Two tablespoons is six teaspoons. That may be too much for SOFT water. I use three teaspoons and have moderately hard water. My dishwasher takes 0.8 gals per fill so of course accordingly more detergent may be needed for more water volume on the fill.

Opaqueness of glassware that does not wipe away is an indication of etching, which is caused by too much detergent in soft water. Etching is chemical / physical damage to the glass.

Is it possible that it's the detergent you're using? I use Cascade Complete ActionPacs with no rinse aid and the dishes come out perfect. You might try a small package.

It might be interesting to wash some dishes by hand, confirm that they have no soapy taste, run them through the dishwasher with NO detergent, and then check for soapiness again. That would also help you to determine if its the detergent that has been causing the problem.

On the previous dishy I tried ALL the soap brands. The puck type are worse as they are measured more than needed. Liquids easy to measure.

Hand wahing = no soap taste/smell which is why I wonder if there’s a drain issue.

I called whirlpool to ask if I can somehow drain the rinse aid compartment, they said no.

If there’s a way to drain the compartment it would likely help!

i only put the 2 oz free sample sized rinse aid bottle in but apparently it could last over a month.....

"On the previous dishy I tried ALL the soap brands."

That "dishy" is gone. You're trying to diagnose the problem with this dishwasher.

"The puck type are worse as they are measured more than needed."

How do you know the AcctionPac "puck" would be more than needed by this dishwasher?

There is an adjustment inside the rinse-aid compartment; you could try setting the amount used to the minimum to see if that helps.

If the dispenser can accept it, try a turkey baster to suction out the rinse aid. Then fill the dispenser with water and pull it out, repeat a few times (with fresh water each time) to rinse out the residual.

All dishwashers nowadays are engineered to require rinse aid for proper drying performance ... but the result depends on your standards for acceptable drying.

great idea thanks. It didn’t fit, but somewhere I have a bent tip syringe from the vets office that would work.

Wdcruise, I am aware that this is a different dishwasher. When one spends 9 years trying to solve an issue with one appliance then finds the same issue with a brand new appliance- there is a connection worth noting.

Are action pac pucks/pellets/tabs now pre formulated for different water types? Because last I checked they were not, meaning the dose was larger than required for me where I live. Perhaps they can be cut into quarters, but that is not what you were suggesting was it?

Thanks for checking on the rinse aid adjustment. It is set on 1, lowest.

"the dose was larger than required for me where I live."

I don't know how you KNOW that the dose is larger than required. You simply have no way to determine that. It would cost $5 to test Acctionpacs with the new dishwasher. Why not do it?

Did you run the no-detergent test?

Pacs/pods/tablets don't work for my dishwasher. I tried Cascade Platinum pacs, the dosage is too high, they cause so much foaming/sudsing that spray force and arm rotation is impaired. My "dishy" senses the fill level via the load (current draw) on the pump motor during recirculation spray. Using those pacs is the only time in 16 years that I noticed it add more water a few mins into the first wash to compensate for the amount of water-turned-to-foam. The dosage can easily be controlled with powder detergent.

@dadoes: Your 16-year-old dishwasher has nothing to do with the OP's two-day old appliance.

From a Whirlpool dishwasher User Guide*:

"Recommended Detergents

"Many detergents now come in premeasured forms (gel packs, tablets, or powder packs). It is recommended to use tablets and packs for convenience and improved performance. They have been proven better than powder, liquid, or gel detergents at reducing filming on dishes. Using tablets and packs over time will start to reduce or eliminate white film. Also, by using a rinse aid you can minimize repeat buildup of white film. These forms are suitable for all hardness and soil levels. Always place premeasured detergents in the main compartment and close the lid."

*Current model, not a 16-year-old dishwasher

The age of the machine is not directly the point. The point is that a pod or pac or tablet of a fixed dosage is too much detergent. I mentioned the age only as a reference that that no other (powder of controllable dosage) detergent I've used has ever caused the unit to add more water in response to oversudsing.

• Soft water can create its own set of issues. We have naturally very soft water ( less than a third of a grain). Our dishwasher is a year old Miele Diamond, with the water softener disabled. I cannot use any of the Finish or Cascade pods in our water, they suds up and bog down the motor. I can also taste the soap when using these brands- Cascade is the worst. They're just too much soap. CR’s top rated, Costco pacs left undissolved soap in the bottom of the dishwasher after a full sensor wash load. 1 tablespoon of powder or a half tab, max, is all we need to use for everyday loads. I do use Miele rinse aid, partly b/c it doesn’t have the fragrance of the common brands.

fireweed22, are you rinsing your dishes before placing them in the DW? If so, you should just scrape and not rinse. I ruined a set of glasses before I realized that I was not supposed to be rinsing. I use Finish pacs and always run the Sanitize setting.

