8-9 hardness is actually 'low" but I would add the salt anyway. Using salt only takes you to 5-6 anyway. 0 for a setting would be too low and make it difficult to rinse the soap off.

the Auto DOS is separate from the salt

Mine were older, but top of the line models. I had 2 Miele DWs in my last house. The first one we never used salt and after a while it just wasn't cleaning as well as it had. When we remodeled we got a new one as we were going with paneled appliances. We used salt with this second DW from the start and it performed much better and looked cleaner inside. We had hard water in Los Angeles.

New Miele DW in future house will have AutoDos. I'll still plan on using the salt. Might be worth trying it out for a month or so, and see if it clears up the film for you?

Thank you @chispa and @delray33483!

Sounds like I need to order salt for our machine. Hopefully that makes a difference!!

I noticed there's two options. Can you please advise on which product I should purchase?

https://www.mieleusa.com/e/dishwasher-salt-1-5g-3-3-lb-gs-sa-1502-p-10248600-p

https://www.mieleusa.com/e/regeneration-salt-3-x-2-kg-13-2-lb-total-procare-universal-61-9195780-p

the smaller of the two. They are actually the same but the small one is sized for home units

Thank you!! I just ordered it from AMZN and it arrives tomorrow. Any tips/suggestions on the best way to use it would be appreciated. ;-)

I have a 6987, the TOL model in the series before yours. My water hardness is between 10 and 14 GPG. I have always used dishwasher salt, in every Miele DW I have had, so perhaps the salt will help with this problem. I use a Hach water hardness test kit to determine the hardness of my water because I think it is more precise than test strips.

How many times has this happened and are your dishes covered with this same white film? Also please go into the settings menu and see what the water hardness is set to.

I first noticed the film mid-June and it's appeared consistently after every cycle since then. My dishes are clean after the cleaning cycle and I've noticed no film on my dishes/glasses.

I have my water hardness setting set to 8 under my settings. The d/w salt arrives this evening and I'll report back after I run a cycle tomorrow/Saturday with the salt. :)

I added the salt and ran the Quick Intense Express cycle as instructed in my manual. I still have the film inside my tub...

The only other thing I can think to do is add Miele rinse-aid, but I thought the whole point of using the power disk was to eliminate the need to use all the separate products?

For those of you who use the power disk do you also add rinse-aid to your machine?

No matter what detergent you use you should use rinse aid add rinse aid and rerun

Considering that rinse aid goes into the final rinse, which occurs after the detergent ... pod, pac, disk or whatever ... is down the drain when the wash period drains, and at least one other rinse has probably occurred, using a separate proper rinse aid is generally a good move.

Ordered rinse-aid which arrives on Monday. Thank goodness for AMZN!!

If I have to add rinse-aid and salt, then what's the point of using the power disks?!

I go through a disk every 3 weeks or so because we run our d/w so often and the disks are quite spendy!

@julie K - here is info from the miele press release wlhen they introduced the G7000 line about the value of the autodos. Basically dispenses the appropriate amount of detergent when needed. It does not mention rinse aid as part of the system. Yes - It is yet another income stream for Miele. Based on the last sentence you do have the option to use your own detergents. If rinse aid and salt don’t help after several cycles - you might want to explore different detergent options to see if that makes a difference in the film you are experiencing.

The Power of Miele’s PowerDisk Automatic Dosing
Miele’s PowerDisk helps reduce the amount of detergent and energy used to wash dishes. With a detergent powder and rinse aid incorporated, the PowerDisk is placed in a special compartment on the inside of the G7000 door. The PowerDisk is a detergent-filled disk measuring around 6” in diameter and about 1.5” thick, and automatically releases the precise amount of detergent each time it rotates during a cleaning cycle. The load is monitored by a sensor with more detergent dispensed for heavy loads, whereas less is dispensed for lighter loads. The powder detergent, which dissolves quickly, contains special enzymes for an effective wash, even at low temperatures, as well as active oxygen for thorough cleanliness and freshness. It also has protective factors for silver and glassware. Special protection against moisture and heat also guarantees unwaveringly high quality and consistency over the entire use of a PowerDisk. For users who prefer conventional detergents, the G7000 does feature a conventional two-compartment container in the door, as well.

all of them work in concert

Detergent does what it does - clean. Salt is needed when the water is hard. Hard water decreases the effiency of the detergent. The harder the water, the more detergent you need. The salt lessens the hardness but only in the wash cycle.

