I've got a kenmore dishwasher that came with our house. I estimate it to be
under 10 years old....its a reasonably modern piece.

the machine seems to cycle properly, and does all the things it usually
does. however i've noticed a decline in clean quality. glasses come out
spotty and mucked up....sometimes certain dishes dont' get clean at all.

i've been using cascade with pure-rinse powdered detergent with Jet Dry
brand rinse product ever since we moved here....no changes in soap or
anything...

is there something simple to look at? its almost as if the jet dry isn't
being released....is there a way for the mechanism that releases the rinse
aid to get clogged? anything else to look at that would be an easy fix?

b

"Hamilton Audio" wrote in message
news:ZLbEd.31848$8l.19895@pd7tw1no...
I've got a kenmore dishwasher that came with our house. I estimate it to
be under 10 years old....its a reasonably modern piece.

the machine seems to cycle properly, and does all the things it usually
does. however i've noticed a decline in clean quality. glasses come out
spotty and mucked up....sometimes certain dishes dont' get clean at all.

i've been using cascade with pure-rinse powdered detergent with Jet Dry
brand rinse product ever since we moved here....no changes in soap or
anything...

is there something simple to look at? its almost as if the jet dry isn't
being released....is there a way for the mechanism that releases the rinse
aid to get clogged? anything else to look at that would be an easy fix?

b

Could be a couple of things. Easiest to check is the spray bars. Be sure
they are not clogged and can turn freely. While you are at it, check the
filter and behind the filter where the water goes back to the pump. It
could be the pump is not pumping as well as it should too.

On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 15:06:33 GMT, "Hamilton Audio"
wrote:

I've got a kenmore dishwasher that came with our house. I estimate it to be
under 10 years old....its a reasonably modern piece.

the machine seems to cycle properly, and does all the things it usually
does. however i've noticed a decline in clean quality. glasses come out
spotty and mucked up....sometimes certain dishes dont' get clean at all.

i've been using cascade with pure-rinse powdered detergent with Jet Dry
brand rinse product ever since we moved here....no changes in soap or
anything...

is there something simple to look at? its almost as if the jet dry isn't
being released....is there a way for the mechanism that releases the rinse
aid to get clogged? anything else to look at that would be an easy fix?

b




I had a either a Kenmore or a GE that did the same thing. What was
happening with it was the diverter valve. In one position it
recirculates and sprays the water inside. In the other position it
pumps the water out and into the drain. It was gunked up and not
moving all the way to the pump out position so it was never pumping
all the dirty water out, sometimes it hardly pumped any out. So the
same water got used the whole cycle. It was also leaking. Plus it
was part of the whole pump housing so fixing it required a new pump.
I just scraped the dishwasher and bought another one.
--
Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts:

"What, sir, is the use of militia? It is to prevent the
establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. . .
Whenever Government means to invade the rights and liberties of
the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order
to raise a standing army upon its ruins." -- Debate, U.S. House
of Representatives, August 17, 1789

Happened too me, too, with a fancy GE dishwasher.

For some reason, some apple seeds got around the filter and plugged up the
wholes in the rotating spray-arm.

Pulled them out with tweezers and all was well.

--

Walter
The Happy Iconoclast www.rationality.net
-

"Hamilton Audio" wrote in message
news:ZLbEd.31848$8l.19895@pd7tw1no...
I've got a kenmore dishwasher that came with our house. I estimate it to
be under 10 years old....its a reasonably modern piece.

the machine seems to cycle properly, and does all the things it usually
does. however i've noticed a decline in clean quality. glasses come out
spotty and mucked up....sometimes certain dishes dont' get clean at all.

i've been using cascade with pure-rinse powdered detergent with Jet Dry
brand rinse product ever since we moved here....no changes in soap or
anything...

is there something simple to look at? its almost as if the jet dry isn't
being released....is there a way for the mechanism that releases the rinse
aid to get clogged? anything else to look at that would be an easy fix?

b

On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 15:06:33 GMT, "Hamilton Audio"
wrote:

I've got a kenmore dishwasher that came with our house. I estimate it to be
under 10 years old....its a reasonably modern piece.

the machine seems to cycle properly, and does all the things it usually
does. however i've noticed a decline in clean quality. glasses come out
spotty and mucked up....sometimes certain dishes dont' get clean at all.

i've been using cascade with pure-rinse powdered detergent with Jet Dry
brand rinse product ever since we moved here....no changes in soap or
anything...

is there something simple to look at? its almost as if the jet dry isn't
being released....is there a way for the mechanism that releases the rinse
aid to get clogged? anything else to look at that would be an easy fix?

Another possibility is a plugged drain hose. Lack of rinse aid might
leave the dishes spotty, but wouldn't affect the cleaning ability.
I presume the detergent dispenser always opens?

i watched a cycle closely just now....it definitely is running in clean
water and pumping out the dirty between cycles (prewash, wash then rinse).
On the second last cycle I hear the detergent door trip open and it releases
the detergent and uses it all successfully.

I'll revise my issue - as I just ran a normal cycle. it seems that the
dishes are getting clean as you might expect - considering that sometimes I
might overload the unit - i'm coming to realize that you can't just jam a
pile of dishes in every possible open slot and expect good results

it seems that my rinse-aid resevoir was completely empty...i thought I had
put a good amount in there, but realized tonite that it must come right to
the top....and I had not filled it that high.

the unit is reasonably quiet, decent looking and does not leak or anything.
I'm betting that my spray bars are probably plugged as its pretty gunky
inside....

thanks for the good pointers....its a bunch of things to look at. Someone
mentioned filters and such....where would I find those to clean??

b
"Alan" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 15:06:33 GMT, "Hamilton Audio"
wrote:

I've got a kenmore dishwasher that came with our house. I estimate it to
be
under 10 years old....its a reasonably modern piece.

the machine seems to cycle properly, and does all the things it usually
does. however i've noticed a decline in clean quality. glasses come out
spotty and mucked up....sometimes certain dishes dont' get clean at all.

i've been using cascade with pure-rinse powdered detergent with Jet Dry
brand rinse product ever since we moved here....no changes in soap or
anything...

is there something simple to look at? its almost as if the jet dry isn't
being released....is there a way for the mechanism that releases the rinse
aid to get clogged? anything else to look at that would be an easy fix?

