The short answer
This platform carries two consumables that most North American dishwashers do not have, and between them they explain the majority of poor-results complaints. There is a built-in water softener fed by coarse dishwasher salt, and there is a rinse aid dispenser that the drying system depends on completely. Check both before you look at a spray arm. The machine also dries by condensation rather than with a heater and a fan, which means some drying complaints are not faults at all.
What you are seeing
- A white chalky film on glasses and the inside of the tub — Note: The softener is not working: the salt reservoir is empty, its cap is loose, or the hardness setting is wrong for your supply.
- Glasses that have gone permanently cloudy and slightly rough — Note: Etching, which is not removable. It is caused by over-softened water or salt brine reaching the wash, and it points at the salt cap.
- Everything is clean but wet at the end of the cycle — Note: Rinse aid is empty or set too low. Condensation drying does almost nothing without it.
- Plastics stay wet while china and glass dry — Note: That is normal for a machine that dries by condensation, because plastic holds too little heat to evaporate its own film.
- Gritty deposits redeposited on the load — Note: The filter is clogged and dirty water is being recirculated.
- The upper basket comes out dirty while the lower basket is clean — Note: The upper spray arm is not being fed. Look at its feed tube coupling at the back wall.
Ranked causes on this brand
- Salt reservoir empty, cap loose, or hardness set wrong — Why this rank: First because this is the feature that distinguishes a European machine from the ones most owners have used before, nothing on the front panel explains it, and a household can run one for years without ever opening the cap in the tub floor.
- Rinse aid empty or set too low — Why this rank: Second because the entire drying strategy on this platform is condensation off a sheeting film of water, and without rinse aid the water beads instead of sheeting and simply stays there.
- Expecting heated drying the machine does not perform — Why this rank: Third because it is not a fault and it is extremely common: there is no drying element and no fan, so plastics come out wet on a working machine and always will.
- Cylindrical filter clogged, so soil is recirculated — Why this rank: Fourth: the single-piece filter on this platform holds a great deal before it blocks, which is exactly why it goes unnoticed until performance falls off.
- Spray arms blocked, or the upper arm feed tube unseated — Why this rank: Fifth because it produces a distinctive split result, with one basket clean and the other not, rather than a uniform decline.
- Inlet water arriving cold on a long low-temperature program — Why this rank: Last because the machine will heat its own water given time, so this shows as marginal results on eco programs rather than as an outright failure.
What to check, in order
- Open the cap in the tub floor and look into the salt reservoir — Why: It is the check nobody makes and it explains film, etching and poor rinsing at once. Confirm the cap threads down fully and squarely.
- Check the rinse aid window on the dispenser inside the door — Why: An empty dispenser explains every drying complaint on this platform before anything else is considered.
- Ask what is coming out wet — Why: Only plastics wet is normal condensation drying. China and glass wet as well is a rinse aid or a heat problem.
- Twist out the filter and look at the mesh against the light — Why: A blocked mesh means soil is being carried back onto the load, which produces gritty redeposition rather than film.
- Spin both spray arms and check the upper feed tube coupling at the rear wall — Why: A split result between the two baskets is diagnosed here and nowhere else.
Checks you can do safely
- Unscrew the large cap in the tub floor, look inside, and fill the reservoir with coarse dishwasher salt only if it is not already full to the brim with brine. — Tools: a funnel, coarse dishwasher salt — Time: ten minutes
- Wipe the threads and the seal, screw the cap down fully and squarely by hand, and wipe up every trace of spilled salt from the tub floor before running anything. — Tools: damp cloth — Time: five minutes
- Run one short empty cycle immediately after topping up the salt so that any spilled brine is flushed out rather than left on glassware. — Tools: none — Time: one short cycle
- Open the rinse aid reservoir in the door, fill it to its mark, and set the dosage a step higher than it was. — Tools: rinse aid — Time: five minutes
- Twist out the cylindrical filter, wash it under a hot tap with a soft brush until light passes through the mesh evenly, and refit it with a full twist until it locks. — Tools: soft brush — Time: a quarter of an hour
- Clear every spray arm jet with a wooden cocktail stick, spin both arms by hand, and push the upper arm feed tube fully into its coupling on the rear wall. — Tools: wooden cocktail stick — Time: a quarter of an hour
Before you open anything
Safety
Switch the machine off at its isolator before reaching into the sump, and assume there may be broken glass under the filter. Use only coarse dishwasher salt in the softener reservoir: table salt and detergent both wreck the resin bed, and detergent poured into the salt port is one of the few owner errors on this platform that is genuinely unrecoverable. Never leave spilled salt lying in the tub, because brine attacks the stainless steel. The inlet hose carries mains wiring in its sleeve to a solenoid at the tap end and must never be cut, shortened or repaired. Unplug the appliance or switch off its breaker before removing any panel. A capacitor can hold a charge after the power is off. — Id: unplug-before-service
Where the service line falls
The salt reservoir is full and correctly capped, the hardness is set for your supply, rinse aid is dosing, the filter is clean and the arms turn, and results are still poor. Glassware has etched. Etching cannot be reversed and its cause needs correcting before more glass is ruined, which means confirming the hardness setting against your actual water supply. The softener has had detergent or table salt put into it, because the resin bed then needs replacing rather than flushing. The machine never gets hot to the touch on the door at the end of a normal program, which moves this from a cleaning complaint to a heating one. Results are poor on every program including the hottest, with clean filters and free arms, which points at the circulation pump losing pressure.
Nearest pages
What this page does not cover
This page is generalized across families and models on this European built-in platform and assumes a machine with a built-in salt-fed softener and condensation drying. It does not cover a specific model family, and it does not cover variants fitted with a fan-assisted or heated drying system, or any model supplied without a softener for permanently soft supplies. Identify your machine from the rating plate on the edge of the door or inside the tub rim rather than from the badge, because this manufacturer supplied the same platform under several group badges and a parts desk cross-references by platform, not by name.
Links down: - [Fagor Dishwasher: Not Heating](/blog/fagor-dishwasher-heating-failure) - [Fagor Dishwasher: Odor or Mold](/blog/fagor-dishwasher-smell-mold)
Lead Appliance Repair Technician · 12 years experience
Experienced technician with 12 years specializing in washing machine and dryer repairs across all major brands.