Rinse aid helps eliminate water spots. It also is a mild cleaner in its own right and may get rid of the white film. If nothing else try squirting a little rinse aid on the film before and wipe with a cloth to see if it helps

So I have more questions.

You said the DW is cleaning everything fine. When you hold a glass up to the light can you see any film on it?

When you added the salt did you pour water into the reservoir as described in the manual for the initial set up or was there water already in it so that it poured out as the salt was added?

Is your DW connected to your home internet and do you have the Miele@home app? If so what is the salt percentage shown in the app?

What does the film feel like; Is it oily, slippery, or chalky?

Perhaps try raising the water hardness to a high number like 18 for just the next run so that might trigger the water softener to regenerate the resin if it didn't when you added the salt.

I am sorry for so many questions. This is a mystery so I am thinking of everything I can.

@Jerrod, please see my responses below to your questions below.

You said the DW is cleaning everything fine. When you hold a glass up to the light can you see any film on it? There is no visible film on my glasses or plates. Other than the film in my stainless tub the d/w is performing as expected.

When you added the salt did you pour water into the reservoir as described in the manual for the initial set up or was there water already in it so that it poured out as the salt was added? There was already water in the reservoir so I just added salt to the reservoir per the instructions in my manual.

Is your DW connected to your home internet and do you have the Miele@home app? If so what is the salt percentage shown in the app? Our DW is connected to the app. The salt % was never shown in the app. Also, FYI after the last software update the app no longer shows energy/water usage for any of the wash cycles. It now only shows which cycle is running and how much time is left in the cycle.

What does the film feel like; Is it oily, slippery, or chalky? It doesn't feel like any of those. It just look and feels like a strange film that's heavy enough to show my name if I write on my tub.

Perhaps try raising the water hardness to a high number like 18 for just the next run so that might trigger the water softener to regenerate the resin if it didn't when you added the salt. Our water hardness is currently set to 9 since our water municipality says our water is between 8-9 gpm in our area.

I am sorry for so many questions. This is a mystery so I am thinking of everything I can.

I appreciate all the helpful suggestions/tips provided by all of you who have responded to my post. Thank you for taking the time to post!

The rinse-aid I ordered arrived a day early so I just ran a Quick Intense Cycle after adding the Miele rinse-aid. If you review the instruction manual it seems to imply that no rinse-aid or salt is necessary unless you have hard water (our home is 8-9 gpm). See pages 28-29, 31 and 96. Instruction Manual for Miele G7966

Attached are pics of the inside of the door and tub after I added Miele DW salt and Miele rinse-aid. The photos look identical to the ones I included in my original post before I added salt and rinse-aid.

I have very hard well water and my dishwasher turns its inside like yours if no salt is in the watersoftner, it also takes a couple of washes to get the softner up to speed.

You need a descalercleaner now to run through your machine to get rid of the buildup inside the machine.

Also to consider is that the detegent miele have in the autodispence might not be the best for your watercondissions. Since i have well water not treated I gone through and tested alot of different detergents and cascade platinum is what works for me.

Run the hottest and longest cycle with descalercleaner without auto detergent to se what the inside of the machine looks like.

If you have registered your DW with Miele either online or with the mail-in card it should have a 5-year warranty. I would give customer service a call and explain what is happening. They might tell you to run a clean machine, or do something you have already done. I would tell them that you have already done all of that and that you want a technician to come out and diagnose the machine.

Be prepared to wait after you have navigated their menu system.

its something that was in the water that stained the tub. - probably silicates. Assuming that the water softener is set up and operating (and rinse aid) it is just getting a cleaner to wash off the film.

they would probably reccomend a dishwasher cleaner from the supermarket. It is usually citric acid or similiar

Have you tried running it with a regular detergent tab and not using the power disc?

@delray33483, you were right!!

I wiped my tub and the inside of the door with a damp microfiber towel using only warm water on the towel. I then ran a Quick Intense wash cycle with my dirty dishes. Afterwards the tub looked noticeably cleaner! It's still not sparkling brand new clean, but I'm going to clean it again with the towel before I run another cycle.

