My repairman told me the opposite! I don't use Cascade because it's made by P&G (test on animals) and he told me to stop using the powder, use a liquid. Soap going bad is a new one on me. Something else about laundry detergent, I switched from powder to liquid for some reason. I can't remember if it's better for the septic or the washer, but I switched. Maybe it was because it doesn't dissolve easily. I can remember when you had a choice of two; Tide or Cheer. Ivory or Dial. Joy dish detergent because you washed the dishes in the sink yourself. Why does everything have to be so complicated.

Miele does not recommend gel based detergents in the dishwasher. Only powder based detergents. I think Bosch and Asko had the same requirements. Powders are always cheaper than liquids. With liquids you are paying for some to add water for you.

Good luck!

Neither Miele nor Bosch (nor Bloomberg) say a thing about not using gel. Miele actually has a program selection for the type of dishwasher detergent you prefer: you can select from powder, gel, or tab. If anything, the preponderance of warnings in the manuals seem to hover around the use of tabs. I would definitely look upon any repairman's flat pronouncement NOT to use a given type or brand of dishwasher detergent with a jaundiced eye unless the guy can give you a logical, detailed, explanation, with evidence, of what the problem is and what about his proposed remedy will fix it.

Read the manuals. If they do not prohibit or suggest against your preferred product's use, then show the repairman chapter, page, and verse. If he still wants to blame your selection of detergent, ask him to put it in writing on your receipt and sign it. If he is so sure the problem is with your detergent, he shouldn't mind putting it down on paper.

Very interesting thread. Reading this sent me back to my Miele manual. Yes, no problem using gel. But there is a problem using too much detergent--so in this sense the repairman was correct. In fact, Miele recommends different amounts of detergent for different wash cycles.

Re detergent going bad. I think I'm with the repairman on this one. I just opened a new costco gel. When I went to squeeze some in the dishwasher, thin liquid went everywhere; clearly the product had separated. I never had this happen before. I shook it, and it seems to generally have re-integrated itself, but to be on the safe side, I'm buying new.

Good points - never thought I'd be interested in this subject but a $300 repair bill sure makes one interested. The repairman didn't recommend any particular brand, and he said the Kirkland (Costco) gel does clean well, it just foams more than it should when it goes bad (an average of about 1 month after it is opened), and that is hard on the dishwasher. Pumping bubbles isn't good for the pump.

Another thing he said was that the dishwasher uses little water on the first cycle. So, if it takes a while for hot water to get to your dishwasher, that first cleaning cycle may be running with warm or even COLD water. That cycle is what gets the bigger stuff off the dishes. He suggested runnning the tap until you get hot water if this is a problem, then starting the dishwasher, and seeing if it makes a difference in the cleanliness of the dishes. Our hot water tank is fairly close, but I do get some cold water when I first turn my tap to hot. I think I'll try this and see what happens.

He also cleaned my air gap. That never occurred to me - but there was a plastic tooth from a comb stuck in there. He took the cap off of it and put a glass over the top, and when the dishwasher drained, it shot water out of the air gap (along with the tooth from a comb). He said if the dishwasher ever makes a funny sound to troubleshoot that first. Again, it never occurred to me to clean my air gap. I guess I have a lot to learn about appliance maintenance - and here I thought all I needed to do was clean the grill on my refrigerator and the lint trap in my dryer. All of the appliances we've owned before now haven't given us any problems - I mean NONE.

We are on a septic system also. I mentioned that to him, and he said powdered detergents, if used in hot enough water, don't cause problems. I use liquid laundry detergent (Costco again) and do most of my laundry on warm. I haven't had any problems with laundry, or my septic system, so I think I'll stick with that system.

Once again, just passing along this info for what it's worth....

Can't speak for your dishwasher but I have included a link to my Miele manual, pg 30 of the PDF to be specific. It would be strange for Miele not to recommend tabs since they sell DW tabs in US and Canada and their product is usually packaged with Somat tabs in Europe.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Miele G856SC Elite

Thanks for the link. Time does march on though and the Novotronics are not sold in the US anymore. Here's a link to an older Inspira manual and the allowable detergents are on page 23.

I did not mean to imply that Miele said not to use tabs, but if you read the La Perla manual you will find that Miele recommends that tabs not be selected for express wash due to the possibility that it will not have a chance to completely dissolve. Look at the detergent use recommendations of the La Perla Manual on page 31 to see what I mean.

Here is a link that might be useful: Last Year's Inspira Manual

I bought Blomberg Dishwasher, installed last October 2009. Had a broken rail on upper rack. Took FOREVER to get the correct part from Blomberg.

Now it's whining like a trumpet while pumping water out! Repairman was here. It didn't do it when he was here so he called Blomberg for trouble shooting advice. They told him it's having problems with the pumps and to order a new one. That was three weeks ago and I just checked. They are still waiting for pumps. It sounds so labored, a water line popped off and water puddle leaked out on the floor in front of it. DH put it back on.

I'm having second thoughts. Would not recommend this brand.

Homepro1, that's not strange at all. Your machine is a G856. I bet your machine is faster than current G2000 models (normal cycle 1hr 20 mins vs 2hr 10)

Go figure that back those times BSH Bosch/Siemens (then also Neff and Gagg) strongly reccomended not to use tabs, otherwise the warranty would have been void.

Now we know that Reckitt Benckiser won against dishwasher manufacturers and whatever current dishwasher has longer cycles to allow those damned tabs to dissolve.

Anyway aside of pump cavitation due to oversudsing (the pump whine blues) liquids often leak out from the cup during prewash and the main wash is done with almost any detergent

Try this : fill the cup with water, then close the lid and the DW door (don't turn it on). After 20 minutes check what's left in the cup. If any water has spilled out ok to liquids, otherwise powder is mandatory

However Fagor-Brandt machines (then Blomberg) can't be compared to BSH Asko and Miele. One can't expect the same build quality

I have the Miele Optima. Yes, it clearly provides the options for use of powders, gels or tabs. However, the Miele certified tech who installed my machine did suggest that I stick with powder. He also advised me to use less detergent of any kind than the manufacturer of that detergent suggests.

"Read the manuals. If they do not prohibit or suggest against your preferred product's use, then show the repairman chapter, page, and verse."

the other day I heard the computer geeks on a local computer radio program discussing the options when loading a program onto you system. they said when the option comes up to load 'recommended options' vs 'custom choices' - choose the custom because most often the 'recommended' usually means what is good for them...not you.

could be the same for the dw (any appl) manuals put out by the makers... better for them if you have to have repairs or buy a new machine. They think.