Dishwasher and drinking glasses

Also interested as I have the same problem

Enough salt?

My parents had this, and one day they accidentally bought like Finish Ultimate Quantum Of Infinity Premium Edition (as opposed to the normal Finish they usually used) and it cleared all their glasses!

So when we got a dishwasher we started using that stuff too, and they have never clouded up, except for one particular glass (no idea why)

OP,

Can't you use steel wool to make it shinny again?

No idea. I live in a very hard water area but don’t have this issue. We just use tescos own tabs (did use finish and fairy before but don’t find a difference), Tescos own salt and get whatever rinse aid is on offer (finish or tescos) and usually use the eco 50 degree wash.

you could try this - worked for me - get citric acid crystals and dissolve a decent amount (third of a pack) in water in a cereal bowl. Put the mostly full bowl in the middle of bottom rack of the empty dishwasher (could leave your frosted glasses on the top shelf) and run it normally. Logic is as the water sprays down it makes the cereal bowl (acid water) overflow throughout the wash (as opposed to salt washing away immediately) and properly clears out the limescale. Took two goes for us - first round made a good difference and second made it run like new. Hope this helps

Salt?

Can the arm spin freely when you stack it?

We don’t have this problem and never have had it in 20y of dishwasher use in 3 totally different regions of the UK.

My datapoints: I used to use cheap Sainsburys dishwasher liquid and got cloudy glasses in a very hard water area. My partner uses posh tabs in a soft water area and gets crystal clear glasses.

Do you fill the salt container regularly? Does it use salt?

I image there's a regeneration setting somewhere that let's you program in the hardness of the water to make sure the softener is regenerated correctly.

Tablets with salt in them are pointless. It needs salt in the container. Unless you're in a really soft water area of course... But you're not so definitely check the salt.

Im surprised nobody seems to be aware of the abrasive nature of dishwashers. Its been a thing forever.

Firstly, has anyone established whether the clouding is a film / deposit on the glass (indicating limescale and not rinsing off completely (what the salt AND the rinse aid  is there to cope with) or is it the surface being eroded (= nature of dish washers).

We have plenty of glasses thst shouldn't be out in the dishwasher. I still put them in because life is too short to do them by hand - and If I need new glasses every few years, so be it.

I use Lidl all in one tablets, I've never had a glass go cloudy. Very hard water area as well.

Wash them by hand perhaps?

The abrasiveness of dishwashers , very much this. My wife will not allow any drinking glasses in the machine , they all have to be hand washed for this very reason although the ones pictured appear to be badly washed rather than scratched.

I'd suggest running some limescale treatment through the dishwasher on a regular basis. It looks like a film rather than actual damage to the glass. Do they come up clean if you hand wash and dry them?

Tend to use Fairy Platinum something or other bought in bulk to offset the cost and don't have that other tan if the glass fall over and gets a water stuck inside it which then dries like that.

Cheapest Aldi tablets. No salt. No Rinse Aid. My glasses come out sparkly - and have done for years - but I've always lived in areas with very soft water.

Dish washers are very harsh, it's almost like a false economy if you ask me, never put good quality knives/pans/glass ware etc. in a dish washer.

Nowt wrong with a good old fashioned a sink full of water, sponge and a squirt of washing up liquid.

Soak them in a solution of Caustic Soda and Bleach for 15 minutes

Two thoughts:

1) The "all in one" tablets should negate the need for salt, rinse aid etc., it's either/or rather than both. There may be a setting on your machine to tell it which you're using.

2) Don't. If the dishwasher is mullering delicate items then don't put them in there.

3 (of two😁)) It's obvious on glass, but what's it doing to items where that's less immediately visible?

Soak them in a solution of Caustic Soda and Bleach for 15 minutes

well that will clean them for sure! WTF?

Clean with either white wine vinegar or lemon juice - not in the dishwasher.

After that, always wash them by hand - never in dishwasher

I was under the impression the posh/expensive tabs included salt and rinse aid, and have not put them in the dishwasher separately for years. Am I wrong?

All it gets every few months is a sachet of cleaner and wash the grid/filters in the sink when it gets a bit pongy.

they look like they have picked up scale over the years, if you give them a soak in some acid does it clear? Any acid as a test, descaler crystals, a bit of toilet bowl cleaner, some vinegar.... does it clear it?

In that case the issue is probably either salt content, but if you're using a decent quality tab and making sure the tab function is selected if you have one that should be controlled.

Or could be the rinse aid. It is possible to overdose rinse aid - the function is just enough to enable a thin film of rinse water to form that'll drain down consistently without 'lacing' or 'beading' and leaving marks - go too far and you can overdo that and leave a film that evaporates to deposits.

Dishwashers are harsh, with temperatures, chemicals and water pressures stronger than you can do in a sink (if you're managing in a sink then you have some MF serious asbestos hands or thermal mitts!) but they aren't so harsh they destroy glassware. Of course exceptions apply.....some glassware isn't DW safe so read the label. But for day to day IKEA type glassware I have no hesitation in loading it up. Mine don't go like that and if they did, I'd clean down with an acid rinse and go again.

Smash them with a hammer and grind them in to smaller chunks. Purchase some resin and hand wraps. Proceed to wrap your hands and add the glass chunks to the resin. Stir if required. Roll your freshly wrapped hands in the resin/glass mix. Now find the dishwasher manufacturer (or tab manufacturer) and challenge them to a Thai boxing match to avenge your clouded drink receptacles.

