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Cascade rinse aid product in Kitchen Aide Dishwasher ?

14 years ago

I was visiting my dear SIL this weekend and she is very upset with her relatively new KA dishwasher. She had the old KA for almost 20 years and raved about it. When it finally died she just replaced it with the current model and has found that it is not nearly as good as the old machine. Among the many things she disliked was the fact that her glasses and other clear glass items such as ice cream dishes and custard cups were getting a film build up. She was told (not sure if this is in the instructions for the dishwasher) by the installer that only the Cascade rinse aid was allowed to be used in her dishwasher. I told her that the installer told me the same thing about my truly awful GE basic dishwasher but I have been using LemiShine powdered rinse aid in the final wash cup and dishwasher powder detergent in the pre-rinse cup of the dishwasher. I have also discontinued Jet Dry which I tried in place of the Cascade rinse aid.

She is afraid of damaging the dishwasher if she disregards what she has been told but I said I would ask here if anyone has had any experience with this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

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Comments (5)

weissman
14 years ago
First of all, the old KAs were made by Hobart and apparently the current KAs are not nearly the same - BUT I've had KA for over 6 years and it's great - cleans well and dries well and I use Jet Dry for my rinse aid. I would check the manual but I think what the installer told her is nonsense - you won't void your warranty or damage the machine if you use a different brand. Some brands may be more effective than others. I don't have any idea why she's getting a film buildup - someone else may be able to help with that.
dadoes
14 years ago
LemiShine is NOT rinse aid. It's a concentrated citric acid powder intended for cleaning calcium and hard water deposits from glassware and the dishwasher interior.

As weissman says, all liquid rinse aids are pretty much the same, other than one may work better under whatever may be the specific water conditions at any particular location. Too high a dose of any rinse agent can cause excess foaming during the final rinse when it's dispensed.

More likely, the film is due to the detergent your SIL is using, and/or too high or too low a dose of said detergent.
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markw
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I use Cascade rinse aid in my three-year-old KA washer and it works perfectly. The film could be caused by using too much of it. The amount dispensed is adjustable; try dialing it down. You might cure the film problem and save money on rinse aid at the same time!
flseadog
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you everyone for your responses. I'll pass this along to my SIL. Based on what you have said she might be using too much of the rinse aid.

Now, do any of you have any thoughts about whether I should not be using so much Lemishine in my terrible old GE dishwasher? The Jet Dry really was useless and my dishes as well as my glasses seem much cleaner when I use the Lemishine. I've never tested the water to see if it is particularly hard so maybe I should do that. TIA.
mark40511
14 years ago
I wonder if you can put distilled white vinegar in your rinse aid dispenser? I've heard it works great. Though this is not as convenient, I pour about 1/2 cup in during the rinse cycle because my rinse aid dispenser leaks. It works great plus it cleans the inside of the DW at the same time. I've also read the rinse aid's on the market have some nasty chemicals in them. I'm not sure because they don't show the ingredients list on them. So maybe it's not true. Not sure.

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