Dishwasher salt

[wkdhd]

The Currys guy who delivered my new dishwasher was most insistent that I used salt. I thought this wasn't required as the tablets have a softening component. He said running it once without salt would ruin it which seems an exaggeration. However the fault with the (very) old one was no water so he may have a point, it hasn't had salt for at least 5 years.
Is salt essential?

 

[kbdiy]

Personally I always use salt regardless of the type of tablet I use. I prefer to rely on the function of the salt in the machine to do the softening but perhaps I'm just over-cautious?

 

[foxhole]

Salt is essential for the water softener.
Many new machine will not function when either salt or dishwasher reservoirs are empty.
This is to prevent scale damage .

 

[wkdhd]

I thought is suspicious that there is a light on the front to tell you when you need to add more. I'll make sure I add salt

 

[kbdiy]

Plus you can use the cheaper tablets (if there's a deal going) and not have to worry if they are multi-functional tablets.

 

[Diyisfun]

I have a water softener & still use salt in the machine