Bosch Dishwasher rusting cutlery basket

[shagster]

We have a Bosch dishwasher that we've been using for years without issue, but after about 5 years of use we started getting rust-like spots on our cutlery. This seems to be caused by the rubber film over the basket breaking (I don't really understand how), and then the metal of the basket underneath starts to rust. I think these bits of rust then flake off and have some affinity for certain items during the wash.

This happened first with the top basket. I found a place that sells these for about £85 and got it replaced. This resolved the problem. Unfortunately it's now happening again with the bottom basket. With the passing of another few years we can no longer find a cheap version of the bottom basket. We found a supplier that will sell the bottom one for £150, and that's the best we could do.

A new Bosch dishwasher is about £350, so I'm just weighing up what to do as obviously a new washer with a new warranty may be useful.
Alternatively is there some compound that we may be able to paint on the basket to avoid replacing it, or somewhere we could send it to get it re-covered? A long shot perhaps but thought I'd ask before spending £150.

thanks!

 

[blup]

Various fixes are available from places like ebay but they don't look very effective. If the dishwasher is eight years old it is nearing the end of its life, so if you can afford £150 you can probably afford £350 with the benefit of a warranty for the first few years. A new basket doesn't come with that.

Blup

 

[JohnD]

We have a Bosch dishwasher that we've been using for years without issue, but after about 5 years of use we started getting rust-like spots on our cutlery. This seems to be caused by the rubber film over the basket breaking (I don't really understand how), and then the metal of the basket underneath starts to rust. I think these bits of rust then flake off and have some affinity for certain items during the wash.

This happened first with the top basket. I found a place that sells these for about £85 and got it replaced. This resolved the problem. Unfortunately it's now happening again with the bottom basket. With the passing of another few years we can no longer find a cheap version of the bottom basket. We found a supplier that will sell the bottom one for £150, and that's the best we could do.

A new Bosch dishwasher is about £350, so I'm just weighing up what to do as obviously a new washer with a new warranty may be useful.
Alternatively is there some compound that we may be able to paint on the basket to avoid replacing it, or somewhere we could send it to get it re-covered? A long shot perhaps but thought I'd ask before spending £150.

thanks!

even stainless steel will get rust spots.

On cutlery the causes tend to be either poor-quality Chinese stainless of 18/0 composition (18% chrome and zero nickel in the alloy)

Or really good chefs knives of an alloy (they vary) which is very hard and holds a good edge, but corrosion resistance is poor as a trade off (hand washing is advised)

good quality table cutlery is usually 18/8 or therabouts. Nickel is an expensive metal.

Really poor stainless may get black pits, due I believe to scale fragments in the metal from the mill. You cannot cure these.

If you have tarnish or rust spots on stainless, you can clean it off with a green or white nylon scouring pad, preferably wetted with WD40 or with water and washing up liquid to lubricate and reduce scratching. White is finer.

You will eventually get a brushed sort of finish, not mirror polish, so consider this and try a test piece to see if you prefer the rust marks.

you can polish off tarnish with Solvol Autosol and similar pastes, these can leave a brilliant mirror shine but need more effort.

Don't polish silver plate with any of these.