Do you fight with your dishwasher? Spots, dots and cloudy haze on your dishes drive you crazy?
My dishwasher repair man gave me the Best dishwasher tip ever!
I was pretty certain because I live in the country and have well water, the white haze that covered ALL my dishes would forever plague me! If you live in an area where you have soft water then you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. We have really hard water and rusty water, I tried numerous combinations of detergents and rinse agents nothing worked really well. I settled with using a green detergent from my local grocery store, a teaspoon full of Calgon water softening powder and a 1/4 cup of white vinegar in every load. That seems to work the best with mediocre results.
My new dishwasher kept making funny noises and had to call the repair person several times over a period of time. Every time he came I would complain about what horrible job my dishwasher was doing. He suggested several things, I would nod my head, yes doing all those things. Then he would mention using some citric acid in each load, I just dismissed it every time he said it. I’m not sure why I dismissed it, I guess I thought it sounded weird and improbable. So I finally decided to try it, what was the worst thing that could happen? It wouldn’t work? To my surprise, it worked really well! I had to use it a few times to notice a big difference, but that’s because our dishes and dishwasher were so caked with calcium. It was my hallelujah dishwasher moment! I have clean shiny dishes, not sort of shiny but really shiny and no spots!
So what is citric acid?
Citric acid is a white crystallized powder, (sometimes called sour salt) derived from citrus fruit and used mainly as a natural food preservative according to Wikipedia. I found it at my local health food store in the bulk food section. Two big scoops cost me $6-7 and last about 2 months, we do at least one load if not two a day. I use about 1 level teaspoon divided between each soap compartments, add the soap packet and turn it on the normal cycle. Clean spot free dishes every time, well unless my kids or husband overload the dishwasher and block off the sprayers. 😉
We have had great success with citric acid, also passed it along to my mother and mother-in-law. They both have said it’s worked for them. If you have spotty or cloudy dishes give it a try!
I have also heard of using Tang or lemon Kool-Aid powders, one packet per load. Both Tang and Kool-Aid have citric acid in them, I assume that’s why they would work too. I have never tried it, might be a little more costly but worth a try if you can’t find citric acid.
Other things we’ve tried that have helped:
1/4 cup White vinegar at the start of cycle
Add 1 teaspoon Calgon water softening powder (less if you have softer water)
Finnish Dishwasher cleaner (blue liquid one) once a month keeps everything squeaky clean.
CLR cleaner if you have lots of calcium or rust build up, run through a few times without dishes.
Trouble finding Citric Acid click Here.
Do you have any tips for cloudy or spotty dishes?
Hi. If you live somewhere you can’t get Citric Acid (like me in Turkey) You could also use cheap lemonade which is loaded with citric acid. My 87 year old uncle has a permanent catheter, which would get blocked all the time and he was told to drink loads of cheap lemonade and the citric acid does the same job on his catheter. (hope this isn’t TOOOO much information) 🙂
Thanks for the tip, hopefully no one needs to drink it 😉
I live in Turkey and want to inform all that we do have citric acid, it is called limon tuzu and used in preserving olives, pickles etc. I will try using it in my summer home down south where water is very hard…Thanks for the tip!
Actually … very good info about the catheter!! I will tell my 90yr old father in law!!
Instead of Citric Acid I would prefer Weiman Brands sanitary lubricants for my appliances.
We have simalir products in Canada and US, I think the main ingredient in them is citric acid. It’s used for cleaning glass cook tops. Do you use in the dishwasher?
There is a product called lemishine that works well. There is a liquid form for the rinse and a powder for the soap compartments that works well. Found with dishwasher detergents at walmart. Also, citric acid can be bought where you buy cannot supplies. Ball sells a small bottle for a few dollars at walmart here.
I haven’t herd of lemishine, I’m glad you found something that works for you hard water can be so frustrating! 🙂
I use Lemishine also. It does a wonderful job. My dishes and glasses looked terrible and after about 6 weeks of using lemishine with my regular dishwasher detergent everything is spot free. Appliance salesman recommended it. Get it at Wal-Mart.
I LOVE Lemi Shine!!!
Just wanted to pass along that there is also a cheaper version of CLR called ‘Lime Away’ that they sell at Home Depot. It works every bit as well.
I have used lime away and it worked well, I really liked the toilet bowl cleaner. I can’t seem to find it anymore 🙁
I am so happy I found this tip. I am ready to get rid of my dishwasher!! Its getting to point where it appears I have soap scum buildup on my dishes and silverware. I have to hand wash it off if I want to use 1/2 my stuff!! Its driving me crazy!! I tried the vinegar. One day and the film started to build up again. I let the vinegar sit in the bottom of the dishwasher at least 24 hrs before washing an empty load. I am going to look and see if I still have some lime away …!!! If that doesn’t work, Citric Acid here I come!!
Just wondering if anyone has tried citric acid on glass shower doors?? Think I will try that!!
I haven’t tried it, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! Just remember citric acid could burn your skin, maybe use some rubber gloves. 🙂
Hi Julie, I’m a little late to the party but… Just pour a bit of distilled malt vinegar in an empty spray bottle, spray all over the glass shower doors and let stand for a few minutes. Then clean as normal with a non-scratch scouring pad like Scotch-Brite or something and rinse. Works a charm without aching the arm! 😉
Tang works fantastic! The orange powder drink mix. Chesp too. Run an empty cycle and the next time, ur dishes will look great!!
