Dishwasher no longer clean dishes as well as it use to

If you live in an area with hard water, the grit is probably hard water deposits. Dishwasher detergents no longer contain phosphate, so the detergents often leave behind hard water deposits on your dishes. There is a great solution at www.cloudydishes.com

Check water inlet valve

A dishwasher's water inlet valve is its most common part to fail. When your dishes are not being fully cleaned, quite often a faulty water inlet valve is to blame. Test your dishwasher's water inlet valve, and if it is no longer functioning as it should, you will have to replace it.


How to test a dishwasher water inlet valve.
How to replace a dishwasher water inlet valve.

Detergents have changed. The link below explains how to get better results and what has happened to detergents recently.

http://www.appliancerepairlesson.com/2011/02/24/dishwasher-is-no-longer-cleaning-film-and-debris-are-left-on-dishes/

Good luck.

Hello Sue. There are a few things you can do. let's begin by giving the interior of your dishwasher a good cleaning. To do this, with an empty dishwasher, toss in 2 cups of vinegar and then run your longest and hottest wash cycle. Repeat monthly.

Next, consider changing your detergent over to a product like Electrasol Dishwasher Detergent with Powerball Tabs. That product gets the highest marks from my customers.

Finally, always run the hot water into the sink until it reaches max. temp. before you start the dishwasher. Joe

Thanks for choosing Fixya!

Hi,
Check your heating element..

A bad heating element causes many problems in dishwashers...

Dishwasher Problems The Heating Element not Working

Dishwasher Maintenance

heatman101

Asker

Hi,

When my wife started complaining about her dishwasher not getting the top rack clean this is what I found and I wrote a tip about it...

Dishwasher Spray Arms not Spinning


heatman101

Hi,
Check your heating element..

Dishwasher Problems The Heating Element not Working
http://www.fixya.com/support/r4589033-dishwasher_problems_heating_element_not

Dishwasher Maintenance
http://www.fixya.com/support/r4319937-dishwasher_maintenance

heatman101

You could have a couple things going on here. It could be either related to water temperature, build up in the sensor area or poor washing.

If the dishes are coming clean then you can discount the poor washing.

1st thing to try is clean out the dishwasher, a build up or residue can form on the sensors in the bottom and they can be fooled into thinking the water is cloudier or cooler than normal and it would take longer to heat the water and wash. Here is a link to some instructions I put together on how to clean it out.

Clean Out Procedures

2nd thing to try would be to run the hot water in the kitchen sink until it is hot before you start the dishwasher. By doing this the dishwasher will not have to slow down and pause while it is heating the water enough to clean the dishes

Clean out the area where food gets caught and consider using different dishwashing tablets - especially the Calgon ones which clean out the drains of teh machine whilst cleaning the dishes.

Alternitivly you should call in a plumber to clean the pipes (Or purchase the equiptment to do it yourself, there are often all-in-one cleaners that'll flush out the pipes)

The problem is insufficient water.
There are a few issues that cause this, and most are pretty easy to fix. Check this site for instructions and pictures:


Dishwasher Repair Tips Dishwasher Not Cleaning Dishes