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TryingMyBest
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| Posted: Sept 17 2013 at 12:46pm | IP Logged
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I've had a certain amount in peace in my life since I've finally concluded that the dishwasher doesn't really wash the dishes. Its purpose is basically to sanitize with very hot water.
But I'm still so unhappy with all of the dishwasher detergents I've tried. Any recommendations? Right now I'm running last night's load for the 2nd time because I just realized that the dish packet (Mrs. Meyer's Dish Packets) hadn't dissolved at all.
I recently washed the dishwaster with vinegar and have used a tooth pick on all of the little water holes so the dishwasher itself should be working as well as a dishwasher can work (not well IMHO). So the problem is the detergent. I've tried Cascade, Target, Ecolever, 7th Generation, among others.
What detergent do you use? Preferably I'd like a more "natural" option but most importantly I just want it to work.
Jenn
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Betsy
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| Posted: Sept 17 2013 at 1:38pm | IP Logged
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The repair guy that worked on our dishwater thinks that Walmart brand is the best, with only 1/2 of the container full.
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 17 2013 at 1:53pm | IP Logged
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I don't know.. haven't had a dishwasher in 12 yrs. But if you have hard water, the soaps won't dissolve all that well. Could you dissolve the soap in hot water and then dump it into the dishwasher instead of putting it into the little containers?
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Christine
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| Posted: Sept 17 2013 at 2:52pm | IP Logged
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Before buying more detergents, you might want to truly clean your dishwasher. I wrote about our experience and linked to a how to video on my blog a few years ago. Watching the video and properly cleaning your dishwasher just might solve your problem.
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JennGM
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| Posted: Sept 17 2013 at 3:43pm | IP Logged
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Dishes need to be prerinsed, especially if they are going to sit all day. You can scrape the dishes if you're going to run right after you put them in, but my repairmen have repeatedly said the d/w can't handle all those food particles.
My MIL doesn't rinse or scrape very well, and I have found all sorts of food and plastic particles that were jamming up the sprinkler arms that shoot the water, plus there is a filter on the door that was super clogged. So her dishes were definitely not coming clean. You might want to check that out. Maybe Christine's link has just that.
We use regular detergent tablets, I admit. There was a conversation here a few years ago admitting that TJs detergent really ruined their d/w, and the repairman really said negative things about the natural stuff.
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Sept 17 2013 at 4:00pm | IP Logged
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I have never had good luck with the natural stuff. I use Finish tablets right now, and we are very satisfied.
I have heard it said that if you rinse completely, the enzymes in the detergents will have nothing to react with and will pit your glasses. I don't know if that is accurate or how much is too much.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Sept 17 2013 at 4:18pm | IP Logged
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CrunchyMom wrote:
| I have never had good luck with the natural stuff. I use Finish tablets right now, and we are very satisfied. |
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I echo this.
I have tried a number of different detergents, and the Finish Tablets have done the best in getting things clean and for once, FINALLY, not leaving any residue (visible or otherwise). I will add for clarity's sake that we live in an area with very hard water and a high level of minerals in our water. We don't have a problem at all with the Finish tablet dissolving and working, but we do battle hard water deposits...anywhere we have water. What we've done in our dishwasher to help this is to periodically run it empty with a cup full of undiluted vinegar in the center of it. It does help...but it never really gets rid of the hard water deposits in our dishwasher.
And...totally agreeing with Jenn on the scraping/rinsing before loading. We've heard so many conflicting things on this. We've tried both ways, and we run our dishwasher fairly often - at least once/daily if not twice - so it's not like dishes sit there for very long. They just don't get as clean if we don't do a light, quick scrape and rinse first. So, this chore is built into the chores the kids do. Even my 5 yo can rinse dishes very well, and she's learning to load and unload the dishwasher now.
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pumpkinmom
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| Posted: Sept 17 2013 at 5:29pm | IP Logged
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Cascade and Finish always works well for us. Cascade is awesome at eating up all the left over food! I'm using Target brand tablets at the moment and they seem equal. I'm waiting to see what the drain in my dishwasher looks like after a month of use before deciding to switch or not. We have high amount of iron in our water which stains the inside of the dishwasher. Cascade keeps almost all of that coloring off the dishwasher. Still looking to see how the Target brand does with that.
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Kath
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| Posted: Sept 17 2013 at 5:49pm | IP Logged
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Are you sure the water going into your dishwasher is hot enough? That is one common reason for detergent not dissolving. You can test it by first running hot water into your sink to make sure hot water will flow into your dishwasher. Then start running your dishwasher with a glass turned right-side up in the top level. After a few minutes open the dishwasher and use a thermometer (meat or candy is fine) to test the water in the glass. It should be at least 120 degrees.
A dishwasher repair man once told us we should be periodically cleaning out our dishwasher. He said that putting Tang powder (that orange drink, I don't know if it's even still around!) in the detergent dispenser works very well to get rid of buildup.
