Comparing Available Powder Detergents

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Has anyone done a comprehensive test on the list here using a set criteria for how good or bad any of these detergents are?

I know its been done on washers but... Maybe not dishwashers? If not, I could take a crack at it later this year.
 
johnb300m- I’m not sure what’s gone on, but at some point in the past 3 years I read that my city water was 21/gal. I thought that was high, but didn’t question it.

After your remark, I went and double checked online and now my town says 8.4/gal. I know I’m not crazy, I definitely read 21 at some point in the past online, but I’ll have to change the settings on the Miele since it has a softener. I wonder if this explains why all of the sudden I’ve had issues with getting consistently clean cups in the past couple months.

maytaga806 - I compared the Kroger brand detergent and I’m about 99% certain it’s the same manufacturer as the Target DealWorthy brand. The ingredients list is nearly identical. They also retail for the same price and quantity, 75 oz at $4.99. If Kroger ever discontinues it or is out of stock, now you know where you can still get it!

This made me check some other stores for their brand. Meijer is likely also using the same manufacturer, with an ingredients list that is also nearly identical to Kroger and Target. The difference being the quantities of the ingredients, including more sodium acrylic copolymer (anti spotting agent) but less propylheptyl ether (helps with cutting grease). It retails for $5.5 per 75 oz, so not as good a deal as Target / Kroger’s.

Mrstickball - I wish I could, but without being very intentional and methodical it would be hard to make a truly consistent load to load for testing different brands. Though I’ve thought about how much fun it would be to do so!
 
There is a manufacturer of dishwasher detergent in Novi, MI which might be the source. Interestingly it's owned by a former candidate for Michigan governor, Sandy Pensler.

 
Michaelz
Did Elmhurst used to be on any municipal well water at that time?
That would make the most sense since northern Illinois well ground water is typically 20-40! grains per gallon of hardness.
And Lake Michigan water is around 8-12 grains.
They could’ve made a lake water switch over the decades which a lot of other suburbs have done, if they’re in watershed range.
You can even get some water harness test strips. And the ones for fish aquariums are usually cheaper.
 
johnb300m- to the best of my knowledge, it’s always been city water. A google search confirmed they’ve been on Lake Michigan water since 1991.

I used the wayback machine to check the pages I had checked previously… at this point I think I may have misread the table and accidentally jumped a row or two when reading the water hardness. It said 8.4 in dec 2023 as well.
 

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