I have used my dishwasher for a ‘off label use’ and have had some issues ever since.
About a month ago I put a rock in it. This rock had a lot of silty stuff on it, but it looked nice and I wanted to see what it was like cleaned up. So not wanting to actually clean it myself I placed it in the dishwasher. When I got it out it was still silty, so I threw it outside and forgot about it.
I noticed that dishes and things washed in the DW developed this ‘rough’ spots, sort of like baked on ‘bumps’ that I can and have been rinsing off with some detergent. I thought in time this will go away, but it’s been a month already. I have also tried 3 different detergents, 1 powder tablet, 1 solid tablet and also liquid.
Additionally the soloniod valve that changes from ‘wash’ to ‘drain’ got stuck, that is now unstuck, and seems to be functioning properly.
So what did I do and how do I get my pre rock cleaning DW back?
Thanks
It sounds like the silt from the rock isn’t getting flushed out. See if the dishwasher has a filter. If it does, remove it and wash it. Take a sponge or paper towel to the area where water collects at the bottom, to wipe up any remaining silt. In fact, wipe the entire bottom of the dishwasher interior. You could wipe the interior sides and top also, but I would expect the silt to collect near the bottom.
Someone here recommended a product called Dishwasher Magic some time ago and I would like to throw in my 2c that it does work well and helps with hard water/mineral gunk. Since your issue is mineral based, maybe it would help?
Yep, we use it here in Utah as well; the fanciest detergent in the world will do you little good w/o a cleaner dishwasher to start with.
Next time take the rock to the self-wash and use a pressure washer wand. That’s how I clean my area rugs.
I gave it a try, took apart the lower screen and cleaned that up along with the sides and bottom. The silt appeared to now be combined with fat and has become this silt ablating putty and have accumulated in some parts of the screen. Ran some CLR though it, also considering bumping up the hot water temperature for a bit.
By ‘off label use’ I thought that you were going to say that you washed greasy tools in it. I never had a problem with that, except when the wife found out…
Do you happen to have standing water in the dishwasher after the cycle is done? Some dishwashers, like GE, have a piston and nut assembly valve with a rubber/plastic seal which rots out. When this happens, dirty water is left in the dishwasher. Fortunately this valve is pretty easy to change and not all that expensive. It’s often under a screen towards the back of the dishwasher. Here’s an example: http://www.appliancepartspros.com/ge-piston-nut-wd24x10018-ap2617344.html
There is no standing water in the DW that is normally visible, but removing the screen showed standing water in the ‘sump’. I don’t know if that’s normal or not.
More than once I’ve found the DW doing a poor job, and the filter clogged. Ours is a Bosch that has a two-stage filter, one of them a Germanically-Obsessive too-fine, and when a greasy sludge forms over most of it, the water circulation drops and dishes don’t wash and rinse well.
I doubt you need any magic cleaner if you’ve cleaned the filter thoroughly, then cleaned it again after a few more cycles.
Anyone else hate the surprise of finding a piece of broken glass down in the filter well?
Hmm, I wonder if this is a chance for your wet/dry vac to be your buddy? You can only do so much by hand, it’s less chemicals and if there happens to be an odd piece of broken anything (which hurts me just to *think *about grabbing blindly) the vac handles it so you don’t have to.