Should I use water softener in new Miele d/w?

circa1957

14 years ago

We've had our new Optima for about a week now. I am still in awe of how clean everything comes out, especially glasses and Pyrex.

Miele installer said around here people don't use the water softener in the dishwasher. I'm just wondering since we paid for it, should we be using it? Our water department says our water is slightly hard to hard at 7 gr/gal. We previously lived in Florida with very hard water, so there was visible etching. We've never had that problem, so I was surprised about the water hardness here. What would you do?

I also want to thank everybody on this forum for your thorough comments. We previously had a Bosch SHU43 which was a Consumers Reports "Best Buy." We will not buy another Bosch appliance. In the six years that we owned it, there were 2 overflows (first due to improper installation, no reason for 2nd), 3 control panels replaced (final one due to March 2009 recall) and wash motor pump replaced. Fortunately, we got the Extended Warranty from Lowe's.

Thanks!

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Comments (7)

baver
14 years ago
Personally, if your dishes are coming out sparkling, do NOT mess with anything - just be happy. Take it from someone whose dishes aren't. :)
User
14 years ago
Just follow the instructions for filling the salt reservoir and setting the softener to 7 gr/gal. The DW will do the rest and tell you when to add more salt to recharge the softener's cleaner.

Check with the water dept. to see if that 7 gr/gal fluxes and set the DW at the highest # of the range.
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I'm one of those. Had a heck of a time with the 4.y.o Incognito with whole house softener. But: turns out I had the softener set to 0. Bad idea. I turned up the setting a bit. Also disabled the salt feature in the Miele via programming by one of their techs over the phone. Etching has been resolved with use of Miele tabs and, I think, water softener adjustment. Big but: I have a new Optima in our apartment and it's a much improved dw. I don't have the salt feature enabled at all and it runs perfectly on our city water. I use the Miele tabs. Absolutely no hint of etching, no issues at all. The Optima rocks. Both have cold water hook ups -- I use the china and crystal cycle. Even if you don't need it dishwise, it's a bit shorter than the Normal setting and does a great job. Optima has the express which I also use if I'm in a hurry (half a tab, no wrapper to fool it). Others here (catmom for sure) have hot water hookup and no issues with Optima.
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gizmonike
14 years ago
Our Miele Excella manual says to use salt with water harder than 4 grains, so if I were you I'd add the salt. The Miele will only use what it needs when it needs it and should tell you when it wants more salt. We refill ours about twice a year.
circa1957
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for your time. I did my first load with the salt and I am in total awe. Glassware seems even more sparkly!
bommai
14 years ago
Not to change the topic - but we want to buy either the Miele Diamante Plus or Optima. We don't really need the Turbo wash or the delayed wash. Other than that, the Diamante and Optima seem the same. Any reason why I should spend $300 more for the optima.
User
14 years ago
I think the racks are different but I'd have to double check, optima will be a tad quieter, prob. won't notice the diff though.
circa1957
Original Author
14 years ago
Bommai,

We actually went to the Miele showroom for the Diamante Plus. After checking the Miele site, I knew I really wanted Turbo Setting and Delay Start. (The Model Overview on the site shows one model of Diamante Plus that has both of these.) The cutlery tray is split on the Optima, so you can remove a portion of it for taller things. This has already come in handy for us. I think Antss is right about not being able to tell the difference in acoustic levels.

We ended up with the Optima G2432SC which has the control panel in front and and the pre-finished Clean Steel. It's the least expensive Optima with 14-place settings. Former owners of our house remodeled the kitchen in the late 80s with oak, so the fridge and dishwasher had oak panels. Built-in fridge has since been replaced with stainless, so the new d/w helps update things a bit.

Another thing that got us to the store was that someone on this forum mentioned a forthcoming Miele price increase in February. A sure bet to stop our overthinking!

Should I use water softener in new Miele d/w?

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baver

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Should I use water softener in new Miele d/w?

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