My wife washes the dishes with Palmolive before loading the dish washer. She uses Cacade Complete which states 'not to use a rinse agent' and fills the normal compartment and extra-heavy load compartment with it but she insists that the Finish rinse agent is required. She sets the temp to max, she selects normal run most of the time. She also insists on heat dry. The problem is that the pots mostly have a brownish/greyish residue. She then runs dish washer cleaner to clean it out. It does not help. I tell her that she should cut down on the detergent, leave out the rinse agent and it would work better.

Hello Jrpask,

You responde to more than six years old thread, always check the date on the upper left corner before you post.

You can start a new thread or wait Speedball1 will give you your own thread, Thanks.

John

Hi jrpask and Welcome to The Plumbing Page. At AskMeHelpDesk.com. You're responding to a 7 year old dead thread so I gave you one of your own. Look in then upper left hand corner of the first post form the date before you post, Thanks, I'm single and don't use a dishwasher. If you had a plumbing problem I could help but not this question. I'll give you your own thread and hope that some of our experts that are family men will be able to help. Good luck, Tom PS. Please don't give me a "reddie" (not helpful) Because I can't answer.

Do you have a water softner, sounds like hard water and too much detergent. I have been married over 40 years and no longer give advice to my wife about household things and I tell her to stay clear of my tractor, division of labor! Its clear that since she already washed the dishes there is little need of even a normal fill of detergent but she "thinks" this is god and its very, very hard to change a lady's read on the problem. Does she see the brownish junk and ask how to get rid of it? If she doesn't ask then just get on your mower and mow.

Hi jrpask,

I have a wife. I guess that makes me a family man.

I'm afraid you are in a bit of a pickle here. You are being ask for a solution here or at least an explanation of why this is happening. At least that is what you think you are being ask, but it may not be. When men are presented with a problem we assume that we are being ask for a solution. When women relate a problem they are often only want you to listen and provide emotional support.

I'm sure your wife doesn't want the brownish/greyish residue. At the same time she wants to clean the dishes in a way that she emotionally feels is best. Logic will probably not dissuade her from that. If it would, she would have at least tried leaving out the rinsing agent.

If you are going to get rid of the brownish/greyish residue you will have to determine what is causing it and demonstrate it. And even that might not work. You will probably not be allowed to try different things to determine the cause so you will probably have to try different things when she is not around.

From a logical perspective the residue could be caused by:

1. A chemical reaction between the Palmolive dish washing detergent and the Cascade dishwasher detergent. Possible but not very likely.

2. A chemical reaction between the Cascade and the rinsing agent. This seems quite likely since the manufacturer says not to use or at least says it is not necessary.

3. The residue could be a reaction between the rinsing agent and the heat of the drying cycle. Or it could be a reaction to the combination of the Cascade, the rinsing agent and the heated drying. The heat drying only speeds up the drying process and unless there is a need or desire (I want to put them away and be done with it) seems unnecessary to me and it cost money. It is also not good for glassware. Over a period (granted a long period, like years) glasses become more brittle from the repeated heating and break more easily. Up to you as to whether you want to go down this path though.

4. The residue could also be a result of a chemical reaction between the rinsing agent and the metal of the pots and pans.

You could go through a process of removing one thing at a time to determine the exact cause but you will probably have to do it in her absence.

You could suggest changing the brand of rinsing agent. Not eliminating it, just changing the brand. She is not going to give up the Palmolive, the Cascade, the use of the rinsing agent and not likely the heated drying cycle, but she might change the brand of rinse.

If the use of the dishwasher cleaning agent removes the residue from the machine, that would also be a pointer to the rinsing agent or the rinsing agent and the heat combination, being the culprit.

Quote:

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she "thinks" this is god

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I'm sure Bob meant to say "good" but in a way, what she thinks is "god". At least as far as husbands are concerned.