Out, damn spots... I want spotless dishes.

November 9, 2008 5:31 PM

Can the white spots on my dishes be removed?

My old dishwasher stopped rinsing properly some weeks ago. It started leaving ugly whitish spots and streaks on my dishes. (Sango Nova Blue - two-toned blue dishes that I really like a lot)

Vinegar doesn't remove them. A small test with Soft Scrub shows limited promise, but only limited, and it would take much scrubbing to see any satisfying results. My best efforts still left a ghost mark.

The bottoms of my glasses are cloudy where water sat.

I am the proud owner of a new dishwasher that promises to behave better, but I'd really like to get rid of the unsightly spots on my plates and bowls and glasses.

Give me hope, AskMefites. I don't want to think they are permanently etched.

posted by Corky to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

Did you try rubbing the spots on your dishes with some toothpaste on a Q-tip? Can you try washing the glasses with really hot water?
posted by Lycaste at 5:37 PM on November 9, 2008

Sorry, but they may be...
posted by peagood at 6:00 PM on November 9, 2008

Being the owner of a similarly picky dishwasher, I've had success using automatic drip coffee machine descaler. You can buy it in the coffee isle at the grocery store. A wipe with a rag soaked in the stuff is all it took. Just make sure to rinse well afterwards.
posted by jtfowl0 at 7:24 PM on November 9, 2008

Don't despair if vinegar doesn't work. If the spots are from lime (calcium carbonate) you can try, in this order:
1. Hot vinegar + surfactant (like dish soap, just a bit). The surfactant reduces surface tension and makes the vinegar 'wet' the deposit better.
2. Citric acid. This is available online pretty cheaply at places like bulkfoods.com
3. Sodium bisulfite, used in rust removers.
4. Muriatic or hydrochloric acid.

There's a pretty bad lime problem in my water and I only had to go as far as 2 above to get decent dishwasher performance.
posted by jet_silver at 7:25 PM on November 9, 2008

Don't despair, because it sure sounds like it's just lime deposits. And vinegar is a pretty weak acid, so it may not give immediately-visible results. You might try a somewhat stronger product like Lime-Away that's made for removing lime scale from bathrooms. Just wear rubber gloves, and rinse thoroughly.
posted by exphysicist345 at 7:45 PM on November 9, 2008

Give Mr. Clean Magic Eraser a shot.
Works great on coffee stained mugs.
posted by NoraCharles at 8:12 PM on November 9, 2008

Doesn't Jet Dry Rinse Agent fix this type of thing?
posted by DieHipsterDie at 9:29 PM on November 9, 2008

One second thought, Jet Dry prevents this type of problem. Not sure how to fix it once its happened.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 9:30 PM on November 9, 2008

We have extremely hard water and the only thing that has solved the spotting problem is an additive called Lemi Shine - the only place I've found it is Target but it works really well - you use it in one of the soap cups and use regular dishwasher detergent in the other.
posted by leslies at 4:42 AM on November 10, 2008