Rinse aid question

[atomranch]

Hello,
Just curious on how long the rinse aid dispenser will last after it has been filled. I filled mine 6 months ago when I purchased the dishwasher and it still looks like there is a good amount left in it. I do approximately 10 to 12 loads a month. I scheduled a service call but I want to be sure there is an issue so I do not get charged for the visit.

 

[mark_wpduet]

Not sure exactly - but something I was unaware of for years and just discovered a while back is that when you take the cap off of the rinse aid dispenser, there is a small dial with an arrow and numbers on it. This can be turned. The higher the #, the more rinse aid is dispensed and the more often it will need to be filled. At least that's the way it is on mine. I'm assuming the same applied for most.

 

[atomranch]

The cap on mine is screw on. No dial.

 

[maytagbear]

It varies

For me, with my GE Nautilus, when the liquid rinse aid dispenser worked, it held about 5-6 month's worth.

It depends, to a great extent, on frequency of use.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[whirlcool]

I think the dial for the rinse aid amount is on Maytag machines. We have this feature on ours. It came from the factory with the dial at the highest number and the dispenser would need refilling after about a week.
We now have the dispenser at number 1 and that lasts about a month.

 

[logixx]

Some dishwashers have a dial in the RA dispenser, while others use the electronic control to set the amount of RA dispensed. What type of DW do you have?

 

[rolls_rapide]

Are you sure that the dispenser is activating?

Upper range models of dishwasher which are electronically controlled, tend to have the facility to deactivate the rinse-aid dispenser, for example, when using the multi-function "All-in-One" detergent tablets.

 

[qsd-dan]

I got about 7 months between fills out of the KDS-19. I swapped in the KDS-18 the other day, but I doubt I'll see much, if any, time changes between fills.

 

[launderess]

Ours Has The Manual Dial Inside The Cup

When using DW detergents without built in rinse aids tend to crank the numbered dial up to "9" or so. However if using detergents with rinse aids added turn the dial down to "1" or "2".

Since one rarely if ever using the heated dry it is important to have the proper amount of rinse aid so things flash dry spottless.

One fill usually is good for two months or more on "9".

 

[atomranch]

Model of dishwasher

The dishwasher is a Whirlpool DU850SWPB4. It's pretty basic. The jet dry fill is just a clear plastic knob. No markings or alignment marks. No way to adjust the amount that you use. Maybe I should wait and see if it empties. It just seems strange that it would still have jet dry in it after 6 months. However only doing two to three washes a week might be why. I'm just not using it enough.

 

[logixx]

I would say fill the reservoir again until it's fully filled. You probably should be able to fill it with... hm... Well, some amount of rinse aid. If it's still practically full, you probably have a problem. Did drying performance drop recently?

 

[atomranch]

Service Technician

The service tech found out that the pump assembly was working intermitently. He's ordering a new one and hopefully this fixes it. When he had the dishwasher apart it amazed me that the whole thing was plastic like a cheap childs toy.

Also, when he was there he commeted on the old stove that came with the house. Said that the old stuff lasts forever and that he never gets service calls on the units. The oven does have asbestos wiring in it. Does anyone know when they stopped using this stuff? The wire is solid core.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Asbestos

My mother has an ironing board from 1969 with a white asbestos pad on the iron rest. Apparently white asbestos is okay if not disturbed.

 

[qsd-dan]

All asbestos is okay as long as it's not disturbed.

 

Actually, the so-called "asbestos removal" process generally causes MANY more issues than if it was just left the heck alone in the first place.

 

[Iowegian]

@atomranch:

Asbestos used to be everywhere, from car brake linings to pipe insulation to floor tile to house siding (called Transite). Asbestos had really good physical qualities, unfortunately it took a while for everyone to realize that breathing it was bad ju-ju.

As far as appliances go, I would guess that they quit installing asbestos insulation ca. 1977. If you don't try to completely disassemble your range, I wouldn't worry about it.

Glad you got your dishwasher fixed. Our Whirlpool dishwasher, 4 or 5 years old just doesn't clean well without the rinse aid. We refill it probably every 4 to 6 weeks. First dishwasher we've owned where rinse aid was not optional. But a couple of years ago they took the phosphorous out of dishwasher detergent which I think really affects the need for rinse aid.

 

[Iowegian]

@rolls_rapide:

You can't judge asbestos badness by color. There are different crystalline forms of asbestos. The most hazardous form of asbestos is Chrysotile, which when launched into the air, tends to lodge into the lung(s) and cause health problems.

Environmental people use a variety of test methods to detect the bad asbestos. The most reliable method is X-ray crystallography, where trained technicians evaluate samples using sophisticated methods.

I would recommend that your mom dispose of her ironing board pad. Properly, of course...I sure wouldn't remove the pad from the ironing board inside the home. And I would probably want to stand upwind when doing so.

 

[alsaroy]

Rinse aid

Good question. My old Kenmore ( Whirlpool) DW needed a rinse aid refill maybe every two to three months. Our newer KitchenAid has e dispenser with the dial, set all the way down, but it eats up rinse aid like crazy. We replace it at least once a month or sooner.. I do not know if this is using more or is the dispenser reservoir just much smaller on the newer machines. Although the bottle of rinse aid does seem to be empty too often. And rinse aid is not cheap. I wonder if we even need to keep using it. We use Quantum tablets and they work great, but seem to be the only detergent that works this well. Other detergents, cascade powder or liquid just do not clean well in this top of the line machine.

Could the rinse aid dispenser be defective?

 

[jerrod6]

Have a Miele Dw which has you setting the rinse aid dosage through it's touch screen.  The factory default is set to 3 and so far that's where I've left it.  Seems that the numbers also correspond to the milliliters it is dosing so it is using 3 ml each final rinse.  If it finds it needs to insert an extra rinse it will dispense two mil into that extra rinse then in the final rinse it will dispense 3 mil into that as well.

 

I don't always fill the dispenser to the top but it seems like this DW uses more rinse aid than my previous DW which was also Miele.  Seems like every six weeks I need to add some. It might also be related to the size of the reservoir. 

 

For those with heated drying increased usage could also be related to the fact that the wattage on the heater has been reduced from what older models used to have so even though there is some external heat being applied to the load, there is more reliance on rinse aid to help with the end result.

 

 

 

 

[rolls_rapide]

Colour of asbestos /classification

Actually, that is precisely how the UK categorises asbestos. There is white, brown and blue. Blue being the worst.