Miele dishwasher salt for softener

About a year ago when I purchased my Miele dishwasher, I purchased a box of "Somat" dishwasher salt. The softener hasn't called for salt in a year, but I figure it soon will. I remember reading on another forum that one could substitute Kosher salt for Somat. While in Wally-World today, I picked up a box of "coarse kosher salt" and shook it. For all the world, it sounded like table salt in there! I purchased a box of "ice cream" salt, the granules of which more closely resemble what I remember to be the size of the Somat salt.

Before I add ice cream salt to this $2,400.00 "wunderkind", can/should I in fact use this stuff? The granules are surprisingly small, but there are some that are definitely larger than the 1-4 mm recommended grain size that the Miele manual calls for. I'd probably pick them out.

I know I'm perhaps being penny wise and pound foolish, but it's the difference in a .97 box of ice cream salt, and an $8.00 box of Somat which is a 30 minute drive away.

Opinions? Pronouncements?


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Post# 198048 3/17/2007 at 17:53 (6,243 days old) by drhardee ( Columbia, SC)
Checkrate/Likes About a year ago when I purchased my Miele dishwasher, I purchased a box of "Somat" dishwasher salt. The softener hasn't called for salt in a year, but I figure it soon will. I remember reading on another forum that one could substitute Kosher salt for Somat. While in Wally-World today, I picked up a box of "coarse kosher salt" and shook it. For all the world, it sounded like table salt in there! I purchased a box of "ice cream" salt, the granules of which more closely resemble what I remember to be the size of the Somat salt. Before I add ice cream salt to this $2,400.00 "wunderkind", can/should I in fact use this stuff? The granules are surprisingly small, but there are some that are definitely larger than the 1-4 mm recommended grain size that the Miele manual calls for. I'd probably pick them out. I know I'm perhaps being penny wise and pound foolish, but it's the difference in a .97 box of ice cream salt, and an $8.00 box of Somat which is a 30 minute drive away. Opinions? Pronouncements?

Post# 198050 , Reply# 1 3/17/2007 at 17:59 (6,243 days old) by thor (Buenos Aires)
Checkrate/Likes *Dishwasher salt* What renders table salt unfit for dishwasher use is the additives it normally contains, like iodine. Kosher salt is "pure", no additives. That is what you are actually purchasing inside the Somat box, pure salt, and paying about ten times (or more) the price of Kosher salt. Emilio

Post# 198093 , Reply# 2 3/17/2007 at 22:32 (6,242 days old) by lightedcontrols ()
Checkrate/Likes When I bought mine, the dealer said that the salt was not needed, since the American detergents were compounded differently than the European brands. She did however say that once you had used salt, to ALWAYS use salt. There is a program that will make the salt light shut off if that is a bother. Since you've already added the salt, spend the 8 bucks and get what is recommended for the machine. Mark

Post# 198184 , Reply# 3 3/18/2007 at 11:56 (6,242 days old) by rolls_rapide (.)
Checkrate/Likes *Dishwasher Salt* Use a well known top brand of dishwasher salt. On another appliance forum, there was speculation that using even supermarkets' own-brands, could cause the water softener to fail sooner than it should. This is because top-brands are usually purer than the rubbish the supermarkets sell. Some cheaper brands apparently contain anti-caking agents which can reduce the softener's efficiency over a period of time.