Same brand of soap, same sponge, same technique I have used for years. In the new place every glass comes out of the rack with a cloudy film that wipes off with a finger but comes back next wash. Plates and cutlery seem fine, it is glass that shows it. The kettle also furs up much faster here than it did before. Is this the water, and if so is there anything to do short of buying a machine or a softener?
If you end up getting a dishwasher, hard water is the case where the salt reservoir and rinse aid matter enormously. People ignore both and then blame the machine. Fill the salt, set the hardness level in the machine settings to match your area, and use rinse aid. The difference on glassware is night and day.
Your water supplier usually publishes hardness for your postcode, which saves guessing at the machine setting. Mine was two levels off the default and it made a visible difference the same week.
Worth knowing this affects more than glasses. Hard water shortens the life of kettles and shower heads, makes soap and shampoo lather badly, and leaves that grey film on shower screens. A cheap test strip pack tells you the number, which is useful before you spend anything on a softener.
One thing that surprised me: the film is harmless. It looks like something failed to get clean but it is just minerals. I stopped worrying about it on everyday glasses and only bother with the vinegar rinse when people are coming over.
@boundaries_bo · 10mo ago · 3 replies
The kettle is your answer. You have moved to a hard water area, and what you are seeing on the glasses is dissolved calcium and magnesium left behind when the water evaporates, plus soap scum where those minerals react with the soap itself.
Quick confirmation: soak one cloudy glass in white vinegar for 30 minutes. If it comes out clear, it is mineral deposit and you can fix it. If it stays cloudy, the glass is etched, which is permanent and a different problem.
Things that work without plumbing:
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@seasoned_saul · 10mo ago
The etching test is the important half of this. Once glass is etched by years of hot dishwasher cycles in soft water it looks similar and no amount of vinegar brings it back, and people spend money chasing it.
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@flaxseed_fran · 10mo ago
Drying immediately genuinely is the biggest single change. My draining rack was doing more damage than the water was.
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