Miele G6935SCI Diamond Series 24 Inch Built In Dishwasher: $2,899 (NOT a typo)!

Wilson I did notice that in the manual. I soaked in sink the worst of the worst and rinsed but haven’t scraped. Dishes come out looking clean. How were your glasses ruined? Etching or scum baked on or?

Wdcruise by chance are you aka Bff on another site? Seeing similarities with similar tension/veiled aggression at every single turn. Helpful yet unhelpful if you know what I mean? If so chill out? Nobody needs to be right at all costs.

Miele G6935SCI Diamond Series 24 Inch Built In Dishwasher: $2,899 (NOT a typo)!

@wdcruise, what’s your point, other than an implied value judgement about how I choose to spend my money?

@wdcruise believes that all appliances are essentially identical, and therefore there are only two criteria worth considering: 1. Does Consumer Reports like the appliance, and 2. Which appliance is cheapest? Preferably, both should apply.

There seems to be a particular aversion to Miele, as all of their products are admittedly quite pricey. Importing often almost doubles the price, and it's not as if it was one of the cheap brands in Germany either. @wdcruise behaves as if this fact was a personal insult targeted at them.

It's actually quite comical and entertaining in a way. Occasionally, someone calls them out for getting increasingly off-topic (or as others said, helpful but not really). And very rarely, by shear chance, the comment is actually helpful and finds an appliance that nobody had considered yet. But that doesn't seem to apply in this current thread.

On a more useful note, what happens if you wash without any detergent? With soft water I've discovered it actually works surprisingly well. I wouldn't actually recommend doing do for your regular cleaning, but it could be another data point in this puzzle.

You know, I often just add basically a drip (under tablespoon) and dishes still get cleaned.

Don't think I’d go without soap simply for sanitary reasons but it would likely work if water was hot.

M, some amount of detergent should be used to emulsify and hold grease and food soils in the water to be flushed away. A respected appliance serviceman I know advises that detergent should also always be added to the first fill (prewash cup) if the machine runs that phase on the selected cycle, and the main wash. Even 1/2 a tsp is better than none.

fireweed22, The glasses became cloudy and I couldn't get them clear again so had to toss them. It was embarrassing to serve anyone a drink. It started when I got a Miele DW after owning a Kitchenaid for many years and I was still pre-rinsing but then I learned not to and since then I have not ruined any more glassware. I have Thermador DWs now. Even if I have super dirty pans with baked on crud, I just remove the big chunks and don't rinse. I use the Pot and Pan Cycle with the Powerboost and Sanitize settings and they come out looking like I scrubbed by hand. We have a whole house softener so I don't find it necessary to use rinse aid and I've never had a soapy smell on my dishes. I use the Sanitize setting on every load so maybe that helps.

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/cleaning/a33322/stop-prerinsing-dishes/

All of my glasses were completely ruined from the old machine.

After just 3 washes in the new dishy I noticed some discolouration on brand new glasses purchased for this unit. Grrr!

@fireweed22: "Wdcruise by chance are you aka Bff on another site?"

This makes no sense.

@M: "@wdcruise believes that all appliances are essentially identical, and therefore there are only two criteria worth considering: 1. Does Consumer Reports like the appliance, and 2. Which appliance is cheapest? Preferably, both should apply."

wdccruise's actual purchasing recommendations:

1. Consult Consumer Reports for product recommendations.
2. Select candidate products based on ratings, if available. Review product features based on spec sheets and user manuals; the CR highest-rated product may not be the best choice if it doesn't meet ones feature requirements.
3. Note CR's brand reliability projections and the product warranty.
4. Review the installation instructions to make sure you have space for the product. If you are a DIYer, make sure you can handle the installation yourself.
5. Consult retailer websites (Home Depot, Best Buy) for owners' anecdotal reviews. These can point out product deficiencies in use or longevity that CR cannot determine.
6. Compare prices among candidate products and resellers. Note that in CR ratings, there is frequently no relationship between products' performance and price. Don't get hung up on brands.
7. Select a product.
8. Order product, required parts, and installation (if not DIY).

I'm convinced it is because these new dishwashers are mandated by our all knowing Federal Gov to use less water.

Did you try Finish Ultimate in your dishwasher? What about Cascade Platinum Plus? What about cleaning the filters? What about rinse aid like Cascade or Finish?