dishwasher blues

[docsteph]

I have a Maytag dishwasher that usually works really well. It really cleans the dishes without having to scrub them beforehand. However, the other day I ran it and the dishes came out free of food and but were all chalky as though they had not been rinsed. I ran them through again, but it did not solve the problem. Now I am washing all thoses dishes by hand to get the residue off of them.

My first question: what went wrong? I might add that the temp booster was off and one of the sides where the soap goes did not empty. It was gooey and congealed but still very much unused by the washer. Second question: Is there any secret to getting the residue off the dishes that I am afraid might be baked on by the washer? Please help!!!

 

[Porker]

Maytag is not a hugely well known brand over here in the UK so I am unfamiliar with them. (You can get them but they are expensive).Do you normally add rinse aid to the machine and/or salt? The chalky residue sounds like lime. Have you changed your detergent type - some have the rinse and salt built in.

I clean my machine (Miele) every few months with a bottle of special cleaner which gets everything sparkling again. Can't think what else it would be.

 

[mikeh2000]

probably worth trying a different detergent as porker says.I was a miele service agent not long ago and they stated in writing with every new machine that on no accout should you use those three-in-one type rinse aids/detegent/pre-wash tablet things.They were proved by miele to not do the machines a lot of good,to the point that your guarantee was invalid if the fault was caused by using them!