The salt light keeps burning

Check if the water tempreture if normal you might require to replace electric element

Unless you have hard water it is not necessary to use the dishwasher salts. We are in an area with very soft water, just pretend the red light is not there and wash as usual. Same for drying agent, we don't use it and the machine still works even though the lights are on. We actually had a repair person come out, the company we bought the dishwasher from were willing to give us a new one based on my saying it didn't work without salts. Needless to say I felt like an idiot when he came. The manual that comes with the unit should be better written.... There is a delay between turning the power on and the machine starting which was the biggest reason I thought it was not working without the salts.

I feed Danby dishwasher salt whenever he asks (buy it by the case online). Still produces marginally clean dishes.

Consult manufacturer.

The top light is apparently to indicate that the salt (!) has run out.

The bottom light is apparently to indicate that rinse aid has run out.

For the record, that seems to be a Zanussi DE-6854 dishwasher, and I found the manual here: (link)


"Special salt can be added in one of two ways: 1) If you are using dishwasher detergent that already contains salt, the detergent including the salt is placed in the detergent compartment. - In this case the water softener must manually be set to 1 and electronically to 1 to ensure that the special salt is taken from the detergent container only. 2) If you are using dishwasher detergent and salt separately, the special salt is to be put into the salt container. - In this case the water softener must manually be set to 1 or 2 and electronically between 1 and 5 (depending on the water hardness in your area) to ensure that the special salt is taken from the salt container only. Only use salt specifically designed for use in
dishwashers. All other types of salt not specifically designed for use in a dishwasher, especially table salt, will damage the water
softener. Only fill with salt just before starting one of the washing
programmes. This will prevent any grains of salt or salty water, which
may have been spilt, remaining on the bottom of the machine for any period of time, which may cause corrosion." (Page 6)

"Only use branded rinse aid for dishwashers. Never fill the rinse
aid dispenser with any other substances (e.g. dishwasher
cleaning agent, liquid detergent). This would damage the
appliance." (Page 7)

The manual also explains how to turn the Rinse Aid light off permanently if you do not wish to use rinse aid.



Good luck!

While salts are not required, if you don't have water it won't clean your plates very good, and will also burn our your pumps.

go 2 the inside of dishwasher ull find settings from 1 to 6 simply turn back

Hi vayvego,

I'm Harvey the Master Plumber.

You want to know why: Salt residue remains on the dishes. The water softener is going throught salt like crazy. You fill the salt and make sure that the light is off before you start the cylce. Within the first 20-45 mins the salt light comes on again and the dishes will not wash properly. You have come to the conclusion that the salt is being distributed to quicky but cannot figure out why the light keeps coming on. The switch inside the cap for the salt is set a the min.

I hope I understand you. This is how it's suposed to work. The salt in a water softener is only used for backwashig the filter. It should be set to backwash once or twice a week when nobody is useing the water, useually 2am or 3am. The only time you can get salt at the fixture is if you're backwashing when you use the water. If you're backwashing all the time either the controls aren't set right or the unit is defective, in which case it is unlikely you can fix it. In that case you might consider utilizing our Repair Directory to find a repairman. If it's still under warranty, it's time to make a phone call.

Feel free contact me again!
Please give me a rating here at fixya.com before you sign off
Thank you,
Harvey your Master Plumber

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.

Hello, we are sorry to hear that you are experiencing this problem with the Dishwasher. We would recommend having a certified technician out to diagnose the problem. If you would like further assistance you can send your name, phone number, address, model/serial numbers and the date on which you purchased the Dishwasher to [email protected] Thank you.