Great tip! I have to use something every load our water is that bad 🙁
i have a new dishwasher and complained about the horrible job it did too. I bought citric acid on ebay and add a tbsp. to each load and it works great.
We to live in a rural area, and had trouble with the cloudy glass’s so I started putting vinegar in the dishwasher before each time I start my dishwasher and bingo super clean dishes.
save yourself a lot of money …. use tang !
I’ve run a cycle through the dishwasher using Lemonade flavored Kool Aid – it works great to get rid of the hard water stains.
Great post Lorie! I’ll definitely try this one tomorrow as I’ve just noticed a few marks after the cycle today. Instant panic; hence how I found your post 😉 I know it sounds a bit drastic but I’d rather go thirsty than drink from cloudy glasses. Even when I know they’re clean; I just can’t! Bleh! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
We we made a product using dehydrated orange peels from here in Florida. All natural and contains no phosphate. Free samples available!! http://www.CloudyDishes.com
We had terrible clouding on our dishes and glasses. We tried CLR and the glasses still came out cloudy. We tried vinegar in the rinse compartment and that didn’t help either. We looked at a number of websites on how to clean your dishwasher or maybe even “fix” it so we could get our dishes sparkling again. So, we decided to take apart the inside parts of the machine to see if there was build up on any of the parts. Lo and behold when we took the cage that was on the bottom part of the machine off we saw the problem. There was a huge build up of “gunk” stuck to that area. We scraped and vacuumed up as much as we could. Now I use only a tiny amount of detergent in the pre-wash compartment and a small amount of Lemi-shine in the was compartment. My dishes and glasses now come out clear and sparking. My guess is that every 6 months or so we will have to do a new cleaning. A bit of a pain but well worth it.
You do all keep the salt dispenser topped up, don’t you? That softens the water as the dishwasher runs.
As well as that, I run an empty cycle each month with 4 Calgon tablets, which pretty much keeps mine clear. But I think citric acid will be both cheaper and better for the environment, so I shall try that for a couple of months – thanks for the tip!
I mix mouth wash from Costco( 3 bottles for 7.99) and peroxide 50/ 50 in in a spray bottle I clean my dishwasher with that.I use that same mix in trash cans and garbage cans.and I clean my sink, garbage disposal with that.and the washing machine and stinky camping thins. grandma Angie
Do you use the citric acid in addition to dishwasher detergent? I’ve cleaned my dishwasher in the past with Tang.
Yes Katie, I do. I sprinkle a little in each of the dispenser cups with the soap and run the normal cycle. Hope that helps! 🙂
You can get limeaway toilet cleaner at dollar tree. I bought 6 for .99 EA
Had a rust ring from well water in my bath house toilet nothing worked tried limeaway and it sparkles.
I just wonder if anyone knows if any of these products cause long term corrosion problems with parts or pipes?
Hi Hilary, I have been using citric acid and vinegar in my dish washer and washing machine everyday for about 4 years or more and haven’t noticed any damage to machines, parts, pipes or dishes. In fact it’s kept everything squeaky clean free of calcium and rust build up. The only thing I would use extreme caution with is silver and pewter, the acidity would probably cause damage to those items. Hope that helps! Lorie
does the citric acid remove the already white-ish film from glassware or just prevent it from forming?
Yes it does remove existing white film, just may take a few washes 😉
I was told by my Maytag repairman to be careful not to use too much detergent. I have soft water and the packets of pre-measured detergent may be too much soap. The white etching you see on glassware can come from soap etching the glass. If you have soft water, like I do, you may want to try using 1/2 the detergent you normally use. He suggested Cascade gel. I tried this and it worked! No more etching. Also I still use the Rinse Agent, it helps sheet the water and the drying process work better.
Powdered drink TANG is the same thing. A few dollars for a large container and its inexpensive.
What a cool idea!! I’ll definitely use the CLR and s3e how it works. And what a great idea for the shower door to. I can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks so much for the tip.
I used the citric acid for about a month, every day, and did notice that the dishes were spot-free and the inside of the dishwasher seemed much cleaner. I did, however, discover a possible negative. Some of my glasses and coffee mugs which had various designs on them, began to fade and eventually were gone completely. This didn’t happen to the higher quality designs, but with the ones where the design was painted on, not part of the mug. Before I started using the citric acid all the designs were fine. I’ve decided to limit the use of the citric acid to maybe once per week. I was wondering if anyone else noticed this issue.
You want to be careful about using citric acid too often in your dishwasher. While it does an amazing job of cleaning…it also eats up the gaskets. I learned it the hard way. :\
Sorry to here that happened to your dishwasher, we have had the same dishwasher for 8 years and have used the citric acid for 5 of them and haven’t had a problem. I wonder if it wasn’t actually an issue of the hard water it self? Our taps and hot water tank corrode from our water, but the dishwasher is great!
Absolutely beyond doubt the best thing EVER!!! My dishes because of our horrible hard water have never ever, ever been so sparkly clean and shiny.
Thanks for the wonderful tip😃