The answer first
Dishes coming out dirty, gritty or filmed is usually a water-delivery problem: the spray arms are not reaching everything, or the water is not hot enough, or the detergent is not dissolving in time. On a B-Flasche dishwasher the order below is what makes this page worth reading — the causes are ranked for this kind of machine, not listed alphabetically.
Recognising it
- Food debris left on items, worse on the top rack — A spray-arm delivery problem. The top arm is fed through a narrow path that blocks readily.
- A gritty film on everything — Redeposited soil, which means the filter is not holding what it catches.
- White chalky marks on glasses — Hard-water scale rather than dirt, and it needs salt and rinse aid rather than more detergent.
- Detergent left undissolved in the dispenser — The dispenser did not open, or it opened into a spray path that is blocked.
- NEAR MISS — everything is clean but wet — That is a drying question, not a cleaning one, and the fix is quite different.
The ranking that matters
- Blocked spray-arm jets — First. Each jet is small enough to be closed by a seed or a label fragment, and a blocked arm leaves an unwashed sector of the machine — which is why the complaint is so often about one part of one rack.
- Filter not cleaned — Second. A loaded filter recirculates the debris it caught, so the machine washes dishes in dirty water and leaves grit on everything evenly.
- Loading blocking the spray path — Third. A tall item in the centre of the lower rack stops the upper arm turning, and the machine cannot report that it happened.
- Detergent, salt and rinse-aid settings — Fourth, especially in hard water: without salt the softener stops working and everything films, which reads as poor cleaning rather than as a water-quality issue.
The diagnostic order
- Spin both spray arms by hand — They should turn freely with no rubbing. Anything that stops them is a diagnosis in itself.
- Hold each arm up to the light and look through the jets — Blocked holes are visible and they map directly onto the parts of the load that stay dirty.
- Lift the filter and see what is in it — A packed filter explains grit on everything without any further investigation.
What an owner can safely check
- Remove and clean the filter thoroughly — Twist it out, rinse under a tap with a brush, and clear the flat screen underneath as well.
Tools: soft brushAbout 20 min
- Take off the spray arms and clear every jet — Most unclip or unscrew by hand. Clear the holes with a toothpick and flush the arm through under the tap.
Tools: toothpickAbout 25 min
- Reload so nothing blocks the arms — Check by spinning the arms after loading — if they catch, move the item that catches them.
About 10 min
- Top up salt and rinse aid and check the hardness setting — In hard-water areas this is a regular job, not a one-off, and it prevents the chalky film.
About 15 min
- Run a hot maintenance cycle with a machine cleaner — This clears the grease film from the sump and the hoses that would otherwise redeposit.
Tools: machine cleanerAbout 90 min
- STOP before dismantling the circulation pump — That is inside the machine and mains-wired.
What has to be off before you touch it
Safety
Water and mains voltage share a small cabinet in this machine, so the breaker goes off before a panel comes off and stays off while your hands are inside. Shut the supply tap as well before undoing any hose. Leave the door interlock alone — it is what stops the drum turning or the heater firing with the door open.
Where owner work ends
Almost everything in this category is maintenance, and the machine will usually reward twenty minutes with the filter and the spray arms. Book a visit once that is genuinely done. If the water in your area is hard, expect this maintenance to be needed more often rather than less, and keep the salt topped up — an empty softener will undo every other improvement.
Nearby pages
What is deliberately left out
This is the generalized entry for B-Flasche dishwasher units. It deliberately does not carry model-level data, because model-level data is the part that goes wrong when it is copied between families: measured values, replacement part numbers and disassembly sequences. Where the more specific page exists, it is linked and it is the one to use; where it does not, what is here is written to stay true anyway.
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
