Tips for improving dishwasher performance

[Anonymous]

Brand name detergent only. The cheap stuff does nothing. Live and learn.

[Anonymous]

After trying many brand name detergents, I get the cleanest dishes with Kirkland detergent from Costco. I always run the sink water until it's hot before starting the dishwasher. I fill jugs or pots so I don't waste the water.

I don't actually like my dishwasher but my dishes are always clean so I won't replace this 10 year old Kenmore until it stops working.

[Anonymous]

We just replaced the water inlet on our Bosch. Apparently those tend to get moldy. It works much better now. Have an appliance repairman take a look.

How is the water pressure coming in to your residence? At this point, I routinely have installed two PRVs - one before and one after the water shutoff inlet to the house. That is the only way to see for sure if there is a pressure problem (not a PRV problem).

If you have limited water pressure, you may need to decide between taking a shower, running laundry, or running dishwasher until a water pressure booster pump can be installed.

[Anonymous]

Definitely clean the filter. Add your rinse aid. And use Finish powerball pods. Don’t put it in the detergent slot, just throw it in the bottom.

[Anonymous]

We definitely had to up our detergent. We now get the more expensive version of cascade (after phosphates were banned). I might try the tsp trick. Also, I agree with making sure your hot water is hot enough. And for those of us with older models, making sure most of the gunk is rinsed off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old is your dishwasher? When the one that came with our house (and old Kenmore - manufactured by Whirlpool) I tried everything suggested, including taking it apart to make sure it was really clean and when it finally crapped out we replaced it with an 800 series Bosch and it was life changing.

If your dishwasher is newer, READ THE MANUAL and load the dishes and use the recommended detergent and rinse aid.

With modern detergents, you shouldn't rinse the dishes clean - they clean using enzymes and need something to work on. Just scrape and load.

+1 A year ago I tried most of the things in this thread. Ran load after load after load experimenting. Finally my dishwasher started leaking out the front and the back - I wore it out. You’re lucky if you get more than seven years out of a dishwasher nowadays.

[Anonymous]