REALLY yucky residue on all my dishes

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Author Message   DeborahG Citizen Username: Deborahg Post Number: 1177 Registered: 5-2001 Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 7:48 pm:        Since moving to lovely South Orange, we've had an incredible amount of residue on our dishes and glasses. We had someone take a look and were told there was an incredible amount of minerals in our water. After six months, all our glasses look like sea glass, no matter how thoroughly we wash them. Any thoughts about how to deal with this situation?   noracoombs Citizen Username: Noracoombs Post Number: 57 Registered: 8-2002 Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 11:03 pm:        Try soaking the glasses in distilled vinegar--we were having a similar problem, and that seemed to help.   happyman Citizen Username: Happyman Post Number: 232 Registered: 6-2001 Posted on Sunday, January 30, 2005 - 2:07 am:        Welcome to South Orange - the hub of hard water! Water Softener....check the yellow pages!   melicious Citizen Username: Melicious Post Number: 95 Registered: 6-2002 Posted on Sunday, January 30, 2005 - 7:38 am:        You can also clean the food trap at the bottom. Sometimes disgusting junk gets stuck in there and does that. The first time we had it was when we first moved into our place - owners weren't the neatest... We had the same thing again - it lasted for weeks until we figured out what it was - oatmeal babyfood. We have to scour the baby dishes. Egads   Kk4i Citizen Username: Kk4i Post Number: 52 Registered: 3-2004 Posted on Sunday, January 30, 2005 - 9:24 am:        we had the same problem after moving here. Switch to electrosol tabs for your dishwasher. THey are enzyme based and can break down some of the minerals. Our problem hasn't been eliminated, but it has made a huge difference. Also, I've read if you run 8-12 oz of vinegar through a cycle, it cleans out the buildup of calcium, so it doesn't wind up on the dishes. I have yet to see this work. Our next step is running clr through it, which is supposed to work too. As others have posted, it is a fact of living-with-hard-water-life!   susan1014 Supporter Username: Susan1014 Post Number: 353 Registered: 3-2002 Posted on Sunday, January 30, 2005 - 9:25 am:        We've found that we have to be really careful about which dishwasher detergent we use. No idea why, but liquid Cascade or the new Total Cascade seem to leave our glasses looking a bit etched, while old formula Cascade (green box rather than blue) or the Costco brand equivalent seem to work just fine. Never figured out why (and the chemist in me is curious), but sticking with what works.   jab Citizen Username: Jab Post Number: 371 Registered: 3-2003 Posted on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - 7:24 am:        We had that problem when we moved to Maplewood and it was largely solved when we installed a water softener. We later bought a new dishwasher that has space to use a liquid product in addition to powder soap and now are dishes are spotless.   peteglider Citizen Username: Peteglider Post Number: 922 Registered: 8-2002 Posted on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - 12:44 pm:        I didn't want a water softener -- and the glasses became "frosted" after a few months of South Orange dishwasher use! Highly recommend "Glass Magic" -- ShopRite in West Orange sells it. Put some in each load. After just a couple of loads cleaned the crud off all the glasses, and now the glasses, dishes, and dishwasher look great. (the stuff is about $4 for a small box! -- but better than the alternative!) Am about ready for a new dishwasher, some of the "European" ones have a built in water softener -- which might be the ticket! Pete   runon Citizen Username: Runon Post Number: 95 Registered: 11-2001 Posted on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - 3:39 pm:        I second the rec. for "Glass Magic". We started using it recently and our glasses are finally free of residue - just like before we moved here! (I'm SURE it is the water here - not our dishwasher- as we brought our dishwasher from our former house in White Plains.)   DeborahG Citizen Username: Deborahg Post Number: 1178 Registered: 5-2001 Posted on Thursday, February 3, 2005 - 11:36 am:        Tried Glass Magic and it worked great!!! Thanks MOL!