Ecover Zero dishwasher detergent test in slightly full GSD2305K00WW

[th1813254617]

There are these so-called "green" detergents on the market. They tout themselves as being non-toxic and biodegradable, some are even backed up by EWG ratings. It seems rather obvious that these "green" detergents are sacrificing cleaning power by going with less harmful chemicals. Are they still good enough at cleaning?

Here, I shall torture test the Ecover Zero detergent by putting it in a slightly full GE GSD2304K00WW dishwasher from 2001. This dishwasher features the notorious "power tower", which is GE speak for telescoping wash tower. I've loaded said dishwasher with a heavy but not crazy load. The dishes have not been pre-rinsed, the rice cooker pot had been soaked and scraped (not even Finish or Cascade powder is able to reliably clean it otherwise). Both the mainn wash and pre-wash detergent cups have been filled, and Ecover rinse aid will be used. The cycle selected is "pots and pans" on normal. The timer will be reset twice during the wash, with care taken not to trigger the rinse aid dispenser.

The results will be reported back in an hour or two.

 

[th1813254617]

Time to reset the timer

I accidentally dropped a greasy (with semi-frozen chili oil, of course) IKEA glass container into the dishwasher, how clumsy of me.

 

[th1813254617]

The results are out

Compared with Finish powder with this load. The detergent appears to have done a better job at powering away the rice bits on the rice cooker pot than the Finish (Finish seems to do very poorly against stuck rice) but left more redeposits on the bowls in the top rack. The redeposits were mainly pulverized rice (how much rice did my roommates leave on their stuff?!) and the odd black speck (probably burnt on stuff from one of the pans).

From my past experience with Ecover Zero and Seventh Generation. It appears that these two "green" detergents (Ecover Zero in particular) are extremely good against oils and grease, they can strip away oils in literal seconds in my dishwasher. Performance against eggs and starch is also impressive. They appear to leave more redeposits than regular detergents, but that can be mitigated with better scrapping practices.

In other words, the only area where these two "green" detergents are discernably weaker than traditional detergents like Finish and Cascade Complete appear to be loose things getting redeposited. The difference is small enough that I am not confident in being able to tell these detergents apart just from how the dishes look exiting the dishwasher. I have not tested how these do against burnt-on bits. I need to see how these perform in a more modern unit.

 

[th1813254617]

Almost forgot

on normal in my dishwasher, there is no prewash. A prewash would most certainly reduce the amount of redeposits.

 

[combo52]

Neat Test, Keep up the cool tests

But I think the redeposit problem is more a matter of poor water distribution because of the lack of a real wash arm under the top rack, detergents do not have that much effect on redeposited particles, plain water will wash loose particles away.

 

John L.

 

[th1813254617]

But I think the redeposit problem is more a matter...

Good point, I was thinking the same thing. However, quite a few reviews on this detergent mentioned having powdery stuff on the dishes after a wash. There is also the fact that my Bobload certified load did not have this much gunk redeposit with Finish Powder (which like much less than Seventh Generation). I'm guessing the anti-redeposition agents in the Ecover Zero is rather weak. Seventh Generation is better than Ecover Zero but it contains PPG-10-LAURETH-7, which scores poorly on EWG. For whatever reason, Seventh Generation still is rated A while Ecover Zero is only rated at B. PPG-10-LAURETH-7 scores a D (it used to be rated much better).

One annoying wild card here is the water at my place. It's unbelievably hard. It's hard enough you get tiny chunks of mineral from time to time. It's hard enough washing dishes with a sponge scratches glass regardless of the side you use. Maybe yesterday was a really bad day?

I'll try better scraping (I only scraped the rice cooker bowl here) and better-staggered loading on the top rack. I should also get some more Seventh Generation, that stuff really ain't bad. Seventh Generation in my dishwasher gives Finish Powder a real run for its money.

My favourite part about Ecover Zero and Seventh Generation is that they don't leave any odor. A huge plus for me. Finish leaves a gross organic smell behind and Cascade smells like fragrance.

