Rinse aid question

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atomranch

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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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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".
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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.
 
@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.
 
@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.
 
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?
 
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.

 

 

 
 
Colour of asbestos /classification

Actually, that is precisely how the UK categorises asbestos. There is white, brown and blue. Blue being the worst.
 
For about two weeks now

Instead of putting rinse aid in my dispenser, I put distilled white vinegar and I was scared that it would leak but it hasn't leaked a drop. I have it turned to the highest setting and it works really well. Possibly not quite as well as regular rinse aid but close. I seem to remember reading vinegar is a good rinse aid so I thought I would try it.....

I AGREE with you about the Finish Quantum and powerball. Both seem to be the best but I don't like the way it makes the dishwasher sound. I have hard water and even still you can tell when the dishwasher is running it sounds like there's too much foam and the dishwasher is having to work harder.......But everything is rinsed well and results are good at the end.....I'd hate to think using it would shorten the life of a dishwasher.

When I run out of my stash of institutional Cascade I think I'm going to start using one of the two
 
another Jet Dry rinse aid question

Brand new 800 Series Bosch DW here. We have rinse aid dispenser set to lowest setting. Never used Jet Dry rinse aid in the former Kenmore DW that I always used 'No Heat-Dry' setting.

Same detergent (Finish PowerBall tabs).

With our new Bosch, dishes are still fairly wet when I open door 30 minutes to an hour after cycle ends. The dishes are much wetter than with 'No Heat-Dry' setting on no rinse-aid Kenmore, including the walls and inside of the door.

What's up with this?

Should we increase the Jet Dry dispenser setting? Even though I never ever used it in the old Kenmore DW? It's all new to me.
 
I have a Bosch DW w/ softener that was installed earlier this year and I also noticed that some things (mainly plasticware) were quite wet at the end of pretty much any cycle. This was especially true compared to our old KA TT model, which got everything bone dry. I do use Quantum tabs and Somat rinse-aid (best I've found so far) but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Everything still comes out clean and shiny, and hard items are almost always dry. But for some reason plastic stays wet...go figure. I just dab it off with a towel and deal with it.

I'm too happy having a built-in softener to take on our rock hard water to really complain!
 
It doesn't surprise me that there's still rinse aid in the dispenser if you only wash 10-12 loads per month. I wash upwards of 14 loads per week and I fill mine about once a month. My LG's dispenser has a range of settings. Since I have mechanically-softened water, I have it set a the lowest (1) setting.
 
FoxChapel

If your dishes and the inside of the machine are still "wet" an hour after the cycles finish, two things come to my mind at once.

First what is the temperature of your final rinse water? If it is too cool it will cool down the dishes from a heated wash and you won't get enough of a "flash dry" effect that no heat drying depends upon.

The other would be to increase the amount of rinse aid dispensed until things are where you wish them to be. IIRC most DW's do not dispense that much product into the final rinse so you can adjust the setting rather high and still not worry about consumption. For us the key test is to see if the machine is struggling with excess froth during the rinse, that indicates perhaps way too much rinse aid was dispensed.

In light of the last bit have recently turned the dial on our Frigidare/Kenmore down to about "1" or "2" (cannot remember) for two reasons. The boilers are set to "winter" thus hot water out of the taps is >130F, and am using Cascade Complete (older STPP laden formula) which contains a rinse aid of sorts.
 
I would be interested in knowing about using Vinegar as a Rinse-Aid in the dishwasher.
My only concern is that since we've already "destroyed" one drain filter, thankfully under warranty, I am not too interested in having to replace another one, especially now that we are out of the warranty period.

Whilst the DishDrawer can much on all sorts of things (during my "testing), you need to use the Heavy cycle, and crank the rinse-aid...

Is vinegar harsh enough to dissolve glues and such?
 
Hot water at 130F ???????????????

If its only at a 130F in winter how cool do you set it for in the summer? 130F is only 54C thats not much above warm really. Mine is set to 76 C that 168F so its just to hot to put a hand in but would not give a serous burn. Its much cheaper to run that way as you only use a smaller amount
 
103??

mine is set to 130......

I'm not sure about what harm vinegar could do to a dishwasher.......Honestly, I don't think any harm. I do know I've read many forums where people use distilled white vinegar as a rinse aid. Some pour it in when they hear the rinse start, some put it in the dispenser....

I admit I don't know if it will harm my rinse aid mechanism.....but it works REALLY well as a rinse aid........It also breaks down hard water at the same time in the inner workings of the dishwasher. I know my racks slide easier than they did before.

I've used vinegar mixed with fab softener in my front load washer for YEARS.
 
mark_wpduet

For us, there really isn't much benefit switching to White Vinegar then. We have a home water softener, so the water is always soft.
Perhaps the only thing to "worry" about is the chemicals in the rinse aid (Surfactant?) and perhaps some buildup in the dishwasher.

By the way, when you have solar heated water in this country, temperatures vary from 86ºF (30ºC) - 212ºF (100ºC) or BOILING! There is NO shutoff on those forsaken things. If you're lucky, you'll have a tempering valve, that brings things back to a "leisurely" 149ªF (65ºC), which will eliminate steam blasting from your taps...
 

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