Okay so I FINALLY got moved into my flat and was told that before I can use the dishwasher for the first time (new) I had to add a special salt. Anyone know the name of it and where I can find it? Do the Coop's or Migro's carry I assume?
Not convinced - they can be a bit hit and miss - especially as the water is hard and kalky.
I use salt and rinse clear liquid as well as the tablets - but I only buy tabs from Aldi and Landi and not cough up a fortune for Sun and Finish, otherwise I use a powder.
This is the most common brand of salt available everywhere:
PS: The salt is not special in any kind just good old NaCl (aka Salt). The device in the dishwasher is a ion exchanger that needs to be regenerated from time to time.
I tried this with the 3 in 1 jobbies but I think it might depend on the machine. We've got one that's so old Noah must have used a similar model in his ark and if it doesn't have salt in it, regardless of the type of tablets, it smells really weird after a week or so without a top-up of salt.
it costs 90 rappen per pack, why not use it? better for the machine and better for the dishes... esp in place like Beringen with a water hardness of up to 32°f ...
That's what I thought too - but I was told that it is much better for the machine to use salt in the salt container as well, as water is very hard here. MY (very old) machine clearly indicates when either salt or rinse aid is required. Rinse Aid really does help with shiny glasses.
This is the first I'm hearing of this! Must make a commitment to spend more time on EF. I just had a look in my dishwasher and found a large compartment with salt written in about 20 languages...how exciting. Assuming you don't have an indicator, how often should you add salt? I have never added salt (in 15 months). Could this possibly solve the mystery of why my glasses always look dirty (covered in a chalky residue)? Methinks ja. Oops. Thanks so much for the tips!
The dishwasher WILL tell you when it needs salt and/or rinse aid. Unless you've set a "I use 3-in-1 tabs" option, which disables these alarms, or otherwise gone into the settings and disabled them.
If you don't have an indicator -- a flashing S or something like that -- you just throw a kilo of salt into this container or you actually just buy those tabs.
Of course there are good tabs and not so good tabs.
Awesome! Thanks everyone for your responses and the pics. I remember now seeing that in the Coop/Migros but thought that it was dish washing powder!
Kiwigeek, thanks for the link. I didn't think that I was the first person to ever ask this before but when I did a search regarding dishwashers, dishwasher salt, etc., nothing came up. Oh well, this is all a learning process for me.
We had to have a new dishwasher installed a couple years ago, when they came, I asked about all this stuff and was told that the machine should have the rinse aid AND salt in it, even if you're using the 3-in-1, and set the machine to show that you're using the 3-in-1... something about the machine operation is better to have these there, even if they're not used.
Cheap enough to use, much cheaper than having the machine replaced, so why not.