My Dishwasher Responsibilities

Today the dishwasher repair man came.  Fortunately, I had a service plan on my two year old machine.  I called Sears repair because my glasses were coming out cloudy.  I thought the heating element might be broken.  Noone on Pinterest let me know that they've taken the phosphates out of the cleaners.  Not one of my friends had ever admitted to cloudy glasses. 

  Anyway, he asked me how many times I scubbed the filter at the bottom.  I said about every six months.  He said it needed to be done ONCE A WEEK.  I called my friend Karen.  I asked her how often she cleans her filter.  She asked, "What filter?"

  He also told me that when the glasses are especially cloudy (and/or company's coming), run them on the china cycle.  When the water is filled up, dump 2 cups distilled white vinegar right into the water.  I saw lots of pins on Pinterest telling me to use the vinegar in my rinse dispenser.  He said this works better than that.

   When he originally installed the dishwasher, I was complaining that a man must have designed the top racks.  The prongs are moveable and I break a glass per week.  I told him a woman would have known that having prongs that move on the top rack is impractible.
I was using fishing wire to tie them upright.  He said go to Home Depot and get those plastic ties.  They'll last longer.  He said he was using bread ties, but they weren't lasting very long.

   He also sold me a dishwasher cleaning solution.  I empty the dishwasher, take the top off of the bottle, and I put it upside down in the silverware basket.  Then I run the dishwasher on NORMAL.  He showed me lots of goop that builds up.  I never looked for it.

I had a GE dishwasher for 25 years.  I never had this much responsibility for an appliance before.  And...I had phosphates.  I'm glad I'm saving the environment, but I miss my sparkling glasses.