Dishwashing Facts

Today you have more options with dishwashers than you have ever had before! A standard dishwasher is 24" wide but you can also get dishwashers today in a variety of different sizes. You can get 18" wide compact units, 24" wide units that are in drawers or even a jumbo sized 30" dishwasher! Dishwashers come in a variety of different finishes. The standard colors that are available from most manufacturers are white, black and bisque and stainless steel. Some more specialized companies like Viking offer there dishwashers in a variety of custom colors. If you like a more custom look many dishwashers give you the option of concealing the dishwashers front with wood that matches your cabinetry. Whatever your taste or budget, Michael's Appliance Center will have a product that will fit your needs.

1. Clear Glassware is cloudy or gray tinted after wash cycle, and dishware feels "dirty"

   This is an over-soaping issue. The gray color and cloudiness is residual soap left over from the wash cycle that is now circulating in the rinse cycle. Corrective action:

   First of all, DO NOT RINSE DISHES CLEAN BEFORE LOADING DISHWASHER. Burned on or baked on foods (such as melted cheese) and solids (such as bones) need to be cleaned off, but everything else SHOULD GO IN THE DISHWASHER. Your dishwasher is designed to handle these foods, and without them there are no proteins for the detergent to bind to. The resulting excess detergent is left in the pump inlet and is recycled during the rinse.

   
   

   Also, DO NOT FILL BOTH DETERGENT CUPS WITH DETERGENT UNLESS YOU INTEND TO DO A PREWASH IMMEDIATELY AND A NORMAL/HEAVY CYCLE LATER ON. Most machines need only 2-3 tablespoons of detergent to operate correctly. In households with water softeners, this could be as little as 2 tablespoons, or half of a powder tablet. Again, too much soap here will be left in the inlet later. Unless doing a prewash, put detergent in the main soap cup ONLY. Our experience has been that powder detergents with no additives or rinse agent do the best job of cleaning, and Jet Dry™ should be used ONLY IF THERE IS WATER SPOTTING OR OTHER WATER SHEATING ISSUES.

   
   

   Severe cases of over soaping will require a cleaning agent such as Dishwasher Magic™ to be run through the machine. Michael's Appliance Center carries a full line of products to help remedy this common problem.

1. I started my dishwasher after dinner last night, and this morning it is still running!

   This may or may not be related to the machine itself; This issue occurs when the temperature of the water in the dishwasher is not hot enough. Corrective action:

   Assuming that the hot water heater in the house is functioning normally, the test to see if this is machine related is easy. Before running the dishwasher, run the HOT water in the kitchen sink until water is as hot as possible, then run the dishwasher. If this solves the problem, THE ISSUE IS NOT WITH THE APPLIANCE. The heater in the dishwasher is not really designed to heat the water so much as just maintain the temperature, so if cool or cold water is introduced into the machine the machine will run "forever" trying to heat the water to the correct temperature. Newer dishwashers use very little water, and sometimes the cool residual water left over in the hot water plumbing is sufficient to fill the machine. When this happens, the temperature of the water is not hot enough for the dishwasher to maintain temperature.

2. My silverware doesn't come clean. What's wrong?

   This is the hardest item for a dishwasher to get clean. To get the best results from your dishwasher it is a good idea to keep your silverware separated from each other and to put them in handle down into the basket. For safety reasons it is recommended that knives go in face down, if you put knives into the dishwasher.

3. What about my pots and pans? Why don't they come clean?

   These are the items that every customer asks about when they are looking to buy a new dishwasher. There are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to washing these items. The first thing that you want to check is if the manufacturer of the pot recommends that it be washed in a dishwasher. Many of these items are not designed to be, and therefore shouldn't be cleaned in this manor. If the manufacturer has no reservations about their cookware being cleaned this way, keep a few things in mind. First off, if you have a pot that is deeper than half of the distance between the upper and lower rack, wash it by hand. The pressure of the water coming from the bottom spray arm may not be enough to reach or effectively clean such a deep item.

   This is just a quick over view of some common problems and questions that we get on a regular basis from our customers. If you have any specific questions please feel free to contact anyone here at Michael's Appliance Center and we would be happy to help you in any way that we can.

    

Ventilation Facts

The lamps in my range hood keep blowing out!!

Two things usually cause this: excessive vibration and/or the wrong lamps being used. While it is certainly possible that the voltage to the hood is the culprit or that there is something wrong with the power circuit in the hood itself (for low voltage halogen equipped hoods), most of the time we see either the wrong lamp installed or poor installation of the hood itself. If the hood is not secured to the wall properly (this means following the manufacturers installation instructions), the vibration of the blower when the unit is on will shorten the life of the lamps considerably. Also, just because a lamp LOOKS the same doesn't mean it is the same; A $1.99 lamp at the retail chain store will not have the same filament construction or supports as the $20.00 factory lamp. There really is a reason for the price difference!