Dishwasher: streaks & coatings on dishes and glasses - what to do?

• Dishwasher: streaks & toppings
  • causes
  • Tips

Your dishes and your glasses come absout unclean from the dishwasher ">

How annoying it is when you have the dishwasher to save work, and then you have to refill by hand, because the dishes and glasses come out of the machine dirty. In this article we will get to the bottom of the causes of streaks and coatings on dishes and glasses. In addition, you will get practical tips on the removal of residues and the future avoidance of unsightly washing results.

Dishwasher: streaks & toppings

Basically, there are five types of residue that can appear on dishes and glasses after cleaning in the dishwasher.

• leftovers
• rust
• lime stains
• salt deposits
• glass corrosion

causes

Leftovers on the dishes

If there are still pieces of food hanging from the plates and cutlery, there is often a rather trivial reason for this: the machine was given a wrong name. Soup plates make things easy to explain: if they are close to each other, detergent and water do not get to the plates properly - because of the special, rounded shape of the plates.

Now to do:
Wash the dirty dishes again by hand to remove all food leftovers - even if it is annoying.

To do in the future:
Do not overfill your machine and follow the motto: "Creative chaos is better than strict order". In other words, the soup plates do not all have to be next to each other. Leave one compartment in between. This will ensure that all plates are completely submerged.

Rust on the cutlery

Those who suddenly notice rust stains on their precious cutlery often panic and brooding: "Did not I pay extra attention to buying stainless steel cutlery">

Now to do:
Clean the rust-stained cutlery with diluted vinegar essence. All you need to do is to soak a clean kitchen towel in the essence and use it to clean the cutlery pieces. Finally rinse thoroughly (water and detergent) to eliminate the smell of vinegar.

Tip: Sometimes cleaning with a cloth is not enough. Then soak the stained pieces in vinegar water for about half an hour. Alternatively, citric acid is also suitable.

To do in the future:
Avoid cleaning utensils that may rust with cutlery in the dishwasher. In addition, you should check the cutlery basket regularly for blemishes.

Lime stains on dishes and glasses

White limescale on dishes and glasses indicate hard water. Multitabs commonly contain a water softener that can handle up to 21 water hardness. It may be that an incorrectly adjusted water softening system is responsible for the white spots. It must be adapted to the water hardness level in the household to work properly.

Tip: With the instructions for use of your dishwasher, you can easily adapt the settings of the water softening system of the appliance itself. Inquire before the exact degree of hardness in your district or district. Simply contact the relevant waterworks.

Now to do:
Again, clean the calcified dishes with vinegar essence or citric acid.

To do in the future:
Pay attention to the correct setting of the water softening system of your machine.

Salt deposits on the dishes

White spots on the dishes are at first glance treacherous: you do not know straightaway whether it is limescale or salt deposits. Visually, there is virtually no difference.

But: While lime residues are more persistent, salt deposits can easily be washed off with water. Thus, you should always make the same test when white spots occur and keep the piece in question under running water.

• The stains persist ">

  Normally, the glass corrosion does not arise from one moment to the other. It is gradually becoming stronger. This means for you: If your glass collection is important to you, you should wash it off by hand from the beginning (at the latest at the first sign of corrosion of one of the glasses).

  Note: Even very high temperatures in the dishwasher promote the development of glass corrosion. Therefore it is advisable to clean glasses - if not by hand - at least by yourself (without other dishes) in the special glass cleaning program of the dishwasher.

  Now to do:
  In a glass corrosion, there is nothing to do. The damaged glasses can not be saved.

  To do in the future:
  Always read the packaging of new glasses and glassware. There it is written, whether they are dishwasher safe or not. In addition, it is important to clean glassware at the lowest possible temperature and within a short time in the machine. Remove the dishes immediately after the wash. So they are not too long exposed to the vapor, which can attack the surface.

  Mini digression: In addition to glass corrosion, there are other causes of streaks on glasses. They can be conveniently divided into colors.

  1. Whitish streaks = calcification (better) or glass corrosion (worse).
  2. Bluish / metallic streaks = too much rinse aid in the machine.

  Tip: rinse aid streaks are quite difficult to remove from glasses. Unfortunately you do not get very far with acid here. Give it a try: rub the glasses completely with dishwashing detergent, let it soak for 15 to 20 minutes and then rinse the glasses thoroughly. At best, the streaks are gone.

  Tips

  General tips for using the dishwasher

  In your region comes very soft water from the tap ">

  Do not add additives such as water softener, regenerating salt, rinse aid or glass protection in the form of multitabs, but better separately in the dishwasher. When everything is combined in one tab, one effect may override the other. With the separate version, your glasses and other dishes shine in new splendor!