A friend gave me a dishwasher but I am not happy with it. No matter how hard I scrub the dishes before I run the thing, they come out covered with a fine grit, especially on the bottom rack.

What could be causing this?

I think we would need a little more info here.

This first thing that comes to mind is your location. You state that you are “under a volcano”. Is that the one we all know and love that blew its top.

Next, are you on city water or a well?

When you say fine grit, is it more like a white powder or does it feel gritty?

What brand of soap are you using and is it liquid or powder? Are you using a rinsing agent? By the way, neither have a grit in them.

It is obvious that you are washing the dishes before you put them in so it has to be something related to the dishwasher it self.

Does it have a drying cycle and do you use it? If so, try a load with out using the dry cycle.

Thank you, Walks On. Yes, it's the one that blew in 1980.

We are on a well here.

It's not a white powder, it's small dark particles, gritty.

I use Cascade liquid, with Dawn.

I believe I am using the drying cycle, but next time I run it, I will see if I can unselect it.

Now I don’t want to cause friction between you and the friend that gave you the washer but is it possible that is the reason they gave it to you. There may be grit from the clean up after all that dust in the air.

There is nothing that I know of that will cause grit to be left on the plates. White dust or film would be caused by hard well water.

Something breaking down in the water pump or lines my but I don’t think so. I wish I could see this for myself. It is hard to diagnose these problems so far away.

We use Cascade powder and no rinsing agent. Have never had a problem.

Do you know how hard you well water is?

I would like to pull a plate out at the end of each cycle and let it air dry to see if it is somewhere in the cycle that is causing it.

I will try that. I haven't noticed that the water is particularly hard. When I grew up we used rain water to wash hair, etc. Now THAT was hard water.

One time I had mushrooms growing in my spare room. They had to take the wall down to fix the leak, which the plumber said was caused by soap powder clogging up the pipes. Use the gel, he told me. You're lucky not to have problems.

Oh contrary. Rain water is about as soft as you can get.

That is the first I have heard about powdered soap clogging pipes. I suppose to much could possibly but never heard of it.

Experiment- take 8 oz. of well water and put in to a glass container that you can put a lid on. Add 1 drop of liquid dish detergent. Cap it and shake it up. Put in down and watch the suds. Notice how much it makes and how long they last.

Now do the same using rain water. You should notice that the suds are greater and last longer with the rain water then the well water.

It is the hardness of the well water that breaks down the suds. Soap contains surfactants that reduce the surface tension of water. These are broken down by the minerals in hard water.

Ever go in a hotel and find it hard to rise all the soap off after a shower. They are using a softener to help them save on soap for their laundry.

Off the subject but educational.

I think I have discovered the problem. The bottom arm, where the water comes out is too high, too close to the bottom rack - within a quarter to a half inch. Anything sticking below the rack, like the bottom of a round plate, will stop the arm from rotating.

Thank you for trying to help, Walks On.

It's always the obvious we overlook.

Wife had alomost the same problem. Too high in the top rack interfered with the top arm. Dah.