At this point I have no idea whether it was the combination of the power disk, salt and rinse-aid and/or the machine conditioner or the descaler that solved my original problem.

Stupid me never thought to clean the residue/film from the tub and door before adding the various products!

@vinmarks, I tried running it with a Kirkland d/w pod when I first experienced the issue but it didn't remove the film. However, stupid me never thought to clean the residue/film before running it with the Kirkland pod, so I have no idea whether that would have solved my problem.

@Julie K: I know this is an older thread but I am wondering if you have solved the issue? I am having the exact same problem. I have a whole house softener so don't use the salt. I exclusively use the AutoDos discs. Miele Canada service doesn't really seem to have any answers. They sent out a technician and all he did was sell me a box of conditioner, put in one of the cans and set it to run a normal load empty. I didn't see if he disabled AutoDos for the conditioning cycle. He didn't wipe off the film before putting in the conditioner. When the cycle was finished, the inside of the dishwasher looked even more filmy. I just spent half an hour wiping off the film from the stainless tub. As with you, I have no film on my dishwear, just on the tub. Now that the tub is clean I thought I would run another emply load with the conditioner (tech said it's supposed to coat the stainless steel to prevent this from happening - I have my doubts) so I called Miele Service to see if I should disable AutoDos and have the conditioner run without detergent but they said no. But if the conditioner is supposed to "coat" the stainless steel and the AutoDos detergent is what is leaving the film it would strike me wise to use the Conditioner without any detergent. I am so confused!

Its the water do you use a well?

No. Municipal water with a whole house softener.

Silicates in the municipal water silicates show as white film on high quality metal such as stainless steel Have your water softener company adjust your softener

We adjust it ourselves based on the reported hardness on the municipal website. That said, I haven't checked their reports for quite awhile now so maybe the input water is a little harder than what I have the softener set for. The film in the dishwasher showed up over the winter (we bought it last July). Usually the input water is softer in the winter than it is after the snow pack melts in June (additional minerals from the mountains in the snowpack). I'm thinking maybe I should use the Miele salt in addition to having softened water just to cover my bases - what do you think?

Yes, "use the salt" to engage the Miele's onboard water softener and set the hardness at a low level (if it's adjustable, there should be instructions in the user guide if so) for a couple/few weeks to see what is the effect. Assuming it has a positive effect on the problem, increase the hardness setting if necessary to attain and maintain the performance of the machine.

Just to say, it's more technically correct to say "I have the dishwasher's onboard water softener disabled" instead of saying "I don't use the salt." I've seen instances of people who read about "using salt" in a dishwasher and erroneously think that adding salt to any dishwasher will improve its performance, not understanding the salt is for the regeneration cycle of an onboard water softener mechanism.

Thank you for your input.

@Marilyn, I've had the Miele tech out to our house and he was unable to solve the issue. It got a little better after I added salt and rinse-aid. It improved even more after I changed my AutoDos setting to low, but I've been unable to completely eliminate the film inside my tub. I use a microfiber cloth and water to remove the haze when it starts bugging me. ;-)

I only use AutoDos discs and I use Miele rinse-aid with Miele salt. I record the dates when I add/replace items and one box of salt lasted almost an entire year (11 months). I run a cycle with Dishwasher Magic/Affresh monthly and every 3 months or so, I use Miele d/w conditioner. I also use Miele descaler every 6 months. I disable AutoDos when I use the cleaners/conditioner/descaler.

For the AutoDos setting, there's an actual setting in the menu where you can select a lower level that's separate from the ML dosage level (similar to how you select the AutoDos level for the Miele W&D).

I know it sounds like a lot of maintenance for a d/w and a bit overwhelming, but our d/w gets heavy use since we eat almost all our meals at home. I run a cycle daily and occasionally have to run 2 cycles in a single day for our dirty dishes.

While the consumables aren't cheap, it's worth it to me because the performance is so much better than any dishwasher we've owned previously.

Hope that helps. Please do share if you find a better solution for removing/eliminating the haze completely! :)

@JulileK: Thank you for taking the time to respond with all your details. I will recheck where I have the AutoDos level set at. I seem to recall setting it lower than default because we have a water softener - much like I did for my washing machine. I will write back if I stumble upon a good solution to all of this!

@Marilyn, check your AutoDos setting under Settings and try setting it to Reduced. I have my water hardness set to 10 but may need to adjust it based on our latest municipal water report. Rinse-aid is set at 1 ML.

