How do I go about cleaning my dishwasher's heating element?

Question

My heating element has a layer of thick white film on it and I'm not sure how to go about cleaning it.Any help is appreciated.Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

too much dishwasher detergent can aggrivate a calcium or lime scale problem.

My water is so hard that my heating element will get nearly an 1/8 inch thick build-up in just a few months unless I give it some sort of citric acid treatment.

vinegar in the dishwasher works pretty good on lower levels of build-up, or to prevent buildup after a good citric acid treatment, but for big build-up citric acid is the way to go.

citric acid is the trick, so glisten, other lime lemon dishwasher cleaners are they way to go since they are stronger. tang and country time will work but they are lower in citric acid and will take several treatments.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

The reason why the element is white is because you are using too much Cascade type soap, I bet your glass ware is cloudy too. That soap is design to eat food off dishes and when you rinse the dishes first you remove all the food and the soap eats the dishes. The amount of soap used should be by how much food is on the plates if no food 1/8 teaspoon will do. White viniger will clean it well in the pots and pans setting hi temp, add in middle of cycle.

Answer 3

There is a dishwasher cleaner called Glisten. It works really well. You can also put a package of Tang in the main wash. The citric acid will clean the entire dishwasher including the element. If you have a plastic tub, I would use Glisten since Tang will turn the tub orange.

Answer 4

bae soda or bosch chemical

Answer 5

Once you have cleaned the heating element, you should use a dish-washing product which includes an anti-limescale agent, such as Calgon as this will prevent further build up.