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| Can anyone tell me how to clean hard water marks from drinking glasses? Our old dishwasher just didn't do a good job even when I put the jet dry in it. We have alot of iron in our water, but also have a water softener. We now have a new dishwasher, but the damage was done from the old dishwasher. Any tips on how to make my glasses clear and sparkling again?
Thanks Carol |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by joepyeweed (My Page) on Wed, Sep 15, 04 at 14:34
| i had terrible etching from hard water on my glasses from a dishwasher too... i ran the etched glasses through the dishwasher cycle with about a 1/2 cup of vinegar and no soap ... you may need to try a couple different cycles with increasing amounts of vinegar - works great on the silverware too... - tough hardwater stains can be soaked in the sink with some water and vinegar too if the dishwasher cycle does not do it for you... i often splash some vinegar into the dishwasher just before i run it - it seemed to work much better than that blue stuff ... |
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- Posted by KathyG_in_MI (My Page) on Wed, Sep 15, 04 at 14:51
| Don't use powdered soap in the dishwasher with hard water, only liquids. The powders don't all ways disolve completely and are abrasive. Kathy G in MI |
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- Posted by JamieLovesCoffee__AZ (My Page) on Wed, Sep 15, 04 at 22:38
| Good ideas above. If it is just hard water deposits then it will usually come off with the vinegar. If the glasses have actual etching, I think that means they are permanently scratched. Good luck! Don't you just hate hard water! |
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| If your glasses are etched there is nothing that will make them better. Etching of glass is like scratches on polished furniture... You can't remove the scratches....just perhaps hide them But if the marks are caused by hard water, a good soak in a white vinegar solution should help. Linda C |
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| Thanks for all the great advice. The glasses don't seem to be etched, so I am going to try the vinegar tonight. I will let you know if I had any success. Thanks again |
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| Don't use the LIQUID soap if you have a Bosch dishwasher. It is against the manufacturer's recommendations. We also have very hard water and I use three things together: 1) Powdered cascade Lynne |
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- Posted by joepyeweed (My Page) on Mon, Sep 27, 04 at 14:03
| Jet Dry and glass magic may work but i bet vinegar does the same thing and is awhole lot cheaper... look at the active ingredients and compare ... |
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| Carol, I have tried every tip mentioned on an old cloudy wine decanter - no luck. In desparation I tried liquid calgon with a little warm water and left it for a day. I did shake the bottle occasionally and Wow it is clean. I am not sure why I have this around. I think I used it on the boys white t-shirts when they were home. Good luck! aej |
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| Oh, I think you should buy something that will help you dealing with hard water and not with it's results. |
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- Posted by DAGMAR SKODIS(dagmarskodis@adelphia.net) onSun, Jan 2, 11 at 19:15
| THANK YOU FOR THE INPUT.LATELY MY DISHES HAVE A STAIN OF WHITE CLOUDY SUBTANCE ON THE GLASSES AND MY DINNER PLATES. HAVE WELL WATER WITH LOT OF LIME IN IT. """" HELP """" WILL USE VINEGAR IF NOTHING ELSE WORKES. SINCERELY, DM SKODIS HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOURS!!!!! |
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- Posted by saferproducts (My Page) on Mon, Jan 3, 11 at 17:21
| I had that same problem, dagmar. I am also on a well, and I thought my dishes were ruined. They are a dark brown, and after running them through the dishwasher once they became a dingy white. For years I struggled with it, using everything I could think of. Recently, with my pregnancy, I discovered just what all is in dish detergent and was disgusted. Dishwasher detergent is probably the most harmful item in your household, and every time you run it it emits dangerous toxins into the air. So, that being said, I decided to switch to an all-natural dish detergent called Diamond Brite. I switched, not expecting anything but to have a safer product that was not killing my family. Well, it was an extra bonus that the first time I ran the dishes it took the white film off, and literally left my dishes and silverware sparkling clean! This may sound insane, but I bought a couple of bottles of it and gave as part of a Christmas basket to friends who also are on wells. They are hooked! |
