Cleancult dishwasher tabs

[valvashon]

I know that there is a lot of controversy surrounding the use of dishwasher tabs/pods in vintage dishwashers. We use these in our current, modern dishwasher to great success as the dishes get very clean.
I plan on using them in my vintage KitchenAid (KDI-58). Does anybody see any problems with this? I ran a couple of test loads and once I got the water temp and flow correct the dishes got very clean save for a pizza pan that was obstructed by something else. Do the tablets or pods have something in them that harms the dishwasher in some way that regular powders or liquids don't have?

Thanks, Val

 

[qsd-dan]

Crack open the door near the end of the main wash cycle and confirm it isn't sudslocked. If it isn't, you're good to go.

 

[cam2s]

Well the two big issues are sudsing and the fact that tablets can take several minutes to fully dissolve. In a vintage machine that only has a 10 or so minute main wash you are loosing precious time. As long as you get the results you need go for it.

 

[Marky_Mark]

I haven’t tried the brand of pacs that you’ve bought, but I have found that certain pacs, such as Cascade Platinum, sometimes cause really bad sudsing in some of my vintage machines. In the case of my Whirlpool PowerClean, suds sometimes leak out onto the floor. Yet my KDS-18 doesn’t seem to have any problem with pacs or sudsing.  Despite the sudsing from the Platinum pacs, I have found that Platinum pacs do clean better than any other detergent. 

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Pacs

We have hard water here, but we have used Cascade Platinum pacs in the KA PowerClean without any issues even when I add 1T of STPP. The 6 minutes is enough to dissolve and clean well when using the Normal cycle. Though, I have experienced major suds issues with them in other machines.

 

[tomturbomatic]

You could try using the stuff in the soak and scrub cycle to give you a longer detergent bath and periodic soaking to let suds die down. Then use something regular in the main wash. And, because there isn't a water change before the soak and wash period since there is just a depression above the detergent dispenser for its detregent, drop the tablet in one of the silver basket compartments where it will dissolve faster.