Troubleshooting Cloudy Dishes: The Impact of Water Treatment Systems

[amy07]

What a boring title huh?

Do any of you have a water treatment system and if you do, are you having or have had a problem with your clear glassware (or any of your dishes) looking cloudy? We just had our system serviced (water tested, chemicals checked, etc) and our rep said that I must be using too much soap in the dishwasher or using jet dry (nope). I think it is the salt that we have to add. Of course he says that there is no way the system is causing it, that our water is testing perfect. I'm ticked because my dishes (batter bowls, prep bowls) look almost dirty because it is almost etched with this "cloudiness".:grumpy:

DH actually told me to buy all new ones that I will use just for shows and to handwash only to see if that makes a difference. IF it doesn't then our rep has some explaining to do. But I thought I'd check with the other "experts" to see if any of you have the same problem.

 

[DebbieJ]

do you have a water softener?When we had a water softener, I always used less soap.

 

[janetupnorth]

I get that when I DON'T use Jet Dry...

 

[janetupnorth]

One person's recommendation:I know dishwashers and there is much truth to what is being said here. However; once your glasses are etched and if you have hard water, the mineral will penetrate the glass and lock itself in during the hot wash process. First thing: test your water hardness and look for a maximum of just a few grains per gallon hardness. Cheap test kits can be found at some hardware store, Sears or your water district. Any more than a few gpg and you are asking for trouble. Second: test your water temperature well into the wash process with a meat thermometer. While washing, just slowly unlock the door and the dishwasher will shut off. When the wash action subsides go ahead and open it the rest of the way. Because we arent talking about sanitizers here, look for no more than 110-135. And never run your clear glass wear through a sani cycle. The lower the temp the better for delicate/ clear glass. A dishwasher that recieves ample warm water right from the start and while using powdered soap like Electrosol or Cascade, doesnt need any more temp than that to do a great job. Third: rinse aid, most modern dishwashers have an adjustable rinse aid dispenser. They usually adjust from 1 to 6 ML per last rinse. If adjusted too high, it can actually spot your dishes as well. I recommend turning it down to 1 or 2 and see if that helps with your spotting. The less the better for spotting. Also, with glass wear in place, run your dishwasher without detergent for a few minutes to warm it up and then add two cups of white vinager and let it run until it pumps out. If pumps out quickly, add more vin to the next fill cycle. This will nuetralize the mineral buildup in the glass and you can start from scratch with hand washing at lower temps.Also, like whats been said earlier in the thread: look into demineralizing your water. Cuno, Everpure and others (I like Everpure because the filters systems are easy to change) make special filters just for removing minerals. They can be easily installed on site and immediately in front of the dishwasher for max results. Doing this will make a big difference.Good luck to you and i hope this helps.Permalink | Replythomtompkins Dec 09, 2007 01:52PMOthers recommend vinegar...

 

[janetupnorth]

Tiny Blessings: WFMW: cleaning the dishwasher & cloudy glasses

 

[janetupnorth]

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1340419






There...plenty of choices...

 

[amy07]

great googly moogly Janet!! Thank you so much!!

 

[babywings76]

We have a Kinnetico system. Love it! At our old house, the water was so hard that it gunked up my dishwasher till I thought it was ruined and all my glasses were completely clouded over. Once we got the softener, everything cleaned up after just a few uses. It was wonderful. When we moved, we had them move it to the new house.