Dishwasher pod not dissolving. Have you ever experienced your dishes being stained or unclean despite an entire wash cycle in the dishwasher?
Amongst many reasons for a problematic dishwasher, this might be because the dishwasher detergent pod that you’ve been using is not being dissolved completely.
Neglect in executing dishwasher instructions or technical faults may result in this issue. But you’re caught up!
In the following context, you’ll find out why your dishwasher pod won’t dissolve and how to make it work out precisely.
Dishwasher pod not dissolving
Any rough guesses? like ‘ less or no water reaching the pod’, or maybe ‘I think there’s something wrong with the little dispenser.
Well, yes, it does quite revolve around the reasons that you’d be coming up with.
The ‘actual’ reasons are
The Damp Dispenser
So let’s put it like this; when the dishwasher pod meets moisture pre-wash, it coagulates or sticks to the dispenser preventing the soap pods to be dissolved.
So if there’s even slight humidity in the dispenser, things might get sticky!
Pod the player!
“OK, but I cleaned and dried my dispenser. Why do the dishwasher pods still stick to it?!”.
Well, it’s not always the dispenser that’s to blame. The detergent pod can be moist too, resulting in similarly: sticking
The wet pod will also create trouble if it’s wet and won’t dispense or there will be no dissolving. Thus, no dishes will be washed.
Haste’s waste
When you put the dishwasher soap pods in quite ‘too early’ to a wash cycle, it might stick to the detergent dispenser.
Chances are, the pod absorbs the moisture while sitting in the dispenser, waiting to dissolve. Thus when the time comes, it gets stuck with the dispenser and won’t do what it’s supposed to do!
Blocked detergent dispenser lid
Due to mechanical faults like rust or breakage etc, the lid cover of the dispenser dishwasher tablets or the dispenser door may be blocked or locked up.
Which is ‘kind of’ a big deal because that’d kill one of the chief functions of the dishwasher.
The dishwasher soap pods won’t be released to be damped and carry out their niches.
It might also occur when you have stashed all of your dishes in the dishwasher at once.
And the soap dispenser door gets blocked by some dishes.
Clogged, blocked, shut! spray arms
Stereotypically in home appliances, clogging poses a serious threat to proper or any functioning of the machine because it causes water drainage/inlet problems.
Around the dish rack, the dishwasher arms rotate.
Sometimes what happens is that the water spray arms are clogged or blocked by some dust particles or food particles that went along in with your dishes.
Possibly you’d have to pay loads of money to get a dishwasher with clogged water spray arms fixed because if the water does not spray with adequate pressure, it won’t let the pod dissolve in the dishwasher.
Don’t play “too cool”: The temperature range
One of the other reasons for a stubborn dishwasher pod can be related to water temperature.
Too cold water would hinder the dissolving of the soap and therefore the cleaning of dishes.
The average temperature for a dishwasher cycle is around about 120 – 160°F.
Temperature below this range will not dissolve the dishwasher pods as they only dissolve in a specific range of water temperature.
Check the water’s temperature with a candy thermometer. Also, check the heating element and if it’s faulty, replace it with a new one.
Insufficient water
In cases where the dishwasher allows an influx of water but faces issues of dishes still not being cleaned properly because dishwasher pods are not being dissolved could mean only one thing: circulation pump failure.
This would mean that there isn’t sufficient water being pumped that is not reaching the pod to dissolve it as water won’t circulate about the inside dishwasher.
This happens due to a failed circulation pump which does not allow the water to go in the dishwasher cycle in a proper amount.
If a cutting board is placed in front of the dispenser, it may block the pod from getting into the dishwasher tub.
“Dish un-washer!”: The water inlet valve troubling
Imagine your dishwasher doesn’t wash the dishes because it doesn’t give off the water.
But “Hey! nothing’s wrong with my dishwasher! The water inlet valve works wonders now”.
Well, it might be so, but if only you’d seen the broken water inlet in your dishwasher; and guess what it means again: no water.
To check if your water inlet valve malfunction, turn on the dishwasher and as the cycle starts, open the dishwasher door.
If you see that the water is no water, then your water inlet valve is faulty and needs to be replaced.
Let it Swing
What if you put the dishes in, wait for a few nice minutes listening to Beethoven, open the dispenser lid, and boom.
The pod is as good as new? And then you realize “Maybe, the pod never plopped into the water!”.
On the money you are, and this happened because the dishwasher door is probably jammed. Now you might be thinking about how that makes sense.
The door causes the pod to drop into the water and start a wash cycle. Jammed door = no initiation of the cycle.
‘Soaped-up
Once in a while, do open your dispenser lid. It might be crying for help to be cleaned because the soap buildup needed to be scraped off.
This build-up would avoid water from reaching the pod in dishwashers that work by water dispersal of the pod.
What you ought to do
Here are respective actions to take according to the exact problem your dishwasher might be into.
1. Dry your dispenser
Always post-wash, you should dry your detergent pod dispenser thoroughly to avoid stagnant water or traces of moisture in it for future cycles.
If the dispenser is moist, damp, or wet it will also wet your pod, and the trouble with your dishwasher pod being wet and stuck arises.
2. Check the pod before you put it in
Due to storage issues or climatic effects etc., your dishwasher pods might become moist. If so, don’t use them and discard them.
It would be better if you store your pods such that they don’t become moist and are conserved for longer.
3. Don’t place pod too early pre-wash
Try placing the pod right before a dishwasher cycle initiates. That way your pod won’t end up ‘stuck’ in the dispenser and can be utilized readily.
Because putting the pod too early will make it wet and there you’ll go again whining about the dishwasher pod not dissolving fully. So, put it right before the dishwasher cycle starts.
4. Set and check the dispenser lid
Make sure the dispenser lid is mechanically well to allow safe, dry storage of the pod to help it dissolve properly.
If there are too many dishes stuffed in the dishwasher, they may block the Soap tablet dispenser door. So, put a small number of dishes in it to avoid this trouble.
5. Put in stained dishes only
Stubborn food residue is the culprit of clogged water spray holes.
Make sure before you put in the dishes, that the solid food particles are removed from them and only stained dishes are put in to be washed.
6. Use warm water
Whenever you’re about to wash dishes, try using warm water. You can increase the water temperature with a water heater.
Letting in hot water doesn’t only properly dissolve the dishwasher tablet utterly but might also open clogged spray arm holes. You never know it could be a blessing in disguise.
7. Circulation pump mending
The problem with your circulation pump is a little bit difficult to handle yourself. So, in that case, you can get help from a professional.
8. Keep a check on the spray arms
Check and balance regularly of the internal conditions of your dishwasher may lead you to know the functioning status of the spray arms.
If you suspect any of them as malfunctioning or broken by observation, get them fixed as soon as possible and feasible.
9. Stay cool with the door
Make sure you don’t open it too harshly nor shut it too abruptly because in most dishwashers the door helps the pod to drop into the water to dissolve completely.
Therefore, jamming or any malfunction of the door may keep the pod from dropping and dissolving in water.
So deal carefully, you don’t wanna mess with that door.
10. Clear out your dispenser
Now and then, clear out your dispenser. Scrap out the soap residues in it and wash it for no ‘stuck in’ soap bits.
Wrapping it up
Well, your dishwasher pod not dissolving is an issue every other housewife faces so getting this trouble to vanish, I have come up with some potent ways to solve this “not so big” issue of yours.
When you’ve found the correct solution to your dishwasher’s problem and acted on it, there’s nothing wrong with flaunting your phenomenal dishwasher unless you promise to not be reckless with it again!
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