Dishwasher detergents: poor performance

[aquarius1984]

Personally I know prefer to use my......

after a good friend made the best Mash I have ever had not to come out of a potato ricer, I will always use my chef.

whisks and K beater far easier to dishwash than a masher.

 

[hoovermatic]

but the kenwood colander and sieve attachment is even better!

 

[zipdang]

Have a 5+ year-old Bosch that works well with every detergent I've tried, probably because of our ridiculously soft water. Personally, I prefer Seventh Generation powder and Ecover tablets or powder because they are fragrance-free and do a bang-up job. I often run the dishwasher while I'm cooking or entertaining and don't care for perfumy dishwasher detergent scents filling up the room. Among my favorite brands I just usually buy whichever is on sale. Have also had very good results with Whole Foods' house brand 365 powder, as well as Trader Joe's powder, both of which are less expensive than Seventh Generation and Ecover.

 

[irishwashguy]

I personally like

The Meyer's clean day in my old KitchenAid, and have brilliant results with it. I have used the Cascade tabs I would get at Costco, and like the Mrs Meyer's better as well as the Finish tabs. After throwing a tab in the wash for so long, I have to remeber not to use to much of the Meyer's. It also smells nice.

 

[ronhic]

Over the last 10 years I have tried just about everything on the market. My bench top dishwasher was fine with powder. My Australian Dishlex worked well with either tablets or powder. Our Bosch in the UK was tablets only as the powder never rinsed out of the dispenser. Our IAG her in Australia works best with tablets.

With regards to brand of tablet or powder. Lidl basic tablets worked fabulously in the UK (and Which? confirm this) and here we use Aldi basic 2 in 1 with excellent results. Casserole dishes, mashed potato, pasta sauce...everything comes out clean on a short 60c wash (1hr 8min)

Try Aldi/Lidl.....for a tiny investment you may surprise yourselves

 

[logixx]

I made the same experience with P&G's "Fairy 5in1" pouches: the didn't cleans too well and caused sudsing. I was pretty disappointed with the performance because I otherwise love P&G's Ariel and Lenor products. But their dishwasher detergent just didn't go well with our 1 y-o Siemens dishwasher. However, I find sudsing to happened with any multi-tab I've tried so far. Only the Claro tabs (a Swiss detergent) didn't suds - but it also cleaned very poorly.

I am now back to Miele powder which does a fantastic job.

 

[variomatic]

I finally could get some Cascade tabs (the spimple ones, blue and orange) and tried them 4-5 imes and I really do like them. They clean very well and don´t suds at all. My dishwasher (1/2 y-o Bosch) runs very well with them. There was only one thing I didn´t have when I used Calgonit, and this were the rainbow shining pots. But clean pots and pans is everything I care about and so it doesn´t matter whether they shine brilliantly or not.

 

[rolls_rapide]

I find that the enzyme formulation detergents are next to useless at preventing plasticware turning a salmon-pink colour.

Only the chlorine detergents prevent this.

And I cannot believe that the latest P&G 'Fairy' pouches will prevent discolouration of plastics, as claimed in their newest advert.

The chlorine detergents also make the machine sound more positive in its washing action; the spray sounds stronger, than when using the enzyme formulations.

 

[lavamat_jon]

Can you still get chlorine based detergents in the UK?

 

[nickuk]

Hi Jon AFAIK, all liquid ADD has chlorine bleach. Probably the best UK example of this is Finish Lemon liquid gel. Because chlorine bleach cancels out enzymes, it isn't biological. It does better at removing really old bleachable stains (think old teapots) but obviously doesn't break down food stuffs like the enzymes do. You'd be amazed how quickly the filter clogs up with gunk with liquid, which normal bio detergents just disolve and it gets pumped away. It's a nice detergent, the liquid Finish, and great for quick washes / glasse cycles etc. But use it on a fairly robust load without a pre rinse or two and the kitchen (and possibly the whole house) will smell like a `particular bodily excretion', which is probably fine in the right situation but not in this one.

FWIW I've used both formulations and because I never use the quick wash cycle, don't much care about my glasses, am lazy about cleaning the filter (once every half term, ok I admitted it), and really object to the smell of cum, I stick with the tablets. I know powder is probably cheaper and better but I'm just a tablet kind of guy.

No one's offered any advice on the potato masher dilemma yet - never mind witty comments about how old fashioned I am LOL, (Aquarius), come on - who has found a detergent deals with this stuff AND doesn't oversuds, ha? Mashers at the ready chaps....

Don't suggest Finish liquid either, you rotters, cos I ain't using it!

Nick

 

[spankomatic]

Bosch dishwasher + Cascade pure rinse powder - rinse agent (none added)= No problems. Dishes come out clean like they should.

 

[platinum6]

I really don't believe in poor performance from dishwasher detergents, I always find that they clean well, no matter what I'm using.

I know the Finish 1's work the best and the Fairy is just as good too. As for own brands, they don't perform too badly either.

But that's just my experience of them, I just feel like getting whatever I see in the shops lol.

 

[rolls_rapide]

According to Which?

The "Don't Buy" was (I think!) 'Gumption 6-in-1' tablets. It had dismal performance across the board.

Lavamat_jon:
Yes, you can still get chlorine powders and liquids, but you have to look hard. Finish liquid is chlorine-based.

For chlorine powders, you have to visit the Farming Supplies Stores, or 'Cash & Carry' places like Makro, Costco, etc. The brands of detergent are typically 'Sun', 'Bryta' and possibly 'Finish'. They will all mention "Professional" on the boxes, but look for "chlorine based bleaching agents" in the composition list. Finish may have switched to an enzyme formulation for its 'power powder', from what I can gather from the internet.

The professional tablets of any of the brands though, are the modern enzyme formulations.

For what it's worth, my Bosch dishwasher manual gives the following advice for problems with discoloured plastics:

"Plastic items/parts are discoloured: Not enough detergent was added to dispenser, or detergent with lower bleaching effect was used."

"Remedial action: Use detergent with chlorine bleaching. Comply with manufacturer's (dosage) specifications."

"Tea stains / lipstick not completely removed: Detergent doesn't have a sufficient bleaching effect. Washing temperature was set too low."

I consistently wash on the Auto 60-70 degree Superwash, with a good amount of detergent (2 tablets for heavily soiled loads: one in dispenser, one in cutlery basket). Result: plasticware goes pink/orange, tea stains build up over time on stainless steel.

The only thing that brings back the gleaming steel, and brighter plastic is the chlorine based detergent.

View attachment 9-10-2008-19-16-17--Rolls_rapide.jpg

 

[rolls_rapide]

Bryta detergent

Here...