Recently the dishwasher started washing later than it should. Instead of spraying sounds starting early while it was filling, the sounds often started when filling was almost completed, and about a third of the time a few tens of seconds after filling was complete. It never failed to start, but still, this wasn't totally okay. I was wondering if the repair I made over a year ago somehow failed, though the symptoms weren't identical.
I had been using Cascade gel detergent. First it was in a bright green bottle, though over the last few years it was replaced in stores by Cascade Complete Gel. Though I had some Cascade Platinum for use if the gel ran out. Recently I was buying the gel ahead of time, and I hadn't used Platinum in almost a year. I ran out of gel and used Platinum once, and since then, the dishwasher always starts spraying early on while filling. This makes me think that some greasy residue had been making something sticky, and Platinum cleared it out. I don't think it was hard residue, because I don't think that would have been cleared out so quickly.
Since I didn't disassemble the dishwasher and actually see the residue, I can't be certain. This could be a random coincidence. But I am changing detergents.I also didn't like Cascade Complete Gel because it left hard residue below the detergent dispenser. That was not simply hard water residue, because so much of it was collecting below the detergent dispenser. Reading about dishwasher detergents, it also seems that since the reformulation to remove phosphates, gel detergents are the worst because they're not able to use enzymes.
