Copper bottom pots and Dishwashers...

[mattl]

I have a couple of copper bottom Revere Ware pots I picked up at GW a while back for pennies.  Anyway I cleaned up the copper and they looked great but over a short period of time the got very dark in the GE dishwasher I had - I use them a lot.  The GE had a poly tub, and I used Cascade.  Now the odd thing I found is after switching out the DW to the new KA stainless interior the pots come out shiny and bright.  Question is why does the stainless interior affect the copper pots?  I still use Cascade, mostly the powered Complete, though I'm using Platinum at the moment.  Is it due to the tub, or the wash action and longer cycles?

 

Thoughts?

 

[dermacie]

In my home cookware of any metal in the dishwasher is a no no. Copper has never been recommended as dishwasher safe. I have an All-Clad copper pot and I have actually placed it in the dishwasher against my own rule and it did not come out well.

 

[panthera]

I'm guessing the grounded stainless steel frame

And the copper are having a reaction? You're losing a very thin bit of copper every washing?

I wash wood and copper in the dishwasher. 
I don't wash aluminium alloys and high-carbon steel in the dishwasher.

I wash silver, being careful to make sure it does not touch any metal, in the dishwasher.

Never had problems.

 

[dermacie]

Panthera,

doesn't the copper get tarnished in the dishwasher? Wondering if my water is to blame for my bad luck with copper in the dishwasher?

 

[panthera]

No, in ours it doesn't

But we long since established that our water is 'weird' compared to normal water! I think you have to go with what you have. My parents' old house just down the road? I wouldn't have dared put copper in there - it was like an electroplating system.

 

[mattl]

Over time my copper bottomed pots got shinier with no effort from me, that's what I found odd.

 

[corvairgeek]

I'm 99% sure it is Cascade Platinum that we switched to very recently. We (the boss) always uses the water heater option which is really hot (timed only, no thermistor). All the 1984 vintage Revereware has been coming out like new. Makes me wonder how hard it is on the dishwasher.

 

[wayupnorth]

I have a complete set of Revere copper bottom pots and pans and the copper bottoms just can not be brought back from black, no matter everything I tried. I know my water is bad but stuff you see on tv making them like new again do not work. They have never been in the dishwasher.

 

[appnut]

With my new induction acquired last May, I ceased using my 40 y/o Revere Ware.did find that with my current Kenmore elite (KitchenAid product), that using sani-rinse and Cascade platinum, the copper bottoms were just about flawless looking, as if I'd polished them all. 

 

[ea56]

Tim,

have you tried Barkeepers Friend on your Revere Ware? If the black is due to tarnish and not burned on grease this should get the black off, and if you use a little Barkeepers Friend every time you wash your Revere Ware the copper bottoms should stay nice and shiny.

If the black is due to burned on grease you’ll need to use some elbow grease and an SOS or Brillo pad to get it off.

I had a complete set of Revere Ware for years and kept the copper bottoms shined every time I used them. I finally sold the set toa co worker and replaced it with Farberware Classic. I love the Farberware because I can put it in dishwasher with no worries.
Eddie

 

[circlew]

My mom had Revere Ware she bought in the late 40's, and washed it in the DW nearly every time after the machine arrived in '57. The bottoms would turn dark, but were cleaned occasionally with CopperGlo or BKF, looking new again.

If the black deposit on the bottom is burnt on grease, you may want to get a product called Carbon-Off. It's commonly used in restaurants. See link.

Carbon-Off Heavy Duty Carbon Remover-Aerosol | QuestSpecialty

 

[kb0nes]

Not sure why the plastic tub would change things, perhaps there is some other variable.

I often run Revere in the dishwasher and the copper generally comes out brighter then it went in. I wouldn't worry about the copper in the dishwasher, pretty hard to hurt it, but the dishwasher does destroy the handles.

The thing the dishwasher really seems hard on is aluminum. I have one anodized aluminum skillet that the anodizing has partly been stripped from. I also have a few stainless sauce pans with aluminum layers on the bottom where the aluminum has been dissolved to the point it has regressed noticeably. The attack on aluminum seems worse post STPP, perhaps the late non-phosphate detergents are more alkaline/agressive.

 

[corvairgeek]

GE poly tub too. Only change in our case was the Cascade Platinum.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Aluminium has regressed

I noticed that too. The Prestige brand of stainless steel pans had a bottom sandwich of: steel pan, aluminium layer, steel disc.

The aluminium layer wore away a millimetre or two all the way round, leaving a razor sharp edge on the bottom steel disc. Dangerous.

 

[swestoyz]

For those who have had good luck with copper in a DW - do you have a water softener plumbed into your house system? The very few times I've tried a copper item in a DW was with hard water and the results were not good. I no longer have any copper but now have softener plumbed into the house supply and am curious what the results would be.

Wondering if soft water makes a difference with the reaction of the water + detergent + food + materials in the DW.

Ben

 

[kb0nes]

Ben, Softened water hear, about 18 grains hardness otherwise so really can't avoid it. Copper always comes out brighter then it goes in.

Not sure if water ph could change anything. By the time the detergent is added it is plenty high anyhow, not sure the water itself would change final alkalinity much.

Again I typically wash with a Cascade Platinum pack in the dispenser and a Tablespoon or two of gel on the door for the first wash depending on soil level.

 

[panthera]

Our conditions

Permatuf

145º Wash

Hardest water, our neighbours' water softeners are set to max, ours (which does not feed the kitchen), too).

TSP in every wash load (and no precipitate, not ever in the dishwasher or the washing machine. We, alone on the planet earth.)

Finish or Walmart or whatever - with TSP and real hot water and the multi-orbital arm and the outstanding filter system of these classic Potscrubbers, everything comes out spotless.

One tablet 'dry' chlorine bleach frequently.

Copper which is coming out sparkling and oxidation free is doing so because something is eating the copper oxide(s). I don't wash aluminium in the dishwasher (including 'sandwich bottoms') so have no idea what would happen to it, imagine it wouldn't be pretty.

I'm guessing our dishwasher's wash cycle water is very soft and the PH is quite a bit above 7.

 

[johnb300m]

I wonder if it's a combination of local water, detergent choice, and actually the stainless platform of WP dishwashers. (Which includes the KA).
Murando, and I think a few others, have testified (and I've heard off-forum) that WP's current DW platforms can get copper and stainless cookware VERY shiny.
It must be something in their wash cycle, like heating profile? Along with water and detergent.

It's a nice phenomenon that I've never experienced in my Durawash WPs, nor in any of my GEs.
My cookware comes out only 95% clean, which IME is "normal."
Proteins seem to leave a powdery film wherever meat touched the pan.
But I've never heard of that in a current WP machine, and they polish the metal somehow too.

It's a wonderful mystery!