Electrolux DS603 manual Detergent quantities, Hard water situations, Soft water situations

Hard (>150ppm or >9gpg)

Medium (100-150ppm or 6-9gpg)

Soft (<100ppm or <6gpg)

All*

All*

Heavy

Normal

Delicate

Fast

2

2

1

1

6

4

3

2

1

1

Hard water situations

If you live in a hard water situation, we recommend the installation of a household water softener to improve the water quality, detergent effectiveness and prevent the build up of calcium deposits on dishes and in the DishDrawer®.

Certain brands of dishwasher detergent contain varying quantities of phosphates, which help soften water. We suggest you use a detergent with high phosphate content to improve the wash. The detergent compartments need to be completely FULL and rinse agent is used with its setting fixed at 5.

We recommend the use of a dishwasher cleaner/descaler whenever you notice a build up of calcium deposits in your DishDrawer®.

After you have used the dishwasher cleaner/descaler you must run another wash program with detergent to prevent damage to the DishDrawer®.

Soft water situations

If you live in an area of naturally soft water or your household water is softened, avoid using too much detergent in your DishDrawer®. An excess amount of detergent is very aggressive on glassware and may cause irreversible etching.

Etching is a chemical deterioration that occurs on the surface of glassware when it is subjected to high temperatures, too much detergent and/or soft water situations. Etching is caused by a combination of very hot water, which causes the detergent to become very aggressive, but because the water is soft, there are no water hardness mineral ions for the detergent to bind to, so it extracts mineral ions directly from the glass.

Etching looks like rainbow colored film, as the glass is subjected to further washing the surface will eventually appear opaque. This type of etching is irreversible.

To prevent further etching from occurring on glassware use less detergent (follow the recommended detergent quantities in the User Guide for soft water situations), and ensure the dishwasher is not overloaded, so water can reach all the dishes during the wash.