Water Quality

[micropoodle]

I've been living in Donabate for 15 years and have never had reason to complain about the water, until recently.

I noticed a few months ago that the dishwasher wasn't washing dishes properly every time. For a while I put that down to it needing to be cleaned, overfilled etc. So I used the cleaning fluid to try to clean it and washed out the filters regularly.

Now my dishwasher is only 5 years old so I didn't think it was a functioning problem. Soon after I noticed what I can only say is limescale (though I may be totally wrong) accumulating on the inside door of the dishwasher, and it wont shift with a dishwash, will only come off by scraping it off.

The dishes, particularly the glasses, are still not always 100% clean.

As I said, this only started to happen a few months ago. Prior to that the dishwasher was always excellent.
Spoke to a couple of neighbours who have said that they are experiencing the same, again only starting recently.

Has anyone else noticed this recently? And if so, what can be done about it?
I'm in Somerton

[mirror]

I never thought the quality of water in Donabate was good. I moved here 18 years ago. The water from my tap has always been cloudy and almost looks like dirty water, even if I let the tap run,it makes no difference. I am constantly descaling my kettle. I just bottled water and have done for years now.

[Ken]

We do have moderately hard water in the area which takes its toll on appliances. You will notice lime scale building up over time. The further you go North in Co. Dublin the worse it gets. Balbriggan has very hard water.

We had a problem with our dishwasher a few months back and it was caused by lime scale. The machine was 12 years old so didn't owe us anything. The technician told us to make sure we always use dishwasher salt as he doesn't believe the all in one tablets are enough for hard water areas.

Having said that, I've been keeping fish in the water for years with no issues so I wouldn't have any problems with the water quality itself.

[Derek]

Any problems we've had with the dishwasher have been down to the use of inferior quality tablets or salt. The water supply in the area is otherwise fine

[micropoodle]

i've used the same finish quantum tablets for as long as i can remember along with finish salt and rinse aid.

the limescale deposits on the dishwasher have only started appearing in the last couple of months after 5 years of use. and for the previous 10 years with the old dishwasher i never noticed limescale before, certainly not to this extent.

thats why im asking the question if anyone has noticed a change recently

[Lucille]

I've noticed a lot of limscale on the shower head.

I thought the cleaning fairy hadn't got around to it!

[Ken]

We've always had a certain amount of lime scale. I can't say I've noticed an increase recently.

I have a TDS meter which measures total dissolved solids in water. This gives an indication of the hardness of the water. General acceptance is that good drinking water will be below 500 ppm (parts per million). Our water is currently 230 ppm which is about the same when I tested it last (probably about 6 months ago). 230 ppm would be regarded as moderately hard in terms of water hardness.

The meter I used is designed for the fish keeping hobby so isn't madly scientifically accurate. However, it will be in the ballpark.

[Ann]

I haven't noticed a difference but I keep the salt topped up and use a dishwasher cleaner every other month, hoping that this will slow down the limescale build-up. I also use hot temperatures every now and again to prevent a build-up of grease inside.

[jayflame]

Get a pint of tap water and let it stand for a few hours to 1 day.
You will notice bubbles appear around the inside of the glass, this is the dissolved gasses pumped into the water to sterilize it.
Tap the glass for the bubbles to disperse.

Get a fresh pint of tap water, smell and taste the difference between the two.