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- Posted by Carl(carl_w2003@yahoo.com) onTue, Feb 22, 11 at 13:22
| Vinegar didn't work and I see various posts about people saying it does. I tried it and the white residue marks are still there. The person at the place we bought the dishwasher (it's a new dishwasher) said not to use liquid detergent in it, just the powder form. So ...now what do I do???? |
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- Posted by ks_toolgirl (My Page) on Fri, Feb 25, 11 at 17:25
| "Holy post-resurrection, Batman", lol! Actually, I have a suggestion to share... I learned this trick from my (late) best friend, for cleaning years of deposits from antique/vintage glassware. IF it's truly "deposits", & not "pitting", it's worth a try! (If it's pitting, that - as stated above - means particles of the surface glass are literally gone, as opposed to unwanted crud & minerals on the surface causing cloudy appearance). The solution? Denture cleaning tablets! I know - crazy, right? Lol! My most frequent use for them is old glass vases - years of holding water for a period of time, followed by rinsing & storage again, can REALLY let deposits build up. For the record, I've never bought name-brand, always the store-brand of whichever store I'm in when I need them. (Cheap, I am!). Also - I'm not suggesting that anyone put the tablets into the actual dishwasher. (Just a disclaimer, there, lol). |
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- Posted by Jody(sales@citriclean.net) onFri, Apr 15, 11 at 16:55
| Here's another fix. A new company in Florida sells a product called CitriClean. More info or buy on line at www.CitriClean.net |
Here is a link that might be useful: CitriClean of Florida
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| I was having the same problem just last week and found out that if you buy lemi shine you may be able to solve your problem. I tried it and it worked. my dishes are nice and clean. What i did and this worked for me was that i filled out the soap dish with the lemi shine (I empty my dishwasher. No dishes were inside) and then run it like i would normally run a cycle. Then I put my dishes and because i only have one compartment to put the soap, I use every day 1/2 of my regular soap and on top i use the lemi shine and so far so good. hope this help. |
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- Posted by Joyce(joycedrisc@aol.com) onSat, May 14, 11 at 12:42
| Vinegar in dishwasher cycle didn't work for me. Next will try denture tablets. |
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- Posted by laurie(whirlie54mn@aol.com) onWed, Jun 8, 11 at 19:05
| how do you put the vinegar in? Just fill up where the detergent goes? I have been using cascade and my glasses are now white and the silverware even has a grit feeling to them. I put in jet dry but it seems to be getting worse. I have washed the same load about 3 times now! |
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- Posted by Mary(mcacchione@comcast.net) onTue, Jul 12, 11 at 17:43
| I have the same question whirlie does. I too use Cascade, for years and never had this problem until now. I guess I will just try putting the vinegar under the lower rack and run it. I think the DW has the build up and needs a good cleaning. |
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- Posted by kathleen brack(kajer31@hotmail.com) onMon, Jul 25, 11 at 0:50
| White vinegar works on glass OK. I use CLR on the brown residue in my dishwasher, on my fiberglass jet tub and on my old porcelain sink. And I occasionally use Brillo to clean my white dishes. Hard well water is a constant problem but these solutions do help. |
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- Posted by SharperClean (My Page) on Mon, Jul 25, 11 at 3:59
| use vinegar and just rub gently with dish cloth, definetly sport will disappear. |
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- Posted by Lesyeuxbleu (My Page) on Fri, Jul 29, 11 at 9:32
| I had bad water spots on a Chemex coffee maker (I always wash/rinse and air dry). Vinegar did not work on it, but I used Bar Keepers Friend on it and it worked. It took a bit, but got the stains off. I want to say that I made sort of a paste and rubbed it on, then let it sit for a while. It takes rust off of other things really well, too. Best of luck |
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- Posted by Kirstyn(kmdawson1110@gmail.com) onFri, Aug 5, 11 at 1:00
| I obviously have very hard water at my apartment. I didnt have any problems for the first few months, then all the sudden, my black dishes are white and my glass dishes are dirty looking. I just tried the vinegar and baking soda and it didnt do anything at all. Theres no way I can afford a water softener. What do I do??!! |
