Cleaning dishwasher limescale?

[fluffycabbage]

Our dishwasher must be seriously scaled - the glasses are coming out cloudy Just wondering if anyone has any tips for getting rid of the limescale?
Ive heard citric acid is great for it. Any other ideas?

Cloudy means the detergent is scratching them doesn't it?
Or does it wash off and stay clear once they've re-dried?

You can use calgon I believe...

Have you got enough rinse aid and salt in there? Isn't that what the salt is for in dishwashers - softening water?

I do a hot, empty wash with dishwasher cleaner once in a while, think we use Finish dishwasher cleaner. Vinegar could be an option instead of citric acid although no idea how much to put in.

[fluffycabbage]

Cloudy means the detergent is scratching them doesn't it?
Or does it wash off and stay clear once they've re-dried?

You can use calgon I believe...

Its like a layer of hard water residue (ie limescale) left on them. If theyre rinsed off it goes.
We use a finish dishwasher cleaner/descaler once a month....

Have you got enough rinse aid and salt in there? Isn't that what the salt is for in dishwashers - softening water?

I do a hot, empty wash with dishwasher cleaner once in a while, think we use Finish dishwasher cleaner. Vinegar could be an option instead of citric acid although no idea how much to put in.

We've never used salt/rinse aid - isnt that in with the tabs? (we use finish powerball atm)

Stuff starts getting cloudy in ours when we need to add salt.

When i've used all in 1 tablets in the past I found I still needed to add salt and rinse aid, so now I just use the basic tablets

[fluffycabbage]

ah right, so back to basics but add salt and rinse aid?

[MrC]

When I've lived in quite hard water area's I've found strong white vinegar to be very very good at clearing limescale from just about anything, especially when it's hot.

The trick with dishwashers is to get the cycle to the long hot wash part and before it fills up with water pour 2 litres of cheap white vinegar into the bottom before the sensor that controls water level switches off the water fill. Set it to it's highest temperature setting too. If you've got a dial control for the cycle you can keep turning it back a notch when it goes forward to prevent it from emptying the vinegar and keep it on this cycle for as long as you feel necessary to clear the scale.

In one place I would do this about once a year when the deposits were getting quite visible. I would say if you have to do it any more often then there is a problem with the tablets/chemicals that you are putting in the machine as they are to some extent supposed to clear this by themselves.

Incidentally, you can try this with your kettle if you want to actually see it in action. Bring the vinegar to the boil in it and you'll see your crusty old kettle clean itself in minutes. I did this just a couple of days ago and it worked like a charm. The tea wasn't too nice though.....

It's also really good at clearing gunk from washing machines.

ah right, so back to basics but add salt and rinse aid?

Yep. I'm pretty sure I've seen somewhere that you should always use salt and rinse aid regardless of the detergent you use.
This site is pretty good for washer and dishwasher advice, I think the guy who set it up used to be a regular on Netmums and was bombarded with questions there, I had a few lengthy convo's with him myself http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p ... ge&pid=163

ETA, the low down on detergent http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.p ... ge&pid=116

[fluffycabbage]

oh thats very useful, thanks shadow and thanks mr cm