May 2012 Weddings
AurorasEnvy
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I've HAD it!!
I have yet to find a dishwasher soap that works well, IMO. I am always leaving "clean" dishes in the dishwasher to go through for another round because they aren't clean enough for me. I've had the same problem with our dishwasher now as we did with the one in our old apartment, and while I don't think either were/are "top of the line" dishwashers, I feel like part of the problem is the soap. I rinse all off the dishes before I put them in there so it's not like I'm putting in pieces with tons of stuck on food.
I currently have like 4 different kinds of dishwasher soap (bottles 90% full) under my sink because they didn't cut it.
Your recommendations/favorite brands, please!
Re: I've HAD it!!
We switched from powder to liquid and that seems to help some...also we only load every other spot and dont fill the washer...I feel so guilty about not running it full, but our dishes come out way cleaner then they did when we used to fill it as full as possible before running it. (also spread out the spoons....mine tend to stick together and not get clean!)
My Blog:Through My Eyes
This makes a big difference! Also how you load the dishwasher as well... if they are not in the right way they will not get cleaned properly. We use liquid "Finish" detergent.
I jam pack our dishwasher (which is definitely a bottom of the line model from a few years ago) and use Finish Power Ball Tabs and get super clean dishes.
I agree with the PP- Try cleaning it and then see how it works before trying yet another cleaner.
Thanks for sharing! I'd been wondering about a DIY formula.
I second the Finish Power Ball Tabs. I love these little things!
We have a water softener too, what does that have to do with the amount of soap you use?
Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I'll have to try cleaning the dishwasher, some Finish soap, and/or underloading it!
We have an old dishwasher in our apartment right now that blows butt. We've found that running it 1/2-2/3 full works the best. We like the Cascade Power Pack thingies and Seventh Generation liquid soap the best. We did not like the Method soaps or any of the Finish products (interesting that everyone else likes them). We also tried the Palmolive stuff mentioned by PP and that worked pretty well too.
The other thing we do is run it empty once every few weeks with soap and vinegar. I know we're wasting a ton of water and electricity this way, but it works.
I heard it makes the water more sudsy. I flooded our kitchen with suds a few times and then someone told me to cut back on the detergent we use.
Since my parents own and I work at an Appliance repair company I guess I should give you my opinion. Depending on where you live and the water in your area it can make a difference with your dishwasher. Personally I use Cascade in the little packs. I don't really like Finish but it's just a personal choice. If your water is more harsh then don't use Finish I do know that much.
Also if your water temp is not turned up high enough on the hot water tank that can make a difference. The way to clean your dishwasher is to run a cycle with just a few dishes in there not very full and put the normal amount of soap in there and turn it on. Also you can do this with no dishes in there.
If this doesn't help I would either invest in a new one or call a repairman as something else can be wrong. Another thing is don't put as many dishes in there for a normal load. Sometimes it can just be that you are putting too many dishes in there at one time .
I hope all this helps! I'm here if you have more questions! And if you decide to buy a new one I can help with brands.
Whenever I lived at my old apartment and had a decent dishwasher, I used the cascade packs. Our crappy washer in our house can't even dissolve the packets. o we're using Cascade liquid, which worked at my DH's old apartment.
As you can see, we're having the same problem as you, but we're pretty sure the problem is the dishwasher. I'm going to look up "loading" tips to see what I can do to make the situation better in the meantime.