Dishwasher high foam at cycle end

[charles nelson]

My Frigidaire UltraQuiet 3 Dishwasher tends to 'overfoam' at the end of the light wash/rinse/dry cycle. I use the minimum amount of detergent.
At about one out four runs, at the end of the complete cycle, the machine makes a rumbling sound...
I found that the machine was trying to pump out the final rinse water...but the water was so foamed up that the pump did not have enough liquid and was trying to pump the foam out instead.
There was so much foam that I set the unit to 'rinse/hold cycle' which
brought in additional water, sprayed down the foam and then correctly
pumped out all of the water.
I set the rinse-aid dial to '1' (minimum)...because I assumed that too much rinse-aid (Jet-Dry) was being added to the rinse water.

Is the rinse-aid dispenser dumping too much rinse-aid into the final
rinse water? Should I just allow the rinse-aid reservoir to go to empty
and see if the foaming stops?
What else could make the rinse water foam so much?

[Dan O.]

Dishwasher sudsing

I use the minimum amount of detergent.

Dishwasher detergent and not dish washing soap I hope.

Does whatever type of detergent you use have built-in water softener or rinse agent?

Is the rinse-aid dispenser dumping too much rinse-aid into the final rinse water?

I doubt it but any amount at all may be too much. If you already have soft water in your home and/or are using a detergent with built-in softeners or rinse again, you shouldn't need to use a rinse agent (nor a detergent with it) at all.

Should I just allow the rinse-aid reservoir to go to empty and see if the foaming stops?

That would be a good idea if not flushing out what's in there now (if possible).

What else could make the rinse water foam so much?

Using dish washing soap instead of detergent or a detergent with built-in water softeners or rinse agent in water already soft enough to not need it. Washing items that may have dish washing soap on them (scouring brush, etc.) could also cause it. There isn't a lot else.

JMO

Dan O.
www.Appliance411.com
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

[charles nelson]

I use Electrasol automatic dishwasher detergent (not dish soap)...
and Jet-Dry Rinse agent. My house does have a softwater supply.
I have been using the same detergent for quite a while, without the foaming problem.
After the second foaming incident, during the next washing, I opened the dishwasher while it was going through its wash cycle(s) and there was a minimum of foaming in the water underneath the lower basket and no foaming at the end.
Using the same detergent and rinse agent...the next time, I checked again...no problem in the wash cycles but at the last pump-out after
the last rinse...there was foam up into the lower basket itself. So again
I set the dial to 'just rinse' to add more water, let the spray arms wash down the foam and let the pump remove all of the water.

The rinse aid dial has been turned down to its lowest setting (1), in the past it was at the second setting (2 out of 4).

The unit started random foaming at the end of final rinse cycle, which is
why I began to wonder if the rinse-aid 'injector' was starting to dump too much Jet-Dry. The rinse-aid reservoir usually holds enough to run through
about six months of washings (over 80 washings).

I checked the amount of rinse aid in the reservoir and it looked like most of the liquid is still in the reservoir...there doesn't appear to be a significant drop in the reservoir after each event.

If the reservoir level was dropping quickly, I would assume that the injector was defective, dumping too much Jet-Dry and that was why the
foaming was occurring. But when the reservoir didn't appear to drop noticeably...I was totally puzzled why the foaming was occurring...But not every time.