It's been my impression over the years that chlorine bleach should not be used in Bosch dishwashers, due to the potential for corrosion of stainless steel from free chlorine. However my Bosch SHU43C user manual doesn't mention anything other than use a detergent designed for automatic dishwashers (no hand wash detergents).
Even so, I've never used chlorine in my Bosch and probably never will.
Bosch recommends using Finish Tabs, either Powerball or Quantum. The linked page says the Quantum product includes a bleach (oxygen). However, the Finish Powerball Max-in-One tabs I've been using contain sodium percarbonate, which is an oxygen bleach.
From Wikipedia:
"As an
oxidizing agent, sodium percarbonate is an ingredient in a number of home and
laundry cleaning products, including non-chlorine
bleach products such as
Oxyper,
OxiClean,
Tide laundry detergent,<sup id="cite_ref-Jones_1-2" class="reference">
[1]</sup> and
Vanish.<sup id="cite_ref-rscvanish_4-1" class="reference">
[4]</sup>
"Many commercial products mix a percentage of sodium percarbonate with sodium carbonate. The average percentage of an "Oxy" product in the supermarket is 65% sodium percarbonate and 35% sodium carbonate. The "ultra boosters" seen on infomercials may contain as much as 80% sodium percarbonate. However, sodium percarbonate is less expensive in its pure form<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space: nowrap;">[
<span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (May 2017)">citation needed</span>]</sup> and can be adjusted to any percentage the user desires."
One note: the air gap for the drain line has a cap at the top of the sink. Periodically I check that cap; quite often it has some food debris that is flushed and gets caught in the cap. Simple enough to clear that out. If it gets too clogged the DW won't drain properly. And debris in there is not a sign of DW failure... the "large object filter" at the bottom of the dishwasher is designed to send medium to smaller particles down the drain. The problem is really the design of the air gap, I've modified it slightly to make it less prone to catch debris that the DW filer is designed to pass on through to the drain line, but it still happens. Oh well. It's no biggie to check it before each cycle. I might have to modify it again.
PS-Just checked on the chlorine/Bosch question again. Bosch does prohibit the use of chlorine bleach with its Axxis clothes washers. But it does not prohibit its use in its dishwashers. In fact, at least one Bosch page recommends using a chlorine bleach containing DW detergent if tea stains persist. So there.
Read on to see the different detergent options for your dishwasher and which type of detergent we recommend.
www.bosch-home.com
