3 Places to Check If Your Dishwasher Is Leaving Dishes with a Film
Dishwasher detergents and boosting agents often boast a dishwasher's ability to leave your dishes and glassware spot free and crystal clear. But problems in the dishwasher or within your home's water system can leave you with filmy dishes despite your best efforts. If you know that your home doesn't have hard water that could pump a lot of minerals out of any faucet in your home, there are a few other potential causes of filmy dishes.
Here are three places to check for problems and how an appliance-repair service such as Complete Service US could help.
Food Trap
The inside of a dishwasher might seem self-cleaning since the inside is constantly undergoing a water and detergent bath. But there's a little removable trap in most dishwasher models that does need regular cleanings in order to keep your dishwasher functioning properly.
Located under the lower sprayer arm and lower rack, the food trap catches all of the larger particulates that swirl through the dishwasher to prevent a drain clog that could cause your dishwasher to overflow. A clogging trap can cause the dishwasher to clean less efficiently.
Consult your owner's manual if you need help locating and removing your food trap. Dump out any larger particulates into your trash can and then rinse the meshed sides of the trap using your kitchen sink sprayer. Put the food trap back into the dishwasher, run the unit, and see if the film is still present.
Detergent Door
Another potential film-causing problem is detergent that doesn't fully dissolve during the wash cycle. If you recently switched dishwasher detergents, switch back to your original one and see if the film problem stops. If the problem continues, or you haven't switched detergents, check to see if there is any detergent residue left in the detergent compartment after the wash cycle has ended.
Leftover detergent inside the compartment can indicate that the detergent door isn't opening at the proper time. The detergent door is on a carefully calibrated timer to ensure that the door opens at the time when there's enough spraying water to both spread the detergent and quickly wash the detergent away.
If you suspect a detergent-door malfunction, call in an appliance-repair service for diagnostics and repairs.
Water-Heater Tank
Did your food trap or the interior walls of your dishwasher show signs of mineral buildup even though you're certain your home doesn't have overly hard water? Check to see if your water heater has received its annual maintenance draining to remove mineralization from the tank.
Nearly any water supply has enough minerals to cause a gradual buildup within the water-heater tank, and these minerals are caught by an anode rod for the most part. But you still need to drain the tank at least once a year to remove any excess mineralization and to avoid overwhelming the rod. Otherwise, you can end up with mineral buildups anywhere in your home that uses hot water—such as the dishwasher.
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