My glasses that I washed in the dishwasher are foggy, causing them to look dirty. I have tried several things to get them crystal clear again, nothing seems to work. If someone knows how to help please let me know

I just went through this when I replaced my dishwasher. Ugh! Glasses came out looking like they'd been acid-etched to be translucent.

Always, always, always run your sink water to get the water hot before you start your dishwasher. Most dishwasher soaps are crystals and it takes the hot water to get it into solution. The liquid soaps may be better at this - seems like they would but I don't know.

I varied the amount of detergent to see if I could hit a magic mix and could not. Mom suggested I call the local water department to see what they suggest due to the local water hardness and so on. I didn't.

I'd heard of running vinegar in the machine to help clean off the soap scum, mineral deposits. Seemed like it would work but since I just put in a new machine (and damn, I sure wish I had just repaired the old one as the new ones are reduced water and seemingly reduced cleaning power and so on), I felt like a new machine should do better than my old 30-yr old machine. Wrong.

What I did do was to start handwashing my dishes and after three or 4 times, the glasses started looking like glasses and my glass plates started looking like clear glass instead of some weird gray glass.

I also noticed that my electricity bill went down as I wasn't running the dishwasher and certainly not using the 'Heated Drying' cycle on the machine. That took a load off the A/C unit as well as not having to pull that heat out of the house and I think doing the dished by hand doesn't put as much water into the air, which the A/C also has to work to remove from the air.

If you plan on using the machine, I would call the local water dept and see what they recommend as far as soap, amt of soap and what is best brand for your water.

Me? I'll keep on washing by hand as it's really not a big deal and the dishes air-dry pretty quickly and I know they are clean.

Here is the results of some research for our problem:

: To return some sparkle to your antique crystal decanter, try washing it in the sink (lined with a rubber mat or hand towels) with hand dishwashing liquid and a few drops of ammonia. This should cut away most of the dulling residue from both the interior and the exterior. Add 1/4 cup white vinegar to the rinse water and you should see some improvement.

If not, try washing your decanter with a product like CLR, Lime Away or any hard water stain remover.

If the glass feels rough to the touch, then it is possible the glass itself has been damaged. Some experts claim this can occur from repeated cycles in the dishwasher. Or it may just be a function of time with antique pieces such as yours.

Another, more aggressive method to return the crystal sparkle to your decanter is to clean it with regular dish soap, then scrub the crystal gently with No. 000 (very fine) steel wool. If this does not remove the clouding, it is likely the glass is damaged beyond simple restoration.

Have you tried a soak in vinegar?
Jaxmidway

I tried the white vinegar soak with little improvement, which surprised me as Dallas water is very hard (we sit on massive chert/old reef rock from Texas was sea bottom.)

I did use CLR but the warnings are that it will etch glass if left on too long, if I remember correctly - but I was trying to clean deposits on aquarium glass at that point... I did try the CLR and it did make some difference but about as much as using white vinegar. Had better luck using a razor blade to shave off the deposits and then tried using vinegar to get the clarity back. Even tried dampening salt with vinegar and using that as a scrub but again not much quick gratification on that either.

Never tried the super-fine steel wool...

You should be using dry powder soap, not liquid. Is the water hot enough? Temp at water heater should be set at 140 degrees for dishwasher. Also use jet dry. Every few washes use a mixture of 1/3 glass magic and 2/3 powered cascade in the pop open door dispenser. You will notice a big difference in a quality wash following thes directions. Good Luck

After ruining a set of drinking glasses, I do exactly what esquire is suggesting. My new set of glasses are still sparkling.