Dishwasher tablet question

Fiolina

I have a Nordmende dishwasher just over a year old. Most of the time I would use Aldi tablets and sometimes when they were on special offer I would buy Finish or Sun (more than twice the price).
To cut a long story short, the dishes were coming out dirty (after I'd cleaned filter, sprayarms etc). As it's still under warranty I called an engineer to look at it and he told me that you should only ever use Finish or Sun as the cheaper tablets just don't work.Has anyone come across this?

naughtysmurf

My own experience is that the cheaper tablets work fine as long as you rinse the plates etc in the sink before you put them in, not great if you don't, I only ever use the quick wash function as well

Fiolina

Thanks for reply. I always rinse the plates and had been using the economy wash until they started to come out dirty. I just don't understand why the likes of the Aldi tablets, which have won awards, all of a sudden aren't good enough after they'd been working grand. There is nothing in the instruction booklet to say that you need to use the brand name products.

MarkR

Are you sure the moving parts are spinning freely? Often came across this on my own one with larger plates fouling the upper spinning arm, or cutlery slipping down and blocking the lower one.

Fiolina

Yes all parts moving freely. The engineer checked it and as far as he's concerned only the brand name tablets will work. It just sounds like bull$hit to me but I can't see why he'd say it otherwise.

Macy0161

We only use Aldi dishwasher tablets, and have never had an issue or noticed a difference when we've had freebie samples of the posh brands.

We have found the rinse isn't as effective when we have run out of salt though (even though the tablets contain salt) - kinda like sand anywhere water has collected like the bottom of cups.

Fiolina

Macy0161 wrote: »

We only use Aldi dishwasher tablets, and have never had an issue or noticed a difference when we've had freebie samples of the posh brands.


We have found the rinse isn't as effective when we have run out of salt though (even though the tablets contain salt) - kinda like sand anywhere water has collected like the bottom of cups.

That sounds exactly like what was happening here. There was brown, sandy looking stuff welded onto the dishes. I had to scrub at them with really hot water to get it off. He told me you don't need either salt or rinse aid if you use the all in one tabs. I'm confused

username123

Yeah, I've had similar advice from both a dishwasher engineer re branded tablets and from a washing machine engineer re branded washing powder.

Dishwasher tablets are a shocking price. I bulk buy from amazon now and use parcel motel for delivery which has saved me 100s each year.

Macy0161

Fiolina wrote: »

That sounds exactly like what was happening here. There was brown, sandy looking stuff welded onto the dishes. I had to scrub at them with really hot water to get it off. He told me you don't need either salt or rinse aid if you use the all in one tabs. I'm confused

Sounds like the same thing. I am not an expert (I probably googled the solution when we had the issue!), but dishwasher salt is cheap enough, that it wouldn't do any harm to try it. I think manufactuerers still recommend seperate salt, even with all in one tablets.

Fiolina

username123 wrote: »

Yeah, I've had similar advice from both a dishwasher engineer re branded tablets and from a washing machine engineer re branded washing powder.



Dishwasher tablets are a shocking price. I bulk buy from amazon now and use parcel motel for delivery which has saved me 100s each year.

Ok, thanks, so I'm not the only one that's been told this! The engineer actually said that dishwashers aren't like washing machines as in the latter can take any kind of cheap powder and it won't affect their performance. Both Aldi and Lidl come out almost top in a survey of best products so it's still not making sense to me. I'll have a look on Amazon, wouldn't have thought of that.

Macy0161

Is there actual, real, evidence that the brands are better? If there was something "wrong" with the Aldi ones, I would've thought Which? (who have given awards to the Aldi ones) would've picked up on it before now. I've always assumed manufacturers recommending certain brands was a marketing gimmick between the companies, and remain to be convinced otherwise tbh.

