On 8/16/2012 8:12 AM, Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
" wrote:

Hi,

We have a GE Profile stainless steel dishwasher that is only 2 years old.

I had a service call maybe 6 months ago because it wasn't draining. The guy
pulled a piece of glass from the pump and it was working fine after that.
Our daughter had broken a glass in the dishwasher and I must not have gotten
it all.

The repair guy told me the machine had really bad mineral deposits. He said
it was the worst he had ever seen. He recommended I put some vinegar in a
glass and just let it run it's cycle.

So I did that a few times but I wasn't getting the bulk of the deposits off,
especially on the bottom of the machine. So I let it fill up with water and
stopped it mid cycle and put like a quart of vinegar in there and let it sit
and I finally got all those deposits off of the bottom but I had to really
work at it.

It was working pretty well after that but recently it started having problems
draining and I see a bunch of the calcium deposits on the bottom but they are
very small pieces now. It's like it can't drain everything properly.
Sometimes I see small pieces of food that is not draining. The dishes don't
look so clean either. Not bad, but they seem to have a film on them. I
started using a rinse aid now, but something just isn't right with the
machine.

It does empty out and there isn't any flooding or anything. I think it must
be clogged up somewhere with the mineral deposits.

I am thinking of replacing it with a Miele dishwasher that has a hardwater
filter. I've read some good reviews on those.

I was also thinking of just getting a hard water filtration system for the
entire house but that is a lot more expensive. Many people in my area have
done that.

I would appreciate any advice on what to do here.

I have several options.

1. Keep existing machine and call repair guy to fix it. $180
(That's what he charged last time and he told me any time they have to pull
the machine out it is a $175 minimum)

2. Buy the Miele dishwasher that has the hardwater filter. $1600 installed

3. Water softener for entire house - I think someone told me this costs
around $2000. Of course I would still have to fix the machine we have now.

I would appreciate any advice on this.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

Some here recommend adding phosphate, as it was banned from dishwashing
detergent a few years ago. The very same TSP used for washing walls
prior to painting is cheap and plentiful, but be sure to get the stuff
with phosphate! They also make it without, which is odd, considering the
acronym.

You can still buy dishwasher detergent with phosphates,
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FOS9XFG, but Cascade recently dropped
their commercial product with phosphates.

Mixing in TSP is now the way to go.