response 1 of 40:

Oct 1 23:13 UTC 1995

I've hesitated to enter this story, but it is instructive...

Our dishwasher started to give us a problem as much as two years ago. It
left particles of the detergent on the dishes and glasses in the upper
rack. We changed detergent because of this, and it seemed to help, but the
problem returned, and occurred intermittently. 

Now, we were the types that "prewashed" our dishes, so grunge would not
dry on them. In fact, I had gotten into the habit of using items from the
"unwashed" dishes, for quick needs, since after all I had prewashed them.
We came to consider the short cycle wash, when we did it, as the coup de
grace, to "sterilize everything". 

Well, finally I got annoyed with the undissolving dish detergent, so just
a couple of weeks ago, I did some tests, of how the wash water circulated
in the washer. I put glasses and dishes face up in the bottom and top
racks, and noted the volumes collected. It seemed pretty fair in the
bottom rack, but poor in the top. So I checked the top "spinner-sprayer" -
and found it was not producing. I then checked the manual, and it said the
water level in the washer should be a half inch below the heater coil. In
the washer, however, during the wash cycle, the level was lower (there is
no control on the level - just a fill cycle time). From the manual
check-list, it appeared that maybe the filter in the fill valve was
plugged. 

So I finally opened the machinery comnpartment, and checked things out.
The fill valve solenoid was OK (resistance), but now that I was looking at
it, and turning the machine through its cycles with the water turned off,
I noticed that there was no satisfying *kerchunk* as power was applied. In
fact, though I could detect a faint hum from the solenoid coil, the *valve
was not opening*. 

It then became apparent that we had not been washing the dishes for as
long as that "insoluble detgyergent" problem arose. A little water did
leak through, and some drained off the pre-washed dishes we put in,
maintaining a low pool of - concentrated detergent solution! - in the
bottom of the dishwasher. We were rinsing our dishes in that solution.
Yuchh. 

It still hurts to think of it. I bought a new fill valve and installed it,
and now there was a healthy *kerchunk* when it opened, as well as the hiss
of inflowing water (which we had not missed as it had faded away), and a
good healthy flow during emptying...and no undissolved detergent. 

Now, we are wondering what is the effect of eating dishwasher detergent
for a year or so. 

response 3 of 40:

Oct 14 02:38 UTC 1995

Er... that should read "I've heard diarrhea".

response 5 of 40:

Oct 17 03:08 UTC 1995

The detergent contains sodium carbonate, sodium metasilicate, sodium
tripolyphosphate, sodium sulfate, Aerosol OT (a wetting agent). They
provide essential or useful agents of sodium, antacid, silica, phosphate,
and sulfur, and stool softener. In fact, small daily doses of dishwasher
detergent might be salubrious. Of course, as for anything, it is possible
to overdose. 

response 15 of 40:

Mar 3 16:23 UTC 1996

I've noticed that my little stamped aluminum measuring spoons get sort of
crusty with some kind of dishwasher detergent leftover... Any idea what this
is?  It seems to stick only to aluminum, and not all of that either, depending
on the finish.  The spoons look anodized.

response 17 of 40:

Apr 16 02:08 UTC 1996

Re #13, a merely practical suggestion: wash some things dirty with oil,
or something like that that's not simply water-soluble, & see what
happens.  We went through this a few months ago when we got a new
dishwasher ( because our old one didn't heat the water, & our water
heater is so far away that the hot water kept cooling off in the pipes)
-- I kept reducing the amount of detergent I put in until the occasional
dish came out not quite clean, then added a little.  For me the most
likely to be dirty are little jars that had roast-chicken drippings.

response 21 of 40:

Nov 15 07:43 UTC 1997

  If your dishwasher is not cleaning the dishes well, you could take a jar
of Tang, and run it through your machine. I've heard on the radio that this
works well.

  There is a show called "The Appliance Doctor" on WJR at noon on weekends.
You can pick up all kinds of household hints and even learn how to fix a minor
problem with your major appliance. I've been listening to him for about a year
now, and I think he's pretty consistent with the advice.

response 23 of 40:

Nov 15 19:22 UTC 1997

 Yes, that is usually recommended. ;)