Funny, I never did. We have a second home and we just remodeled. The Bosch tells me when I need the rinse aid, so I listen to it ;)

In my primary home, that Bosch is 11 and I just never got in the habit. I have to say though the glasses are scratched.

Rinse aid is primarily to promote evaporation of moisture for better drying performance, and reduce mineral-spotting as an ancillary function. No need to use it if drying performance is meeting your needs or expectations.

Many dishwashers nowadays don't have a drying heater and rely on residual heat in the mass of the dishware via heating the final rinse water to promote evaporation. They are designed to use rinse aid as part of that process ... but see first paragraph.

Machines that have a drying heater operate the heater at a lower wattage than in the past and/or cycle it on/off through the drying period to reduce power draw ... but see first paragraph.

I didn’t use rinse-aid for a while, and my glasses did start to look spotty. I started using Jet-Dry and it made a big, noticeable difference. Also, not sure about the “expense” you mentioned because Jet-Dry is pretty cheap and the little bottle lasts a long time. In addition, my Miele DW has a setting you can adjust for how much rinse-aid is released per wash. That’s because people’s water pH and other water make-up differs, so that some DWs need more rinse-aid than others. I have mine on the lowest setting, and it still does the trick.

I use the Cascade pods with rinse-aid included.

@krissie55, I love the white vinegar idea. I’ll have to try that!

@porkchop_z5b_MI If you are interested in using products with fewer (or safer) chemicals, check out the environmental working group’s list of dishwasher pods and rinse aids. They’ll tell you what’s in them, what the ingredients do, and they grade them for you too.

I add rinse aid when the tiny light comes on reminding me to do that. Older Kitchen Aid dishwasher that I still love, it does a stellar job even without the more recent conveniences of third rack or silent operation. I have it set to dispense at the lowest setting, but my plastic refrigerator containers, the slightly indented bottoms of one style coffee mug, salad spinner do not dry without rinse aid.

@morz8 - Washington Coast, my KA dishwasher is more than 25 years old! I keep saying we should start a club.

Separate rinse aid dispensed into the final rinse does a better job IMO. What may be included with a detergent pod product is essentially gone down the drain by the time the last rinse occurs.

Nope.

I also have a Bosch DW, and if I don't use rinse aid my glasses have varying degrees of residue on them. But I LOVE the idea of using white vinegar instead and will try that. (The salesperson I bought the DW from did recommend running a half-cup of vinegar with a small load once a week anyway.)

Thanks, all. I decided to put the sample packet in there just to use it up and see how it works - it's fine, I guess, but truth be told I can't tell the difference from before I was using it to now using it. Anyway, I doubt I'll use the product after the sample runs out but might use the vinegar -- good idea!

Vinegar isn't the same thing as rinse aid, different chemical makeups. Some folks say it has a beneficial effect ... or that it seems to have an effect. YMMV.

It all depends.... are your dishes clean or are your glasses milky or spotty? We have Very hard water and the only way we get clean dishes is to use a rinse aid. Bought a new dishwasher before I found out that the problem was that when phosphates were taken out of our detergents they really didn't clean if you had hard water.

Buy "lemi shine" it's a citrus natural that works wonderfully

I don’t use rinse aid and my dishes come out fine. I have an old kitchenaid dishwasher from 1996.

My machine is new, coming up on 1-month anniversary -- it is cleaning and rinsing very well, I am quite happy with it. Bosch. I have softened water, so not really any problems with mineral deposits, not even with the old POS DW that I had previously. Funny Lemi Shine was mentioned -- those are the pods that don't always dissolve well (I had mentioned in another recent post).

Mxk3 I only use the Lemi shine rinse aid and detergent booster. We don't have actual dishwasher detergent here that I have found

^^ Do you have Kroger where you live? Kroger in my area carries the Lemi Shine detergent pods.

No. I’m in Montana. it actually is the booster that helps with hard water cleaning. I get it at Target or Home Depot