privacy@example.com wrote in news:164ec29e381aa6b3$1$2689$ snipped-for-privacy@news.newsgroupdirect.com:
Have you started to use all in one tablets? Many newe machines have a way of inhibiting salt and rinse aid warnings and operation in the settings. Read the manual as it is often not obvious.
Even my brand new dishwasher has the light on despite adding salt to the rim!
as long as you keep salt in there you can ignore the warning - but never let the salt run out, it kills the ion exchanger.
Not a problem if you don't need it. Our water is incredibly soft (the water board have to dose it to stop it absorbing lead from old pipes, as no coating forms at all and 20 year old kettles are like new), so our dishwasher has never had any salt in it. The manual does tell you how to disable the warning if you are in a soft water area.
It is worth knowing about the water in your area, as even here, the TV adverts show products for removing or preventing limescale!
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