2steps
|
Dish washer saltDoes anyone know if there is something I can use instead? forgot to buy some in town today and our local shops either doesn't have any or the price difference is big. Can I use something else rather than drag my kids back into town? Is it really salt or something special?
|
dougal
|
AFAIK, table/cooking salt has additives (touch of Iodide to protect you against goitre, little bit of stuff to help it flow 'anti-caking agent') whereas 'dishwasher' salt is just rough salt - and its not certified fit for human consumption.
"Sea" salts tend to have all manner of odd impurities.
ISTR hearing that 'kosher' salt (and "curing" salt?) was just pure salt, with no additives or impurities.
From which I infer the following
- you might possibly get off with using dishwasher salt for food use (I wouldn't bother to), but edible salts (except kosher or curing) are probably a bad thing for the water softener in the dishwasher...
I'm going to guess that the crystal grain size isn't important to the dishwasher, but that is just a guess... (they are going to get smaller as they dissolve, so they shouldn't be able to clog anything...)
Salt is so cheap in absolute terms (except some of the gourmet sea salts) that I'd say your best bet is to get it from your local shop. They may be *proportionately* much more expensive than town stores, but how much more money is it actually - 50p or a quid? Better that than the trip to town surely.
And tell yourself that you are helping to sustain a local convenience store, against the onslaught of the major supermarkets.
We do have a salt 'pro' on the forum, and I merely offer this as a quick response, in advance of a hopefully more definative one from others... 
|
ele
|
The salt dispenser in my old dishwasher broke so I didn't use any salt for ages, didn't make a heck of a lot of difference in wash performance so if I were you I'd just buy some proper dishwasher salt when convienient and manage without till then.
|
jema
|
| ele wrote: | | The salt dispenser in my old dishwasher broke so I didn't use any salt for ages, didn't make a heck of a lot of difference in wash performance so if I were you I'd just buy some proper dishwasher salt when convienient and manage without till then. |
But hows your water? In a hard water area I'd expect it to make a pretty big difference.
|
Cathryn
|
I have never used it - we live in a very soft water area. (So why do the sooper markets sell limescale remover??? We think it's another way of fleecing the poor misguided holiday makers). Why don't you not bother and see if it makes a difference. I also only add the other stuff very infrequently - I am not reknowned for my house keeping skills but things come out basically clean. 
|
tawny owl
|
If you use tablets, you don't need it anyway, and in fact, I found it seemed to discolour the glasses.
|
2steps
|
used it without last night and didn't make a difference. I don't know whether our water is gard or soft. how do I tell? 
I don't use tablets as they didn't dissolve properly half the time. I use liquid
|
mark
|
using salt will prolong the life of your dishwasherand keep it efficient ! so is worth doing
but if you do a couple of washes without won't cause much harm
|
ele
|
| 2steps wrote: | used it without last night and didn't make a difference. I don't know whether our water is gard or soft. how do I tell?
|
If your kettle gets scaled up really quickly and metal sinks and taps get powdery white deposits all the time you're in a hardwater area, if your kettle is only a bit scaly etc then you're medium and if your kettle never gets furred up at all you're probably in a soft water area. Well that's my rule of thumb  My water's kind of medium.
I routnely do use salt plus tablets but then I don't use those fancy 3 in 1 tablets.
|
2steps
|
I rarely use a kettle as we don't drink hot drinks. But the taps are all ok os I guess we have soft water
|
dougal
|
You can ask your local water company for a precise value.
On buying/installing a new dishwasher recently, I was surprised to discover that it expected to be informed of the local water hardness so that it could optimise its salt usage - and this was the cheapest AAA performance machine I had found...
Having set it, and also told it that 3/4 in 1 tablets were being used, it's hardly used any salt at all - and this in a fairly chalky, moderately hard water area...
The salt is to 'regenerate' the water softener.
Soft water produces less scum (which itself reduces the amount of detergent available for cleaning). Two reasons for getting better cleaning performance with soft water (usually made by means of the salt).
The 3 (and 4) in one tablets include a different type of water softening, and hence reduce (or eliminate) the need for salt - but the machine's salt appetite will only be influenced if you can tell the machine what tablet type you use, and (ideally) what the water hardness is.
|
calisnenath
|
saltI find it makes a huge difference - we use the Ecover tablets and they have no salt in them and we live in a very hard water area. I go to a shop that sells water softners (the type you plumb in and feed with salt) and buy their sacks of salt. Lasts for years, and kills dandilions as well 
|
2steps
|
I have rabbits for disposing of dandelions
|
