Best Dishwasher Detergent

[carlstock]

Hi.

I know this is rather subjective and depends on many factors, but I am doing my usual (annual? hehe) reassessment of detergents! This time, I am focussing on dishwasher detergents.

Also, I know what I am asking will largely apply to the UK and the Republic of Ireland only, as well as the rest of the EU where product are available with the same formulation across the Union, but anyone can of course comment.

We tend to use the following:

1. Finish Classic tablets
2. Fairy Active Bursts (very expensive when not reduced in price!)
3. Tesco 5-in-1 Original tablets* (Henkel)
4. Sainsbury’s Perform + Protect tablets* (Henkel)
5. Ecover (don’t hurt me! hehe ) tablets

* Both are said to be made by Henkel.

All do a pretty good job, although Finish have been independently tested by Which? (formerly the Consumers Association), an independent consumer group that publishes an monthly magazine of the same name. They recently tested Finish Classic tablets and believed them to be the most effective.

My question does not simply centre on how effectiveness the product is – I am also interested in other factors, like this:

* How well do the tablets dissolve? (I know this depends on the temperature, but 50 degrees C is a minimum, which of course the machine is always run at that or above.)

* How well do the tablets rinse?

* How much foam is produced?

* How strong is the perfume? (The Tesco and Sainsbury’s ones listed above do not have any perfume in them, although the Lemon variety does. Also, some detergents use limonene, which is technically a natural perfume, after some chemistry wizardry, taken from fruit.)

* Have you noticed any nasty smells , technical problems, marks or damage causes by a particular tablet?

* Finally, which make and model of dishwasher do you use each tablet with, and when did you buy that model?

I would normally settle for an all-Finish range – Classic tablets, rinse aid and salt – but we seem to be having problems with them lately. As an example – and I don’t think this was a bad batch, although there could have been a reaction of some kind with our dishwasher – but there was an awful acidic smell released into the room when using Finish Classic tablets. :-( Now, I know it could be our somewhat lacking Hotpoint (Indesit) dishwasher, but it’s perfectly clean and working reasonably well. However, as some of you know, it’s due to be replaced with an AEG-Electrolux F54750 slimline dishwasher any day now. (We couldn’t go for a Miele this time because we may be moving and so will then leave this AEG here and get a full-size Miele later. Miele slimline dishwashers are, unfortunately, rather expensive. :-()

I know some detergents, like Tesco Naturally ones, produce rather a lot of suds, which is not wanted in a dishwasher of course.

I know you guys will probably say that any of those I’ve listed above are pretty much fine, although I know a couple of them may be ‘controversial’ choices! hehe ;-)

Many thanks for your help, and take care.

Regards,

Carl

 

[aquarius1984]

Finish without doubt is the best in one of the best dishwash

although the Quantums im on at the minute come a close second based on price - dont get why they are pricier or marketed as having a better performance or features than Classic tabs when Classic is perfect anyway. With exception of 35deg Quick/Glass cycle there is no difference in wash performance between cycles on everyday stuff. Only use Intensive 70deg or Normal 65deg for cleaning Cooker and Oven parts or when dishes have been sat for more than 24 hours. Dare I slate Fairy Activebursts here and their distinct lack of any cleaning agents whatsoever? Mum gets the 15 wash packs now and again when on special offer, dunno why though cos we have good supplies of Finish. The same 15 days I get earache about my dishwasher not cleaning the dishes and my loading skills. Day 16 and back to Finish and all is well lol! Cant believe you buy these, even at half price they represent poor value for money. £8.98 at work for 45 normally. have noticed greasy glassware from baking tins washed together and distinct lack of Tannin removal from white mugs, dread to think whats left behind on my dark character/novelty mugs. Use all Finish products and they work superbly with none of the problems Fairy leaves behind. Noticed that the pump in our old Bendix didnt really like how Finish sudsed in the last year of its life but the dishes still came out perfect. I dont believe dishes can be judged on cleanliness on a scale A to G. They are either clean or not. Its that simple. Unlike differentiating between different levels of whiteness we judge cleanliness of fabric. Only exception is that I personally wash wooden spoons and chopping boards in my dishwasher. I dont expect stains to come out of such items being porous. I throw items away every year or so when im having a sort out and buy new when I feel hygiene issues are in breach. Although a wooden board is more hygienic than plastic I like to have that edge on hygiene. Not really bought own label detergents because I buy Finish in bulk when a good deal is on that makes it cheaper than own label even with extra purchases of Salt and Rinse Aid, and washer cleaner and Freshner combined! Rob

 

[lavamat_jon]

Hi Carl, I tend to use Glist, Miele and Finish tabs, in that order of preference. Never used the Fairy Active Bursts that much but I've heard good things about them... Finish tabs do an OK job but I've noticed that they can sometimes leave tea stains in cups and also foam up too much for a dishwasher - you can hear the pump straining due to this. I don't really notice the perfume because we have a dishwasher freshener so all we can smell is that, but asides from Finish overfoaming the 3 brands we use seem to do the job fairly well for us.

The AEG dishwasher should be good, we had a 40850 for 9 months - it was only replaced when we got the fully integrated kitchen and we went for the Miele because it was going to be built in and we didn't want to mess around uninstalling a dishwasher and that for repairs/replacement. My mum's friend has it and it's still going strong. All dishwashers nowadays should clean well, as they're all more or less AAA rated - the only thing that bugs me about a lot of dishwashers is that on some brands the racks don't make sense to me, and on other brands (Indesit in particular) the racks don't seem like they'll be able to support a full load of cups and glasses!