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| Use Lime-a-Way to clean dishes. Then always use white vinegar in the rinse dispenser of dishwasher in hopes it will prevent a repeat of white deposit. |
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- Posted by ks_toolgirl (My Page) on Fri, Aug 5, 11 at 22:32
| Joyce - in your last post, you'd mentioned trying denture soaking tablets, never heard back... Did they work? It's been a while, perhaps she hasn't been around? I'd just love to hear if it worked - or not. (It's a crap-shoot.. Sometimes it works like magic, sometimes it doesn't). |
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| I had the same problem until this... I poured in 1/2 cup of bleach with Cascade powder soap and bingo... it worked! After getting all my dishes cleaned and removed all the etched/cloudy looking glasses, stained silverware, I'm down to 1/4 cup for each wash. I will not use Jet Dry again! |
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- Posted by kathy v(kvoutilainen@yahoo.com) onMon, Aug 15, 11 at 4:33
| It's goofy but I swear it works. Instead of soap in the dish washer, put in one packet of crystal lite lemon flavor (the drink powder. (use the size that makes one picture of lemon drink) Then just run your dishwasher through it's regular cycle. The citric acid cleans the lime scale of the crystal and leaves the dishwasher shiny clean too. |
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- Posted by albert_135 (My Page) on Mon, Aug 15, 11 at 13:48
| Just based upon recollection of high school chemistry, which I acknowledge has faded considerably, I would expect lemon juice in the rinse dispenser to work better than vinegar. |
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- Posted by Gale Flanagan(galekw@comcast.net) onTue, Aug 30, 11 at 19:13
| Your glasses are etched because you use too much dishwasher detergent. I had the same problem and the repairman told me to fill only half way. Have not had a problem since. |
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| Probably the best thing you can do to avoid deposits/etching is to wash and dry glasses by hand immediately after using them. The hard water deposits should be removed pretty easily with any acid (vinegar, lemon juice, etcetera). Give the glass a good long soak in the acid of your choice. If the glass still looks milky, it's likely etched. There's nothing that you can do to remove the etching, but you can hide the etched appearance somewhat with WD40 (yes, the "lubricant"). Spray/wipe some WD40 on the glass, and let it dry overnight. Wash THOROUGHLY! There's something akin to tallow in the WD40 that creates a coating on the glass. It won't be perfect, but should look better - at least for a while. Note that this is not an intended use of WD40. Don't sue me if you don't properly wash the glass and get sick. |
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| States Ban Phosphate-Laden Dishwasher Soap July 2011 started a ban in sixteen states of the sale of dishwasher detergents that contain high levels of phosphates, a source of pollution in lakes and streams. Stores will not be allowed to sell detergent with more than 0.5 percent phosphorous. The bans do not apply to commercial dishwashing products, and detergents for hand-washing dishes generally contain no phosphorus. States instituting the rule include Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. One major cause of problems in dishwashers and cloths washers is most people use way too much detergent, more is NOT better. In a dishwasher fill the cup half way and use Cascade Complete liquid. Powder does not dissolve as well and be sure your rinse agent (JetDry) is full. If you are using a HE cloths washer use 2 tablespoons of 2X HE detergent. If you have a mildew smell in your front load washer then that is soap buildup, use a cup of white vinegar on its hottest or "tub clean" cycle to clean it. A posted comment:"my black dishes are white and my glass dishes are dirty looking " A posted comment:"I occasionally use Brillo to clean my white dishes" |
Here is a link that might be useful: NPR, Dishes Still Dirty? Blame Phosphate-Free Detergent
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- Posted by coffeegrinder (My Page) on Thu, Mar 8, 12 at 19:38
| I tried the vinegar, doesn't work. I let it sit overnight. I have a glass jar with a small mouth that curves outward so brushes and cloths are not an option to clean the interior. I swirled and sloshed it around periodically but after a day the spots were still there. I am now trying the denture tablets. |
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| We fought hard water for years and finally won the battle with a product called Lemi-Shine. It can be purchased at Walmart, Dillon's etc. For the horrible buildup the first time or two, fill both dispensers with the product. Good luck! You will love it! |
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