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mommy4ever
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| Posted: Sept 18 2013 at 9:44am | IP Logged
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Run the sink until you get hot water, then start the dishwasher. That might be why it's not dissolving. Also if you've turned the temp down on the hotwater heater, it may be too low. Check the temperature.
I use finish or cascade powders or pucks. My water doesn't do well with any liquids/gels.
My favorite product for the dishwasher is Lemishine. They have 3 products. A rinse agent, a machine cleaner and a detergent.
I use the rinse agent all the time, best thing I've every tried. When I find things are getting white residue on it, I add the powder on the floor of the machine and start it. Then everything sparkles afterwards.
I was at my SIL's and noticed all her glasses and plastics were covered in white build up. I quietly talked to her, and told her about the Lemishine. I hesitate to tell her or share any info with her, she tends to mock. She doesn't like me, never has. But she has some really nice pieces that were looking icky, and I didn't want to see them thrown out, as is her way. What ever, she tries it or she doesn't. But a couple weeks later she texted me(I didn't even know she had my number) to say thank you, that it worked so well. Everything looked like new and felt so clean.
It's inexpensive. The rinse agent is cheaper than any other brand. The powder is $4 here, it's not a big amount, but you'll only use it a few times, until you catch most of the dishes, and then when you see the build up come back. I find it's only every couple months for a couple cycles, and the dishwasher is sparkly clean after too.
Also, don't use vinegar as a rinse agent. Repair guy pointed out that it neutralizes the detergent and leaves massive build up. First time we had some one come, he used a chisel and vacuum to clear the soap build up in the dishwasher  Thanks to vinegar. You can use it alone in a cup on a rack and run a cycle as a cleaning cycle, but no detergent.
I don't use the vinegar at all, and now my dishes are so nice a clean.
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SallyT
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| Posted: Sept 18 2013 at 12:51pm | IP Logged
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We use store brands or Cascade -- the no-phosphate Cascade works about as well as anything else for us. I've never had good luck with "eco" brands at all (and once I bought an entire *case* of eco-liquid detergent from a co-op, which I think may qualify as the stupidest purchase of my entire life . . . I finally sold the eleven leftover jugs of it in a yard sale when we moved out of that house!).
Agree about scraping and rinsing. Dishes that are essentially clean when they go in have the best chance of coming out clean. I'm still training my kids to scrub out dishes that have particles clinging to them -- loaf pans, for example, with a floury film around the inside, will leave everything in the dishwasher coated with that film if they aren't scrubbed first.
I've never noticed my glassware being pitted by the detergent, but then maybe I'm so glad they're just *clean* that I don't notice!
Sally
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: Sept 18 2013 at 9:20pm | IP Logged
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The active ingredient in the the Tang and the Lemishine is citric acid. You can buy a decent amount of citric acid for very cheap - sprinkle it in and it's great!
You can also use it to take care of water build-up, calcium build-up, etc. by sprinkling the citric acid onto the areas; spritzing with white vinegar (no other vinegar works as well - I've tried!) - letting sit for a while - and scrubbing afterward. Our nasty calcium coated toilet - completely clean in a good 8 hour soak and barely brushing it (after scrubbing it hard for years!).
I love citric acid now :)
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CrunchyMom
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| Posted: Sept 19 2013 at 6:14am | IP Logged
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SallyT wrote:
We use store brands or Cascade -- the no-phosphate Cascade works about as well as anything else for us.
***
I've never noticed my glassware being pitted by the detergent, but then maybe I'm so glad they're just *clean* that I don't notice!
Sally |
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It was my understanding that all the detergents in the US have phased out the use of phosphates, but I'm not sure where I read that and can't confirm.
I'm not sure we don't break our glasses before they'd have achance to show damage 
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SallyT
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| Posted: Sept 19 2013 at 12:23pm | IP Logged
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I've been a little confused about that, Lindsay. At first I think it was just some states that had phased them out. And for a while it said explicitly on the (vibrantly *green*) Cascade carton that there were no phosphates. I haven't actually looked in a while, but I seem to remember trying to find the "no-phosphate" Cascade at one point and finally concluding that maybe it was all no-phosphate now.
And I was honestly leery of that no-phosphate thing at first, because my experience with the organic-type stuff had been so consistently dismal. But then I used the greener Cascade, and everything came out fine, so I decided that this probably wasn't going to be the great organic strike against civilized living that I'd been afraid it would be. So I shelved my knee-jerk overreaction and have enjoyed my clean dishes ever since.
Sally
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mariB
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Gelpac Finish...hands down! We need our detergents and soaps to be liquid due to our septic system.
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TryingMyBest
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| Posted: Sept 20 2013 at 11:25am | IP Logged
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I think I might have figured out what the issue was. I think the water wasn't hitting the dispenser due to the way I had loaded the dishes on the bottom rack. I haven't had any issues with the pack not dissolving since I changed how I loaded the bottom rack.
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Dishwasher Detergent?