Another possibility is a plugged drain hose. Lack of rinse aid might
leave the dishes spotty, but wouldn't affect the cleaning ability.
I presume the detergent dispenser always opens?

"Hamilton Audio" wrote in message
thanks for the good pointers....its a bunch of things to look at. Someone
mentioned filters and such....where would I find those to clean??


The filter is usually in the bottom of the cabinet. On my Kitchen Aid, it is
a mesh screen just under the spray arms. Very visible, not some hidden away
device.

I would add one thing to the other solutions provided. Check your water
temperature.
We had a similar problem a while back and found out that our water was not
hot enough.
Turns out the wife decided that we could save money by turning the water
heater down a little.


"Hamilton Audio" wrote in message
news:ZLbEd.31848$8l.19895@pd7tw1no...
I've got a kenmore dishwasher that came with our house. I estimate it to
be under 10 years old....its a reasonably modern piece.

the machine seems to cycle properly, and does all the things it usually
does. however i've noticed a decline in clean quality. glasses come out
spotty and mucked up....sometimes certain dishes dont' get clean at all.

i've been using cascade with pure-rinse powdered detergent with Jet Dry
brand rinse product ever since we moved here....no changes in soap or
anything...

is there something simple to look at? its almost as if the jet dry isn't
being released....is there a way for the mechanism that releases the rinse
aid to get clogged? anything else to look at that would be an easy fix?

b

I was also wondering if you have hard water in your area and if you
possibly have lime deposits someplace....

I had a similiar problem with it not cleaning very well. I was a broken
ground wire. Soldered it back togather and the dishwasher worked much
better afterwards.

I've cleaned two filters, both were not really that dirty. I did notice,
however, that the timer mechanism was "sticky" at one point just in the
final rinse cycle. I disassembled the front case and removed it, cleaning
up the junk and making sure it worked smoothly....seems to sweep through an
entire cycle cleanly now.

In the end it turned out that the rinse aid dispenser was completely empty,
causing the unit to leave spots like crazy. I added fresh rinse aid and did
a large load on the HOT setting and it worked MUCH better.

my final question about this problem - when I had the inner doorskin off
(which contains the mechanism that releases the detergent door and I assume
the rinse aid). How do I test the door mechanism to ensure that the rinse
aid is being released properly??

b

"Gordon Parks" wrote in message
news:sImEd.627038$wV.402116@attbi_s54...
I would add one thing to the other solutions provided. Check your water
temperature.
We had a similar problem a while back and found out that our water was not
hot enough.
Turns out the wife decided that we could save money by turning the water
heater down a little.


"Hamilton Audio" wrote in message
news:ZLbEd.31848$8l.19895@pd7tw1no...
I've got a kenmore dishwasher that came with our house. I estimate it to
be under 10 years old....its a reasonably modern piece.

the machine seems to cycle properly, and does all the things it usually
does. however i've noticed a decline in clean quality. glasses come out
spotty and mucked up....sometimes certain dishes dont' get clean at all.

i've been using cascade with pure-rinse powdered detergent with Jet Dry
brand rinse product ever since we moved here....no changes in soap or
anything...

is there something simple to look at? its almost as if the jet dry isn't
being released....is there a way for the mechanism that releases the
rinse aid to get clogged? anything else to look at that would be an easy
fix?

b

An appliance repair man that posted here several years ago with good
advice said repeated questions to rinse aid makers about their
products got no response about conflicts with washing materials. We
had a sudsing problem with suds on the floor and he suggested using
same maker for washing and rinse aid. We switched from Cascade and
another name rinse aid to Palmolive gel and no rinse aid and got
cleaner looking dishes from day one.

On Tue, 11 Jan 2005 01:58:42 GMT, "Hamilton Audio"
wrote:

In the end it turned out that the rinse aid dispenser was completely empty,
causing the unit to leave spots like crazy. I added fresh rinse aid and did
a large load on the HOT setting and it worked MUCH better.

On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 15:15:58 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


"Hamilton Audio" wrote in message
news:ZLbEd.31848$8l.19895@pd7tw1no...
I've got a kenmore dishwasher that came with our house. I estimate it to
be under 10 years old....its a reasonably modern piece.

the machine seems to cycle properly, and does all the things it usually
does. however i've noticed a decline in clean quality. glasses come out
spotty and mucked up....sometimes certain dishes dont' get clean at all.

i've been using cascade with pure-rinse powdered detergent with Jet Dry
brand rinse product ever since we moved here....no changes in soap or
anything...

is there something simple to look at? its almost as if the jet dry isn't
being released....is there a way for the mechanism that releases the rinse
aid to get clogged? anything else to look at that would be an easy fix?

b

Could be a couple of things. Easiest to check is the spray bars. Be sure
they are not clogged and can turn freely. While you are at it, check the
filter and behind the filter where the water goes back to the pump. It
could be the pump is not pumping as well as it should too.


I had something like this one time..turned out there was a fragment of
paper wedged into the drain hose...clogged the drain enough that the
system never completey drained the dirty water...dishes never got
fully dried either due to pool of water in bottom. Removed paper from
hose and things got better (Still junked it a few months later as it
was a cruddy "builder's model" and at it's best was an indifferent
cleaner.

Jim P.