I live in Melbourne, and our water hardness is pretty low. I've never used rinse aid, and I haven't really noticed any issues with the quality of the wash. I'm wondering if I'm the only one, or if I'm some kind of dishwashing savage?
I typically use Quantum powerball (supposedly an "all in one" tablet … no need to add rinse aid) , bought in bulk a while back on sale, but need to stock up so was looking at other tablet/powder options, and so this got me thinking about rinse-aid.
my dishwasher used to annoy the crap out of me. It would be able to clean a lasagna tray, but butter on a knife it wouldn't clean properly. Not only that, dishes used to come out wet. I was reading through the manual the other week, and it mentioned that you should use Rinse Aid. Ever since then, dishes have come out clean and not wet!
You can substitute rinse aid with Vinegar.
In Melbourne you won't need to use any additional rinse aid/salts if you use an all in one tablet.
Thanks — I saw this suggestion, but Vinegar is a weak acid, not a surfactant. It will reduce surface tension slightly which will help drying, but I would worry that it is likely to do other damage to other components of the machine. Vinegar is strong enough acid to damage natural rubbers and even a number of synthetic rubbers (see here, row for Acetic Acid, 5%).
dishwasher will use a miniscule amount of rinse aid (vinegar) per wash, at that level of dilution I doubt anyone has anything to worry about. Personally, i've been doing it for decades.
Thank you — and you find it works well?
@pinchies: haha it probably does nothing, honestly. I'd like to see someone prove it at least does something… from a visual inspection of everything that gets washed, if you play with the rinse aid dispensary dial (how much it uses per wash), it looks to me like it at least prevents water marks. YEMV
Most dishwasher instruction guides say to leave the dial on half way, as that is usually enough, but adjusting it might work better in some cases.
Maybe, maybe not.
Can't say I've been doing it for as long as Bamboozle, only years without any negative effects the rubber.
Rinse aid makes my cups taste funny and I have to rinse again before making coffee.
This is a very important factor to me too! I really dislike when the dishes are left with any odour or residual taste from washing.
You need to add rinse the rinse aid tablet to your washing.
But I find that Rinse Aid Rinse Tablets tend to leave spots on my glasses? 😆
youre probably not stacking properly
Don't use rinse aid but I do find that my cutlery which sits on the top shelf of the machine gets rather wet after a washing cycle. The plates and such are fine and I leave it for a bit to air dry then stack it all away. So prob is more of the issue with the design of the dish washing machine itself I suppose. Not fussed though, i'll just use a tea towel to wipe down cutlery, no big deal if it means less chemicals being used.
Rinse aid. I buy a year's supply when it is ozbargain cheap.
Which brands have you tried, and which do you buy?
Finish and home brand.
When it is ozbargain cheap, Finish is cheaper.
Can't tell the difference except Finish has a nicer bottle.
The tablet I use has rinse-aid already in it. sometimes I aid extra but usually I don't.
The area I'm in has hard water but haven't really seen much difference with additional rince-aid.
I use it whenever I rent a place that has a dishwasher. Water spots are kinda ugly, I hate seeing them at restaurants too. I totally get why royalty get their butlers to polish their cutlery. It cost almost nothing per wash too.
I add rinse aid just to get rid of the blinking red light on my dishwasher
I bought some bottles when on sale to try out and it does make a difference in drying time but I wouldn't say it's really necessary.