Never hard a dishwasher, never had a problem

Soak them in a solution of Caustic Soda and Bleach for 15 minutes

well that will clean them for sure! WTF?

Well if you want to get rid of the bodies,  quicklime is quicker!

Smash them with a hammer and grind them in to smaller chunks. Purchase some resin and hand wraps. Proceed to wrap your hands and add the glass chunks to the resin. Stir if required. Roll your freshly wrapped hands in the resin/glass mix. Now find the dishwasher manufacturer (or tab manufacturer) and challenge them to a Thai boxing match to avenge your clouded drink receptacles.

Exactly this 😃

Approach this like laundry.

Put everything in. What survives stays what is destroyed doesn't have a place in your home.

When we moved to a hard water area we started getting this on glasses (even with salt in the maxhine)

We soon fitted a water softener to the incoming supply. Means having a shower is nicer, bathrooms are easier to clean, devices that use water will last much longer.

When it was fitted a load of sludge came out of taps, and it was incredible the amount of crusty limescale came off the end of taps

spray one of the glasses with viakal and if it comes of with a bit of elbow grease you know it’s limescale

Soak them in a solution of Caustic Soda and Bleach for 15 minutes

Is that not how you make mustard gas?

Soak them in a solution of Caustic Soda and Bleach for 15 minutes

Are you suicide gran?

 it’s almost like a false economy if you ask me

False economy??

If you ask me, £7 a decade to replace my cheap Ikea tumblers, in exchange for never having to wash the dishes again*, is the absolute deal of the century

I lived without a dishwasher until I was 42, and I'm never going back now

*yeah except knives and stuff

Dishwasher detergent is abrasive. Isn’t that the undue? Permanent and irreversible

May be worth soaking in a bowl of soda crystals, perhaps leaving overnight then thoroughly rinsing and wiping with clean cloth to get rid of the residue. Citric acid is brilliant for cleaning but wouldn't use it for this. I wash glasses by hand, no hardship.

What setting do you use? Ours used to go like that in our old Bosch if we used eco setting all the time, the occasional wash in the standard setting was enough to keep them good.

Also to add, it was our Duralex glasses that look exactly like yours that suffered, and them only (the front 3 at least, don't have one like the one in the back). Other glasses seemed completely unaffected. May be coincidence or something specific to them?

I am the dish washer. Bin the machine and its nasty chemicals

Something in the glass is what I was told. Some products just don’t go in dishwashers

Crystal glasses would be ruined, the lead/magnesium/zinc content gets etched away by the strong alkali dishwasher water.

Other glass should be OK, but I've noticed my Pyrex measuring jug getting a little less clear.

Pint glasses seem fine - I guess they expect them to be put through a washer.

Dishwasher solution is not abrasive its corrosive,  its so alkaline it actually dissolves  glass and its why you can't  wash Aluminium cookware in them.

OP check the salt and water softening settings. Dishwashers need salt to work properly, despite the tablet manufactures advertising them as "all-in-one".  Excessively soft water can lead to corrosion of glassware, but  under softened water leads to limescale build up on glassware.

it’s almost like a false economy if you ask me

NO! Fairyconomy!

sorry, few hours too late 😛

Chemically this phenomenon is very similar to the venom of a Portuguese man o war, therefore if you urinate in your dishwasher daily the problem will resolve itself

Some good ones there peeps 😂

Lidls DW salt is used as well forgot to say.

Posh glasses, chefs knives & non stick pans get washed by hand.

Life's too short to hand   wash the loads of cheapo tumblers.

Will try and adjust wash settings as wash on eco 99% of the time and try the lowest setting of rinse aid as a start.

DW cleaner used every 3 months.

does acid remove the marks though?

Never had a problem like that. I put mine in a bowl in the sink, add hot water and washing-up liquid, scrub with a brush, rinse. Shiny glasses.

Top up dishwasher salt and use white vinegar as rinse aid. I use only Lidl dishwasher tablets and the cheapest white vinegar I can find and even in eco mode everything comes sparkly clean.

@ cycling, will try that white vinegar thing too.

Cheers

Glasses?  Pah.  You shoild see what the dishwasher does to my silver and my bone handled knives

Tried soaking mine in vinegar, doesn't look like it's gonna work despite it being great on my granite worktop. But useful thread, my dishwasher was set to "average" hardness (we're in a hard water area)

You shoild see what the dishwasher does to my silver and my bone handled knives

I've got to say I'm really struggling with my lobster platters and caviar spoons.

Problem solver - buy opaque glassware.

You don't actually need to see your drink.

What about your grape scissors politecameraaction?

Problem solver – buy opaque glassware.

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/childrens-products/g44649997/best-sippy-cups/#product-ba014d06-4a4a-4778-82b4-6715d1650de7

What about your grape scissors politecameraaction?

I'm afraid I haven't seen them in months. Some people think it's a little gauche to eat grapes outside tweed season but of course I suppose everyone has their...eccentricities. 🧐

Tsk tsk!

The Caustic & Bleach sugestion was based on the nearest undersink equivalents to the ingredients that go in to a commercial Glass Renovator product.

I think I might have confused this with mixing bleach and ammonia 🙂

and use white vinegar as rinse aid.

Why not just use rinse aid?

My uncle who was a former pub landlord will only handwash his glasses, everythnig else gets dishwasher cleaned, he has said why but I now cant remember!