On Oct 29, 1:53*pm, Jay Hanig wrote:
I live in a coastal community on a North Carolina barrier island in a
house I inherited from my father. *I've noticed a film on the silverware
I've run through the dishwasher that is difficult to remove. *Just
rubbing it with a damp towel won't do it but using Bartenders Friend
cleans it up nicely. *Still, I shouldn't have to clean most of the
silverware that's been through the dishwasher.

I've tried running CLR followed by vinegar through it. *I have tried
using Jet Dry along with the Cascade Powder I generally use.

The dishwasher is a Maytag MDB9100AWQ of indeterminate age. *The house
was built in 1983 but the dishwasher has probably been replaced at least
once. *It still runs very quietly and aside from the film problem, I
have no complaints with it.

I'm told our water here is very hard. *I don't have a problem with rust
stains and anything you soap up rinses off very quickly. *So what should
I do? *Am I at the point I need a new dishwasher?

Jay

**You got a lot of advice about softening the water. Be aware that if
the pipes in the house are old, and coated with deposits from hard
water, "shocking" them with water softener could damage the pipes;
cause leaks, etc.

**Personally, I dealt with our dishwasher problem (not a hard/soft
water situation) as follows: When it died a few years ago after 13
years of valiant service, I decided not to spend the money for a
plumber to fix the water input, even if they could find the parts for
such an old d/w

**Also decided spending big bux for a new good quality dishwasher (I
don't buy junque) was waaaaay at the bottom of my house repair
priorities. So I bought a counter-top dish drainer. Now everybody
washes dishes by hand. True, it co-opts a lot of counter space. And
true, it uses much more water than a dishwasher would. But ATC, we're
OK with the decision. Now I just have to get around to finding a
handyman to remove the dishwasher and build in a couple of shelves or
drawers in the space.

HB