Salt light won't go out in a Miele Dishwasher

There is a cap inside the dishwasher on the bottom right side, unscrew it and dump a full box of salt in. Clean up any spilled salt and run a rinse and hold cycle to remove any salt residue. Miele recommends using their own salt, available online at www.mieleusa.com or at a local Miele dealer. They don't recommend using water softener salt or table salt. For more help call their tech support at 800.999.1360, they are very helpful.

Miele dishwashers have a built-in water softener. I suspect the unit is indicating that the dishwasher softener salt is low or needs to be replenished.

Which model dishwasher do you have? http://www.mieleusa.com/products/modelsg5000.asp?cat=2&menu_id=1&oT=125&active=Our%20Products&subm=Home%20Appliances&thirdL=Dishwashers&fourthL=Products lists a number of their dishwashers and has the manuals for them. Click on the model and scroll down. Click on the Manuals tab. (Click on the Retired models if your dishwasher isn't on the first page.)

I hope this helps.

Cindy Wells

Hi,

Here is a tip that will help you with how to clean that dishwasher up and get it smelling good again...

Dishwasher Maintenance
heatman101

Hi - if its flashing rapidly then there a unrecognized hardware issue -if on permanently - it could be the float switch inside the salt container is not working/jammed - of course theres no salt in the dishwasher container..

Cheers

Salt light means your dishwasher using water softener unit.

Salt light is on when either the salt (used for softener regeneration) is low or the water softener unit is not working correctly. First try and recharge the salt in the container usually the lid is on the base of the dishwasher. check this site for some idea. However, if there is water in the salt reservoir then you have to call the technician and get the whole softener unit regenerated.

Hope it is not all that serious. Please rate this solution if helpful otherwise post a comment.

Salt and rinse aid are low if the indicator light is on.

Salt is placed in a compartment in the bottom of the inside of the dishwasher. It has a round approx 10cm diameter screw cap.

Rinse aid goes in under a flap in the inside of the door near the powder dispenser

The intake/drain light blinks. How do I fix this problem?

i turn the dishwasher on the salt light keeps flashin ive cleared out the salt container and applied new salt and its still not working

Check the instructions which are freely available from www.miele.co.uk or the relevant site for your country. Browse to the current models and you should find the PDF for your model. For non-current models, instructions are under the link "Customer Support".

In general, the instructions are as follows:
If the water in your area is very soft and constantly lower than 0.7 mmol/l (4 °d) you do not need to add dishwasher salt. The water softener must, however, still be programmed to correspond to the water hardness level in your area. (The salt indicator light will still come on, but should be ignored).

Important: Before filling the salt reservoir with dishwasher salt for the first time, you must fill it with approx. 2 litres of water to enable the salt to dissolve. Once the dishwasher has been used, there is always sufficient water in the reservoir.

Inadvertently filling the salt reservoir with powder or liquid dishwasher detergent always leads to serious damage to the water softener. Make sure you have picked up the correct packet of dishwasher salt before filling the salt reservoir!

Only use special coarse grained dishwasher salt for reactivation. Do not use other salts such as cooking salt, agricultural grade or gritting salt. These may contain insoluble additives which can impair the functioning of the water softener.

To refill:
* Remove the lower basket and unscrew the salt reservoir cap.
* Fill the reservoir with approx. 2 litres of water (first use).
* Place the funnel provided over the salt reservoir and carefully fill with salt until the reservoir is full. The salt reservoir holds approx. 2 kg of salt depending on the brand used.

As the salt reservoir is filled, displaced water will overflow.
* Clean any excess salt from around the reservoir opening and then screw the cap on again firmly.
* Run the "Pre-wash" programme immediately to remove any traces of salt water from the cabinet.

For the Miele, the salt reservoir is usually under the bottom basket, the cap is usually grey in colour. [Only the latest models have the refill cap in the door itself].

You should be able to find dishwasher salt just about anywhere, I've even found it in Malaysia, sold at good ol' Tesco!! Brands of salt include Calgonit (Finish) & Somat.

Hard water has this "crust" which are minerals floating around that ionically attach to everything. Some machines from Miele have a water softener inside the machine. Special dishwasher softener Salt is added that cleans minerals off Xeolite beads. When cleaned they attract mineral ions. If you don't use the salt then the beads fill up on minerals until they can't hold any more minerals. The salt is used in the regeneration cycle. It washes the mineral ions off the xeloite replacing them with salt ions. As new water enters the machine mineral ions slowly knock off the salt ions and attach themselves to the beads again. This whole process keeps the crust off the dishes and the walls of the machine.
Use a dishwasher cleaner that removes scale. And if you don't have a salt light on your Miele you can instead purchase soap tablets that contain water softener built in. Miele dishwasher tablets have it. You can order them online or call Miele.