snaps

Tried various stores for dishwasher salt without success. Eventually informed by kindly lady in Bunnings that it is not required in NZ.
Does anyone else use it or is it not required?

BEVS

Old thread HERE.


I don't use the stuff and it's all fine.

Persephone

I thought this was another fish and chips thread, disappointed now

They do like to put a lot of salt on in NZ - I always say no and do it myself at home or the chips are ruined

Never heard of dishwasher salt...though I never had one in the uk and we never used the one we had in NZ. What does it do?

smileypigface

There's a small tank for it in the bottom of our dishwasher with a screw on lid - I believe it softens the water in the dishwasher and this helps prevent the white effect that gradually appears on glasses washed in the dishwasher!

If this gives any indication whatsoever that it sounds like I know what I'm talking about then that this entirely coincidental ...

snaps

Thanks. That'll save time searching.
Here is some info taken from the web...
WHY DOES MY MACHINE HAVE A WATER SOFTENER?

If the water is soft (i.e. does not contain calcium particles), the detergent will work more effectively and there will be less streaking on dishes. Hard water can also block the washer jets with lime scale and cause deposits on heating elements, which will reduce the cleaning efficiency, increase electricity costs and shorten the life of the machine. All dishwasher manufacturers (Bosch, Miele, Siemens) and detergent suppliers want you to get the best results from the machine - and soft water is one of the most important factors in achieving this. The way to ensure water remains soft is to regularly top up the reservoir with granular salt.

Stormer999

A lot of areas in UK have hard water that can leave lime scale stains on dishes from a dishwasher hence salt is added to soften the water. Where we lived in the Midlands the water was very hard so a lot of homes had water softners fitted at the in point to combat lime scale build up in all of the potable appliances. The company I worked for used 4 tons of salt per calander month, it was a big problem in coolant mixing.

BEVS

Yes. Bournemouth and Dorset water was hard.

Here in the Nelson and Bays region the water is soft.

So little detergent is needed

M_and_M

We searched too and couldn't find. A wee bit of Internet research told us that coarse grain salt is the same, the farmers use it here in their irrigation.nWe got a sack of coarse grain salt from farmlands (agriculture place) for $12. I am expecting it to last me a very very very long time!

Snap Shot

I purchased a box of dishwasher salt from Harvey Norman. I live in a hard water area. Dishwasher salt does the job but the dishwasher just guzzles salt like there's no tomorrow. A box of salt lasted about three weeks.

I just stopped using it in the end. It made no difference to the quality of the end result.