 

[th1813254617]

(which like much less than Seventh Generation)

Typo, I meant to say I like Finish powder much less than Seventh Generation.

 

[th1813254617]

Round 2: Finish vs a similar but optimized load

I've changed the loading procedure a bit. The amount of things and their dirtiness is similar (that big red bowl has a lot of brown calogen-rich juice in it). I'll try the same loading method with Ecover Zero next. From now on, I'll post photos of the unsatisfactory dishes. There needs to be a fair fight.

Exact same settings as last time. Ecover rinse aid has been used.

 

[th1813254617]

The horror, oh God the horror.

Welp, things have gone horribly, horribly wrong this round. I opened the dishwasher to the worst results ever obtained with this machine, ever.

Finish failed to break down the rice properly, resulting in full rice grains being redeposited everywhere. Some rice grains clogged the top wash arm, which has never happened before.

This resulted in absolutely horrid cleaning performance.

Some power cycling using Ecover Zero cleared the blockage. From the few times I've used Finish powder, I knew it was weak against rice, I didn't know it could be this bad. Full rice grains? How?

Note to self, scrap rice carefully.

BTW, why is the white film limited to the bottom of my pot and pan?

On a side note, this proves that having a top wash arm in a wash tower dishwasher works absolute wonders.

 

[johnb300m]

Hard water

I think you may be underestimating the major headwind you have with your very hard water.
If it’s anything like the hard water at my old house, when the water softener broke, you’re lucky to get any clean dishes at all.
My tap water was 24gpg (grains hardness per gal)
Water that hard left cement everywhere when it dried.
My shiny stainless dishwasher was white after a load. The only detergent that worked in my experience was Cascade Platinum. And even that struggled with cookware.

Most detergents in that hard of water will just coagulate the calcium in the water and let it settle on things. That’s your white film/powder.
That’s the stuff phosphates used to neutralize.
But today it seems like only Cascade Platinum $$$ and Finish Quantum can perform halfway decent in such harsh conditions.
Good luck , I tried lots of other stuff.

 

[tomturbomatic]

If you want to try a small amount of STPPP, sorry, I dribbled, You can buy a small amount of the powder STPP on line that is sold for dental rinse and try adding a teaspoon to your first fill.  Once the water is circulating, open the door and reach into the sump to feel if water feels slippery. If so, that is a sufficient amount to use with the detergent. You should see a great improvement in results. It's a wonder you get any cleaning in the top rack with the way you block water from the lower rack.

 

The STPP for dental rinse is domestically sourced. The stuff for industrial and laundry applications is a product of China. I buy it from the Chemistry Store.

 

[th1813254617]

Hard water and top rack performance.

This unit has a top wash arm (third level wash arm in GE-speak) so the way I load the top rack usually isn't that big of a problem. This load, the top wash arm got clogged so it didn't work. After fixing that and rerunning the dishwasher everything came out clean (or rather, as clean as it could be with my cement-like water).

Yeah, the water hardness here is un-freaking-believable. Cascade Complete powder has the habit of leaving a thick layer of white stuff on my stainless steel stuff. I think getting a full house water softener is better than using STPP every load, this water hardness can't be good for you. Seventh Generation, Finish (hates rice), and Ecover Zero somehow do an admirable job of cleaning with the hard water I have (provided that my dishwasher is working properly). That photo of white film is the worst I get with Finish.

Will post results with Ecover Zero today. I hope I still have enough Finish for a final test with Finish tomorrow.

 

[th1813254617]

No cooking so no large test today

However, I feel like this is a pretty strong statement.

Remember the saucepan? The one whose bottom was white from limescale?

I burned off the limescale with vinegar. The saucepan was then used and washed washed with Ecover Zero.

Look at the bottom now vs yesterday.

 

[Chetlaham]

GE DW

With a machine like this poor results are almost a given. Treat yourself to a Whirlpool Power Clean Module if not a modern Whirlpool. GE has always been to fill an empty spot in the cabinet.