Dishwashers, soap and clean dishes

For the last few years, our not-that-old Maytag dishwasher has been leaving the dishes, glassware & flatware filmy. We've tried different detergents, different rinse agents, running vinegar through the washer, and cleaning it out with a scrubbie. No luck. San Diego has some incredibly hard water so I just figured the washer was reaching its end-of-life. Since we are planning to re-do our kitchen anyway, I started shopping around for a new dishwasher.

While at Sears to buy some tools (including a nice little $10 digital multimeter), I talked to an appliance salesman. After going over ovens & fridges, I mentioned the problems we were having with our dishwasher and what new ones would do a better job. Surprise! He asked me if had tried using LESS soap -- to only fill the main cup and never add any to the second. Huh? We always filled both cups figuring more was cleaner.

Well guess what? It worked. Dishes are getting clean again and the filminess & spotting are way down. We haven't tried his second suggestion yet -- which is to use a product called "Dishwasher Magic" -- but that's up next.

NOTE - According to Consumer Reports, Cascade Complete with Bleach Hydroclean is the best performing soap while WalMart Great Value powder is the CR "best buy" (most bang for the buck).

06.28.2009. 13:43