Jon

 

[lavamat_jon]

I dont believe dishes can be judged on cleanliness on a scale A to G. They are either clean or not. Its that simple

Rob - not to rain on your parade, but I have to say when we got the AEG 40850 we noticed that cleaning performance improved considerably over the old Zanussi and Hoover dishwashers, in that both A rated dishwashers we've had will clean off all caked and baked on stuff and will also get the insides of cups white, which both our Zanussi dishwasher (which had a C wash I think) and the 1989 Hoover couldn't do...

Jon

 

[aquarius1984]

not raining on my parade at all Jon

thats what I mean. Dishes are clean first go or not. Its that simple. So why A - G ratings? You cant have a C rating and accept that you will get marks left on stuff. All should be either A rated or nothing. This is dishes we are talking about. Who would use a slightly clean baking dish with pasta residue stuck to it? Ok some ppl would but I stand to my guns on dishes either being clean or not. So why did we rate cleanliness on the energy label? Its not clear to me.

 

[aquarius1984]

sorry my claritys not good,

I mean why do manufacturers let anything less than perfect off production lines when it comes to a dishwasher. If everyday baked on gunk passes an everyday cycle why is it allowed? Grr bloody phone cant put decent replies. Lol R

 

[lavamat_jon]

Yeah, I see what you mean, it probably will apply to plates and that but from moving from a C rated dishwasher to a A rated one we did notice that the insides of cups were whiter/cleaner, and that baked on stuff was shifted... I would imagine the cleaning rating probably applies to how well baked on stuff is removed, in the same way that the cleaning rating is on washers in relativity to how much of a stain is removed.

Jon

PS - I got your text yesterday, no credit at the moment though so haven't been able to text back. Feel free to ring though at any time

 

[mattywashboy]

we have a big bottle of Finish Classic Lemon powder, its huge, lasts forever it seems. I have the matching rinse aid too. We use the normal cycle on the asko which is 65* and dishes come out perfectly clean (even if there is improper loading from certain members of this household *looks over at person innocently placing a cup on the bottom rack when the top rack is empty*).
But yes, we still have the big box of finish 5 in 1 tabs that came with the machine so i will always go with either Finish or maybe Morning Fresh Tec Tabs (also good).
Matt

 

[carlstock]

Thanks, chaps! Lots of very useful stuff there.

Rob, don’t panic – we’ve only used Fairy Active Bursts a handful of times, and it is horrifically expensive! I meant to say that we’d *tried* all of those detergents, not that we use them all regularly – sorry. :-( I was trying to type as fast as possible – my first appliance-related post in a while, so I was getting a bit excited! hehe

One big problem we’ve had with Fairy Active Bursts is that they leave their outer casing (the film) in a squishy mess near the filter! Now that’s not good – and it can’t be clean, then. So, therefore, we don’t use them any more. Whether that’s due to poor design on the Hotpoint’s (Indesit) part, I really do not know, but there’s no need for it. Also, they don’t fit very well into our dispenser!

Also, I agree with both you and Jon about how clean certain items can be – dishes are usually clean or *not* clean; cups and other items can vary on a scale, as well as leaving certain stains (tannin) behind. Also, as both of you have mentioned here, there is also the issue of greasy films being left on the load. If not caused by the incorrect amount of rinse aid being added, this can be a symptom of poor cleaning performance from the detergent, machine or simply some other unknown factor – the detergent may simply not work too well in that appliance. This can happen with washing machines, with some not dissolving Persil tablets in their dosing net very well. Our Bosch washing machine from late 1999 would not get on with Persil tablets at all – they were left partially dissolved in the net at the end of the whole cycle, which was terrible. You can blame that on the machine or the detergent, or both – the tablets do not dissolve very easily until thrashed about in warmish water (in my experience), and the machine used so little water in the wash cycle that I guess the tablets were not getting wet. So who’s to blame in that case? What do you mean – “you”?! ;-) I heard that, you lot! ;-)

Regarding energy labels, etc., I do not trust them generally. Also, wash performance is subjective and open to questions from how different manufacturers test their machines. The testing is meant to be done to a certain standard, but I am led to believe that many engineers say this is not the case. However, in fairness, our poorer quality Indesit-made Hotpoint dishwasher (AAA-rated – A energy, A wash, A drying) is better at washing and drying on a ‘normal’ cycle than our higher-quality (and better loved!) Bosch-made Hotpoint (CBB, IIRC – C energy, B wash and drying was B, I believe).

The Bosch was far better in terms of quality, noise levels, etc., and was only replaced because the insurance company decided not to repair the metal door inner – the machine worked perfectly. Instead, they replaced it with the Indesit, which we were not too happy with because it’s not of the same quality, but it does wash better with the same detergent, etc.

I would hazard a guess that what works for one family in one dishwasher in one area may not correlate perfectly with another’s experience somewhere else with a different setup. As the saying goes, you pays your money and takes your choice, but yes, Rob, I completely agree with you about the issue of why products are allowed to be released when they don’t work properly. Ask Mum and she’ll tell you that I pretty much talk along those lines every other day! LOL Moan moan moan is how I go – and that’s just about allsorts of things not working properly when it’s not that difficult in the first place to get things to work well.

Matt, I know Finish mentions Australia and New Zealand on the packaging here, and I always think of you when I see that. Finish powder works very well here, too, and we’ve used that more than Fairy Active Bursts. In actual fact, all of the engineers I’ve spoken to suggest powder because it dissolves faster, you can vary the dose depending on soiling level and dishwasher size… and if you have any problems, you can vary the amount you use (whilst still using an adequate amount of course! )

Thanks again for your help.

Take care.

Regards,

Carl