Dishwasher Spot Free Hack/Trick/Recommendation for some :)

Joined
Oct 28, 2002
Messages
59,368
Location
Everson WA - Pacific NW USA
New Bosch DW - quiet and efficient. We love it.
We use tabs, which actually work really well at cleaning. Everything quite clean.
Soft water, treated well water, KCl. Clean and low minerals.
No spoting on glass, some water spoting on plastics
Some very slight soap residue if water puddles on items and sometimes on surfaces and with a clear clean glass fill with RO water, some slight soap type bubble. PROBLEM!
Tried the usual rinse aids, actually made the residue a bit worse. At best a waste of money.

So we put the detergent tab right in, not in the timer cup. Helps!!

Then we took a next step. We drop the detergent tab in bottom to start and put citric acid (1 tablespoon) in the timer cup. WHAMMO problem solved!

So I bought a 5 pound bag of citric acid (food grade) , transferred some to jar next to the tabs. Been doing this for a few weeks and everything that cycles is quite nice, no residue, nothing.

Everybody has different water and machines and soap, etc but this worked for us. Give this a shot if you don't want to buy a rinse aid which I knew ended up going in my body.

Also we never run aluminum in the DW (which detergent is hard on anyway).
 
If you dont want to go to the store a large measuring cup filled with white vinegar sat on the top rack also works well to clean a machine.
 
Yup, citric acid ftw. I'll put some in with the tab and also sprinkle some in the bottom.
 
Stinks and citric for whatever reason works better than acetic. Plus machine is clean, we are talking regular washes.

Id expect your machine to be pretty squeaky clean -

Yeah vinegar stinks - but it works.

Curious - on your machine - what material are the spray arms made of?
 
If we use tablets it goes right in the bottom, not the timed door. Cleans better.
We have gone back to powder, some in the drawer , some in the bottom , cleans better, less cost.
 
Sounds like a good idea but over the long run how will this affect the plastics and any other metals inside the dishwasher?
 
I switched to cascade platinum(pods) and have no issues. store brand and finish both sucked in various ways.
I also run it on high temp and "sanitizer rinse"
 
Sounds like a good idea but over the long run how will this affect the plastics and any other metals inside the dishwasher?

You'd think it would be hard on seals and parts, but I ran lemishine (basically citric acid) , in small amounts as part of almost all loads in my Arizona house for decades with the only effect being no buildup inside an crystal clear glassware.

Have cloudy glassware ? CA cleans it up spectacularly.
 
Last edited:
New Bosch DW - quiet and efficient. We love it.
We use tabs, which actually work really well at cleaning. Everything quite clean.
Soft water, treated well water, KCl. Clean and low minerals.
No spoting on glass, some water spoting on plastics
Some very slight soap residue if water puddles on items and sometimes on surfaces and with a clear clean glass fill with RO water, some slight soap type bubble. PROBLEM!
Tried the usual rinse aids, actually made the residue a bit worse. At best a waste of money.

So we put the detergent tab right in, not in the timer cup. Helps!!

Then we took a next step. We drop the detergent tab in bottom to start and put citric acid (1 tablespoon) in the timer cup. WHAMMO problem solved!

So I bought a 5 pound bag of citric acid (food grade) , transferred some to jar next to the tabs. Been doing this for a few weeks and everything that cycles is quite nice, no residue, nothing.

Everybody has different water and machines and soap, etc but this worked for us. Give this a shot if you don't want to buy a rinse aid which I knew ended up going in my body.

Also we never run aluminum in the DW (which detergent is hard on anyway).
I use lemishine. It might be some form of citric acid
 
How bad is that stuff for the septic system? Mine is quite old and sensitive; I'd hate to put something down there I shouldn't.

Although, I've never noticed any spotting on my dishes after a cycle. My water softener is kind of over-softening the water though, so that might have something to do with it...
 
Back
Top