Do you need to put dishwasher salt in the actual dishwasher? I have been told that there is enough salt in the dishwasher tablets and using it in the actual machine would overdo it.
Any comments, observations, experiences would be appreciated.
If you live in a soft water area you could probably get away without additional salt, if you are in a hardwater area then additional salt is likely to be required.
We use salt because it softens the water and keeps the machine from furring up. Our water is really hard and tastes vile. Same reason I put washing soda into the washing machine along with powder.
Dishwasher tablets do not contain salt - "all-in-one" tablets DO contain water softeners though. You should still use salt in the machine, particularly in hard-water areas because it regenerates the resin in the built-in water-softener...without salt, the resin becomes exhausted and you'll get water-spots left on the dishes. If in a soft-water area, you could probably get away without the additional salt....but you won't be "over-doing" anything!
If you don't use salt your glasses get a sort of cloudy deposit on them over time - I live in a hard water area and using salt in the Dishwasher keeps the glasses nice and clean.