How to Reduce Dishwasher Etching on Glasses

Etching occurs on glasses for a variety of reasons, such as softened water, detergents high in phosphates, too much detergent, not enough detergent, hard water and heat. You cannot fix the glasses because the small scratches are permanent. If you notice that your glasses are etched, you can prevent the scratches from occurring by washing the dishes properly. The proper precautions help protect your glasses when you cannot predict if etching will occur.

Soft washcloth
No-phosphate detergent

Instructions

- 1
  Load the glasses carefully so that they do not touch each other. Glasses that rub against each other in the washer may become scratched or etched.
- 2
  Set the dishwasher to use no heat when drying the dishes. You may find this setting under the energy saver dry cycle.
- 3
  Stop the dishwasher to avoid using the dry cycle if you cannot set it not to use heat. Dry the dishes with a soft washcloth.
- 4
  Adjust the water temperature to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Higher water temperatures promote glass etching.
- 5
  Scrape foods off the dishes before loading them, but do not rinse the dishes. Rinsing the dishes before you load them in the dishwasher may alter the alkaline level of the dishwasher detergent.
- 6
  Add a low or no-phosphate detergent to the dishwasher. Phosphates help accelerate etching. Dishwashing detergent packages will tell you if they detergents contain phosphates.
- 7
  Add more detergent to hard water. Contact your local water supply municipal to determine the water hardness. The University of Nebraska suggests adding 1 tbsp. of dishwasher detergent when the water has zero to three grains of hardness, 2 tbsp. for four to six grains, 3 tbsp. for seven to nine grains and 4 tbsp. for 10 to 12 grains hardness.
- 8
  Add less detergent to the dishwasher if you have soft water. While detergent helps prevent hard water from etching glass, too much detergent in soft water may cause scratches to develop.

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