We recently got the Miele Mtouch W&D and I had to really dial down the AutoDos dosage and set our stain level to Light soil to eliminate excessive suds in our washer.

Hello,

i had this same problem a few years ago my Miele Lumen DW. it pretty much stopped after dialing down the detergent and by leaving more mess on the dishes Unfortunately, the problem has started again Badly. it wipes off easily with a damp paper towel. Tried raising and lowering the hardness to no avail.

Can it be the Miele tabs say they contain rinse aid and salt, and I am adding rinse aid and salt to the machine? i only use 1/4 to 1/2 of the tab. The residue is 90% on the machine interior and 10% on dishes/ glasses. The residue is less if i use Somat powder or Cascade boil out, so I think the detergent is the culprit. But why woukd Miele tabs cause issues in a Miele machine? And why did this issue pretty much not occur for years then start again?

With my former Kitchenaid, i used Cascade Platinum tabs and this never happened (same apartment and water). This males me think its may be the salt / water softener in the Miele. I do not dare try a Cascade pod in this machine.

Did you guys find a solution to this issue? Would a pinch of citric acid or STPP help? I am afraid to dial down the detergent any further than the 1/2 or 1/4 tab. By my measurements, that is already only about 1/2 to 1/4 tablespoon of detergent. Maybe simply living with the film would be less stressful, but figuring this out sure would be nice :)

How hard is your water

This is direct from my citys website

The hardness of Anaheim’s water is about 300 parts per million or about 18 grains per gallon, enough calcium to provide up to 10% of the Recommended Daily Allowance by drinking 1 liter of tap water.

The highest range according to Ansheim is 332 ppm (18.7 german degrees). Miele had me set the machine to 20 german degrees.

I see many water quality sites show our hardness at 120 ppm ( 6.7 german degress)

I have an update.

I had a second technician come out to look at the film. The first tech recommended I use the Miele cleaner, but it did nothing and perhaps even made it worse. I lived with this for quite awhile before calling in - hence the second technician.

The second tech thoroughly (and I mean thoroughly) cleaned the interior, then ran 3 non-detergent partial cycles to get all the "film" out of the entire machine, including all the hoses and internal workings, etc. Once he was satisfied that it was thoroughly cleaned and he determined that I have been using the lowest setting for AutoDos given I have a water softener and I can't go any lower he suggested that I switch to using the Miele tabs (only 1/2 tab for a full load) for a few weeks to see if the film comes back. The filmhas not reappeared. I will give it a few more weeks before declaring this is a problem caused by the AutoDos system for some of us. The tech said that he would be sending in a report in the hopes that Miele could find a way to reduce the amount of AutoDos that gets dispensed at the lowest setting by doing an update for AutoDos machines but I'm not holding my breath. Miele seems reluctant to admit to problems let alone fix them.

When I was using the AutoDos, when I would fill a clean glass with water, the water had a rim of bubbles along the edges so I had taken to filling my glass then pouring out the water before filling it a second time for water I was willing to drink. ObviousIy the AutoDos was leaving a residue because I do not have to do this since switching to the tabs.

This is quite disappointing given that I paid several hundred dollars more to get the convenience of a machine with the AutoDos function only to find out that I can't use it unless I am willing to live with a filmy interior and having to rinse out glasses before drinking the water.

Thank you for the update. Are your half tab loads pretty soiled and which cycle performs the best for you? I still have the film regardless of the cycle using a quarter Miele tab with softener activated. i use Miele or Somat rinse aide set to 1. Our loads are pretty full but very very lightly soiled . The dishes are never very dirty ( no pre wash in the sink). Last nights cycle was particularly bad- white film everywhere, especially on the machines interior. Luckily it wipes off easily. its just perplexing and frustrating

My loads are full and very lightly soiled. I pre-rinse in sink to get chunks off so I don't have the clean the filters as often (I'm lazy that way) but do leave some soiling on the dishes. Rarely do pots. I use Normal for my cycle with extra rinsing and extra hot water activated (if those are the proper terms - but you get the idea). I don't have the softener activated because I have a whole house water softener that pretty much keeps my water softness at 0-2 grains. I do keep Miele rinse aid in the well.

you should hava water test to see what else is in there . In medical instrument washing a white preciptate is formed with the interaction of detergent, soft water and temperature. Can precipitate as white film or blue staining in the washer . There are alls sorts of chemicals added to city water to make it "drinkable' .

