Dishwasher film?

[supersuds]

73 minutes. Holy cow, these new dishwashers.

For the foreseeable future, I'm stuck with a 1990-ish BOL Hotpoint that has a non-adjustable 30 minute main wash, only 20 minutes of which takes place after the detergent cup opens. So, with a dishwasher tab, 20 minutes is all I get. Nor can I boost the temp or use steam.

 

[neptuneguy27]

Jerrod

Which program did you use? Pots & Pans, Starch/Cheese? I just received my container of STPP yesterday and had a heavy load to wash in the La Perla. I used some of the new Finish Powder w/o phosphates and added 1 tsp. STPP to about 2 tbs. of detergent. Ran the dishwasher on Heavy Soil and took a peek this morning. I pulled out a glass and it was crystal clear. Normally when I use the Finish Powder my glasses look awful when the cycle is done. Very cloudy and filmy. So I am happy that I have the STPP to add when I run out of my phosphated Finish Tabs. Which will be very soon.

Chris

 

[retropia]

Chris, does your package of STPP say what the percentage is of phosphates?

It might be less than 100 percent phosphates if it includes, say, an anti-clumping agent, or an inert ingredient to help it pour smoothly, for example.

 

[whirlcool]

We received our package of STTP yesterday, so I was anxious to try it out last night.

We had some biscuits and gravy from breakfast yesterday so I made sure I really cooked that gravy into the stainless steel pot well. We also has some bacon I scorched onto a stainless steel pan. Into the dishwasher it all went, not a thing was pre-rinsed or soaked.

We had the pots and pans on the lower rack and all the dishes on the upper rack.

I put in 1 tsp of STTP and used one of those Finish All In One tabs without phosphates. Normally this version of Finish does a mediocre job at cleaning things. I set the DW to Hi-Temp wash and Pots & Pans cycle started it up and went to bed.

This morning I found EVERYTHING sparkling clean. Normally that version of Finish makes the glasses feel a bit sticky, but not today. Everything was crystal clean. Even the pots were sparkling! Not a bit of leftover food anywhere.

The STTP we have is doesn't say the phosphate content on it. But it came from the Chemistry Store.

Tonight we try the Palmolive Non-Phosphated Gel with the STTP to see how that works out.

 

[jerrod6]

"Jerrod Which program did you use? Pots & Pans, Starch/Cheese?"

I used the Cheese Cycle. I guess the newer model combines these two into one cycle but that is the one I used. On my machine the prewash is heated and this is followed by the longer wash which I think uses 168F or 170F water. So far this is the longest cycle on the machine. The next longest would be heavy soil or sani but the sensor wash can also last as long as heavy soil depending on how dirty the dishes are. With the sensor wash if I have lightly soiled dishes the wash lasts about 25 minutes.

My box of Finish powder still contains has about 3% phosphate and chlorine bleach. It seems to work OK although I have never tried it with pots and pans or cheese.

Whirlcool - sounds like STTP might be the solution when washing very dirty loads.

 

[whirlcool]

We were both very impressed with the results. We really don't see a need to hoard any more phosphated dishwasher detergent.

We are almost finished with our last bag of phosphated FOCA. We'll get a bag of the non-phosphated kind (the only type available) to see how the added STTP does with it.

I am wondering if we can now get away with cheap DW detergent and just let the added STTP do the job.

Besides laundry and DW detergent, I wonder what other uses for STTP there are?

 

[rp2813]

I bought 5 boxes of Cascade/Dawn powder at Walgreens today. At least that will hold me over for a while, and perhaps as the complaints continue to roll in, an additive will show up on the market that's easier to get than STPP.

The Thermador is doing such a beautiful job with Cascade/Dawn powder that I don't want to mess with a good thing.

 

[whirlcool]

STTP is used as a food preservative. And surprisingly it is considered about as toxic as salt, vinegar or baking soda. The worst part of it is it can be an irritant if it gets in your eyes.

