I am using the borax and washing soda dishwasher soap mixture as well as white vinegar in the rinse aid holder. My dishes are still coming out with a white film on them. I have tried the light wash, the normal wash, and the pots and pans wash settings on my dishwasher. Nothing is helping. Is there anything else that I can do or use to get cleaner dishes? Thanks.
Cathy from Grand Rapids, MI
Fill rinse cup with Jet Dry instead of the vinegar. It works for me. (09/15/2008)
By Lee
Are you up to date on putting the dishwasher salt in your dishwasher? A little thing like that may make a difference. (09/16/2008)
By cettina
We put a "filter" under our sink to filter the water that goes to the ice maker, dishwasher, and the water at the sink. These filters can be purchased at Lowes or Walmart, or hardware stores.
The filter has helped with the "white film" on drinking glasses, and other clear items. So I believe that the dark colored items, and patterned dishes are better, too.
Also, if you use the convenient drinking "powders" that contain Splenda, you will have a "cloudy" look to your drinking glasses. I sent an e-mail to a particular company, (we drink lemonade all the time) questioning the "cloudy" look. They sent me several coupons to purchase some more of their product, and apologized for the "cloudy" look to the glasses. They are aware of their product causing clear glasses, and pitchers to become cloudy, but evidently there isn't anything they can do about it. (09/16/2008)
I sometimes dump 4-6 cups or more of white vinegar right into the bottom of the dishwasher before a normal wash. I use dishwasher soap, too. It seems to take a large amount of vinegar once in a while to clean all the gunk out of the dishwasher. Give it a try. Vinegar is cheap and this method always works for me. (09/16/2008)
By Melissa
Several months ago I purchased my second dishwasher and I asked the salesman how to keep the dishes from becoming clouded and he said to put a bowl of vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher and put it through a regular cycle with no dishes in it and do this once a month. So far no cloudiness. (09/16/2008)
By Annette
I don't know what the borax and washing soda mix is, so I don't know what that is trying to accomplish.
I have found that different types of soap work better in some water than in others, so my first suggestion would be to try a variety of detergents.
My second thought on this is that the vinegar and washing soda may be canceling each other out, as soda is a base and vinegar an acid, and they combine to form salt water. Also if you are using a lot of soda in comparison to the vinegar you may be neutralizing the vinegar so it can't do the job it might do.
If I were you, I would go back to a regular detergent, and try using vinegar in the rinse cycle. You may not be getting enough vinegar in the water to make a difference. I used to toss in about a cup when I had this problem in one place that I lived.
I suspect that the film is a hard water film on your dishes. The poster that suggested a filter may have the long term solution, but in the meantime, try the vinegar, as it is an acid which should dissolve the hard water lime deposit on the dishes.
If several cups of vinegar don't do the trick you may have to go to something like CLR to clean out the gunk in the dishwasher first. It is a much stronger acid, but maybe that is what you need to get rid of buildup. (09/17/2008)
By Louise B.
I have tried a similar mixture, borax and baking soda, with a vinegar rinse in lieu of dishwasher detergent, but came up with the same results. Cloudy dishes. Dishwasher detergent contains phosphates, so that is why I tried a home version, trying to be kinder to the environment. So far I have not found a combo that leaves the dishes without a film. Sigh, so I am back to Electrosol, it works great for dishes, but not so great for the earth.
Trish in CT (09/25/2008)
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