@delray33483: are you aiming your comment at me or daimler98? For me, switching off AutoDos has eliminated the problem. Since daimler98 is also using tabs perhaps there's a reaction between the Miele softener and the water?

Sadly I must update that the film has returned after using only the tabs for over a month. It probably just took longer to show up because the technician did a very thorough job of cleaning my machine. So it's not an AutoDos problem, it's a Miele detergent problem. Never had a problem with my previous Bosch and Cascade powder.

This will involve another call to Service but I doubt they will have a resolution. He will probably try to blame my water quality even though I have the same water softener using the same salt pellets when I had my Bosch. After the technician comes again and hopefully thoroughly cleans my machine, I just might try Cascade instead of Miele detergents. If the film returns after using a non-Miele detergent then one has to question if it is a chemical reaction problem with the type of stainless steel their interiors are made with.

@Marilyn: "I pre-rinse in sink to get chunks off so I don't have the clean the filters as often (I'm lazy that way) but do leave some soiling on the dishes."

• Don't rinse the dishes; it defeats the sensor. Just scrape off the dishes.
• Try Cascade Complete powder as described on page 68 of the Operating Instructions. It works great.

Hello all, super useful thread!

Facing the EXACT same issue.

Noticing this odd residue / film on the stainless steel interior of the DW, but the dishes, glassware, utensils look sparkling and are squeaky clean. We are in NYC, low water hardness.

We use Miele salt, Miele Rinse Aid (2ml), and AutoDos (low setting).

Started noticing it more and more, it's been about 3 months since we got the DW. It's probably building up which is why I randomly noticed it now.

The residue feels very faintly greasy on the fingers as far as I can tell but it is easy to clean.

This is very disappointing considering we got a high-end DW from a reputable brand.

@marylin have you had any luck with your Cascade test?

I don't understand why their technicians won't just take a sample of that stuff and send to Miele for analysis. A pretty basic spectrometry test can reveal the composition and for a company like Miele should be dirt cheap. Argh...

Experiencing the same light, dusty coating issue with a new machine with AutoDos disk. (it was is not a problem on my previous Mielé dishwasher).

Today, Miele phone tech advised NOT using separate liquid rinse agent or water softener salt with NYC water, which is GPG4. States the disk is all that is needed. Use no softener salt, but set water hardness setting to 4.

Will try and report back.

"Use no softener salt, but set water hardness setting to 4."

That doesn't make sense to me. The onboard water softener can't function without salt to regenerate the resin bed so it reasonably should be fully disabled if no salt is loaded, otherwise will throw up an Add Salt flag.

That is a point I debated with the tech, but she insisted. I actually have had it set to 4 for several days and have never added salt - but no flag (yet).

@Y: I have not used Cascade yet. The technician said that because it has Dawn in the formula, it gets very sudsy. I am back to using 1/2 tab of the Miele detergent and have taken out the AutoDos disk. My technician also advised against using rinse agent and no salt because I have a softener. He thinks the AutoDos settings are too high but it would require a firmware update to change how the AutoDos is dispensed and Miele doesn't seem to be in any rush to do that. He also thinks that the stainless steel that is used in these newer models is different and it may not rinse completely clean.

This is quite disappointing. I specifically bought the higher end model for the convenience of the AutoDos but now I can't use it because of the filming.

@dadoes: I have never added Miele salt to my dishwasher because I have a whole house water softener and my machine has never given me an Add Salt flag. I can't remember if the onboard softenere was disabled when installed since the installation team knew I had a softener.

Marilyn, you can check in the settings/options as to whether your softener is disabled. Peruse your user guide for details.

Following up on my recent post:

As per the Miele phone tech advice, I turned off the liquid rinse agent dispensing and the light dust/haze stopped forming. After three days of no dust - I turned it back on to the 1ML seting and the haze/dust reappeared.

The fine print on the desk states it contains rinse agent. A press release I found online from several years ago, connected to a overseas trade show at the time they first announced the disc system, stated that it was detergent and rinse agent in one. (Admittedly, I don't understand how that works.) Perhaps the mystery is solved.