We did our test last night with STTP and Palmolive Lavender Non Phosphated Gel. Perfect results. We used 1 tsp STTP mixed in with the gel. The load was unrinsed plates & bowls from a scrambled egg/hash brown breakfast that had been sitting for at least 14 hours before washing. While this gel will clean the plates and glasses well, it leaves food on the pan it was cooked in and hardly touches the spatula we used. With STTP everything came out clean.

So tonight I will test with only 1/2 tsp of STTP and see if the results vary.

 

[rp2813]

Allen, it appears that STPP is the way to go when the time comes. You're batting 1,000 with that stuff.

 

[retropia]

If you've got a supply of STPP, I think an inexpensive dishwasher detergent would likely work well. Kroger has a "value" detergent that's really cheap, at $2.19 for 65 oz. I bought a box to try it.

It still has phosphates, at least for now, but it's only two percent phosphates. It works ok for moderately dirty loads, but for anything heavy duty, I find I need to add extra phosphates. (I'm currently using Glass Magic for that purpose, but it's kind of pricey.)

This "value" detergent also has chlorine bleach. The next-step-up generic at Kroger, called Everyday Living (with zero phosphates), instead uses enzymes.

Most current Cascade detergent uses enzymes, I think, but I believe there are still a few varieties that add chlorine bleach.

I normally prefer the enzyme detergent to the ones that add chlorine bleach, because chlorine will stain untreated aluminum.

 

[jerrod6]

All Cascade Phosphate Free by July 1, 2010

Check out cascadeclean.com. P&G states that all Cascade products will be Phosphate Free by July 1, 2010

 

[whirlcool]

Doug:

I have found that you can use pretty cheap detergents and add STTP. That Palmolive nonphosphate gel I have been using is $2.58 at Wal-Mart, the bottle is 75 ounces.

As you know, gels don't usually perform as good as powders.

Last night we had a SS pot that had cooked rice remains sitting in it uncovered all day. Everything else was just standard dirty, nothing really bad. But we used only 1/2 tsp of STTP with the Palmolive, and every bit of rice was gone from that pot.

Has anyone else ever noticed that the container that the STTP is shipped in is a real bear to open?

 

[retropia]

Allen, that sounds like pretty good performance with only using 1/2 tsp. additive. Does that Palmolive gel use chlorine bleach or does it use enzymes?

Speaking of Colgate-Palmolive, I found a dishwasher detergent made by their commercial division, called "Palmolive Triple Action Tabs." It appears to contain phosphates, in the form of "Pentasodium triphosphate." I haven't been able to determine the percentage of phosphates.

It's available at the link below at Amazon, in a box of 200, for $49.84 plus $7.50 shipping. That works out to a per-use price of $.2867. That's more than I like to spend per wash, but some might find it worthwhile for the convenience.

Loading…

www.amazon.com

 

[whirlcool]

The Palmolive Lavender Gel we have uses chlorine bleach. You can't smell it in the gel though.

It appears that you don't need a lot of STTP to get good results. Karen washed the den curtains tonight. They have been up there for 5 years. They usually have streaks along the bottom that won't wash out. These come from the dogs brushing against them as they walk by. Even pretreatment doesn't work anymore.

She washed them with Arm & Hammer detergent, which isn't known that well for being powerful and 2 Tbs of STTP. They came out perfectly clean, not a streak anywhere and they look like new.
But that wash water! Man, was it dirty!

 

[jerrod6]

I purchased Finish powder and Cascade all-in-1 powder at Target today. The Finish cost $2.99, Cascade was $6.34, both boxes are 75oz. and are phosphate free.

I used the Finish today on a medium size load with average soil. 1 1/4 tablepoons in main wash, and 2 teaspoons in prewash cup. Everything is spottless. The powder now contains enzymes and something named Sodium Carbonate peroxyhydrate. This word seems to be another term for Sodium percarbonate. I will try the Cascade Wed.

The Cascade makes no mention of prefered water temperature but does tell you to completely fill both cups. Finish says that a temp of 140F is optimal. I wonder how many new DW are using this high of temp range in their normal cycles?

 

[whirlcool]

If you have your water heater set that high and pre-drain the hot water pipe before starting the DW you may be ok.

If you have a DW that has a "Hi-Temp" wash option, this will heat the water up for you and you don't have to worry about it.