Peig Sayers

We used to use Finish tablets but I read the report from 'Which' and switched to the Aldi ones. Found the same thing, dirty, sandy residue and dishes not properly cleaned. Went back to the Finish ones. Got some Fairy tablets last week cheap in Newry so am going to give them a go. Supposed to be very good.

coylemj

I live in a soft water area (Dun Laoghaire) and do not need salt. I have a bottle of rinse aid but every Finish tablet I see on the shelves is the 'all-in-one' variety, is there anywhere that sells the basic Finish tablets that clean only and which require the rinse aid and salt to be added separately?

username123

Peig Sayers wrote: »

We used to use Finish tablets but I read the report from 'Which' and switched to the Aldi ones. Found the same thing, dirty, sandy residue and dishes not properly cleaned. Went back to the Finish ones. Got some Fairy tablets last week cheap in Newry so am going to give them a go. Supposed to be very good.

I prefer the Fairy over the Finish but I wouldnt pay the price of them in the Supermarket hence I bulk buy on Amazon periodically.

Fiolina

coylemj wrote: »

I live in a soft water area (Dun Laoghaire) and do not need salt. I have a bottle of rinse aid but every Finish tablet I see on the shelves is the 'all-in-one' variety, is there anywhere that sells the basic Finish tablets that clean only and which require the rinse aid and salt to be added separately?

I don't know about the tablets but you can buy bottles of just the powder. I know Sun is one make and I think Finish do it too. I'll keep an eye out and let you know.

Alun

I also buy big 3kg boxes of Daisy powder in Tesco, and use Lidl's rinse aid. I put salt in about 2 years ago and it still hasn't been used up but then the water here in Bray is as soft as can be too.

The Red Ace

There are a number of things that can cause the problems mentioned, salt is required if you live in a hard water area as the salt causes a chemical reaction with the in built resin which softens the water, rinse aid does two jobs, it puts a shine on the delph but just as important with modern dishwashers it also helps to shed the water when it is added to the water for the final hot rinse, much better in my opinion than all in one tablets which are used in the main wash. with regards to the gritty wash it has all the hallmarks of a blockage especially if all in one tablets have been used in the past as I have found numerous d/w blocked by the casing of the tablets which have not dissolved fully, you could also have a circulation pump with early symptoms of failure. put on the dw with no dishes in it and position the spray arms in any position ,when it has begun washing after a minute or two open the door and see if they have moved from where you set them, if not its either blocked or the wash pump hasn't enough of pressure, if it is wasting to the P trap of a sink check there also for a blockage, hope this helps all you folks with dw issues.

coylemj

Fiolina wrote: »

I don't know about the tablets but you can buy bottles of just the powder. I know Sun is one make and I think Finish do it too. I'll keep an eye out and let you know.

Couldn't see Daisy powder in Tesco Stillorgan today but bought a 1kg plastic bottle of Finish powder for €5.21. Label on the back says it needs separate rinse aid and salt.

SpaceTime

If you're in a hard water area you should use salt though.

The dishwasher has a water filter in the bottom which removes the calcium and magnesium ions from the water (i.e. the lime scale). That's replenished by flushing it with salt (ion exchange filter).

The dishwasher tablets just contain a load of phosphates which softens the water. However, the problem is that you also need to soften the water during the rinse to get good results as that's when the limescale will dry onto the dishes.

So, basically if you're getting lime scale in your kettle or bad results, makes sure you're using Dishwasher Salt in the machine as per the machine's instructions.

Check the spray arms are moving OK, and that they're not clogged (look into the nozzles) Sometimes rice or other grains can get into them.

Also check that the filter is properly seated into its place.
Dishwashers use a self-cleaning filter. In most designs the machine will suck the water from the side of the filter when it's washing i.e. through all the fine layers of the filter. Then when it's emptying, the water's sucked straight downwards through and all the small particles trapped in the fine mesh are rinsed down the drain.

If that's not sitting in place properly or if it has been damaged, you can get dirt redeposited on to the dishes.