The Scoop on Hard Water Running Dishwashers

(Newswire.net — December 31, 2017) Cheyenne, Wyoming —  After a meal, it is customary to quickly load up the dishwasher, set it and let it to work its magic. But sometimes the dishes aren’t so spotless and one isn’t quite sure if they’re really clean. Streaky or blotchy white marks on your dishes are of course unsightly but they tell of a more pressing issue – mineral build up due to hard water. 

“Water is a good solvent and picks up impurities easily. Water described as ‘hard’ is high in dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium,” explains Appliance Care UK. “Hard water can be a nuisance because of mineral build-up on heating elements of household products – thereby affecting their performance and service life.” 

Hard water occurs naturally as rain flows through the softened soil collecting minerals along the way, most commonly, magnesium and calcium. Water hardness is measured based the industrial unit of grains per gallon (GPG), referring to the amount of minerals a body of water contains, wherein a grain is equivalent to 64.8 milligrams of calcium carbonate.  

Moderately hard water is 3.5-7 GPG while hard water is 7-10.5 GPG is considered hard water and of course upwards of that is very hard water, which would feel like heavy dregs going down if one was brave enough to have a drink. So while it’s easy to see the residue resulting from hard water on dishes, it’s far more difficult to tell the extent of mineral build-up in dishwashers. 

“Given the amount of metal inside the average dishwasher, those [mineral] salts can lead to rust and the eventual failure of expensive parts like pumps and heating elements,” attests Reviewed.com, a USA Today Tech member website.  

The HealthyWiser™ AquaTest™ 7 Way Water-Analysis Test Kit is a sure way of learning what is in your water supply as it detects the total hardness, total alkalinity, free chlorine, bromine, pH, total chlorine and cyanuric acid. Once the state of your water supply is accurately identified, the process of remedying whatever issues may be can commence. 

In the case of hard water affecting your dishwasher, “occasionally try to dissolve it with distilled white vinegar [and] instead of using detergent, place a container with 2 cups of vinegar in the bottom rack and run a normal cycle but without drying,” advises Consumer Reports.