Ever since I can remember, I’ve used liquid or gel dishwashing liquid in my dishwashers. For some reason I thought that the liquid would dissolve better and would wash better. When we got our new dishwasher (a Bosch) 2 years ago, I didn’t really read the instruction manual and kept using liquid detergent (I do most of the dishes in our house as my wife does the cooking). Since getting the dishwasher, we’ve periodically had it give us an error (E22) and fail to completely drain.
I read about the error online and people seemed to indicate there was a problem with how the drain hose was hooked up. Ours was hooked up to an air gap and I adjusted the hoses several times which fixed the problem temporarily. After the last time I got the error, I decided to read the manual. The manual recommended using Finish Powerball Tablets
Since I started using them (knock on wood), we haven’t had a problem with the dishwasher. My theory is that the gel we were using didn’t completely dissolve and clogged up part of the drain or hose enough that the dishwasher thought it was completely clogged and shut off the cycle (the error always occurred at the end of the wash).
So the lesson here is “read the instructions”!
Not just read the instructions, but make a habit of doing things one (the right) way.
If you keep that dishwasher for a while it might happen that you forget this post and experience and go back to gel as your memory turns to “gel.”
Trust me, I’m there already.
Definitely good advice. When we moved in, I got a pile of manuals and it was just too overwhelming to read them all.