EVERYBODY... READ.

[washer111]

Water Softener:

Boy are they a blessing when you have rocks eagerly jumping into your glass of water!

 

To be honest, the salt issue on softeners is not of any concern to the regular homeowner unless they are on a salt-restricted diet. And if its that bad, you can switch to Potassium Salt which is safer for your garden (Think: GREEN!)

 

Thankfully here in Australia, dishwashing detergents still contain a healthy dosage of Phosphates. Since our water is softened, I'm unable to determine if thats a benefit or not, since Morning Fresh and Finish (Morning Fresh is Phosphate free, Finish is about >30%) have no difference in cleaning power. 

The "Earth" detergent seems to like foaming up lots, so one has to dose carefully. Its also somewhat weaker in its cleaning ability. 

 

Also a shame that Institutional Cascade was discontinued. I would've liked to get my hands on that stuff!

 

[mark_wpduet]

Finish foaming

I have 1 and a half boxes of the Inst. Cascade.

I have mentioned this in the past that I had no intentions of buying more because I had tried the Finish and it worked GREAT.....I think it worked even better than the Inst. Cascade to be honest.....

But I do remember the dishwasher sounded different during the wash cycle when I used Finish Quantum...You could hear the dishwasher struggling with the suds...but in the end, everything came out completely rinsed and spotless, better than had I used Inst Cascade......So I told myself when I finish (no pun) these boxes of Inst. Cascade, I was going to just use Finish Powerball. The water here in Lexington is NOT soft by any means...so you would think there would be no foaming issue. I can imagine how it would be with someone who has soft water.

And I AGREE with what the other poster said. Adding Stpp to non-phosphated helps a lot, but it's not as good as the manufacturers formula with phosphates. When I tried that, I felt there was something else missing other than STPP

 

[abcomatic]

I love Bubble Bandit.

 

[launderess]

Electrasol and Later Finish Tablets

Created too much froth in my DW, even when only a half tab was used. You could hear the poor thing struggle to pump water as it was mostly getting froth.

Once one competed the stash of tabs (purchased when local shops had it on closeout), never bothered again.

Also found after long periods of storage the tabs became rock hard. By the last few canisters would have to whack each packet with a mallet to break things up.

 

[tennblondie78]

Abcomatic,

I love Bubble Bandit, too. Have you ever tried the Institutional Cascade? I haven't and was wondering how they compared.

 

[mich]

Laundress..

Wouldn't a dehumidifier hope prevent moisture from effecting detergent in storage?

 

[kennyt123]

Dishwasher detergent

I have city water. I use the Cascade Platinum gelpacs and my loads come out super clean. I also bought a brand at the dollar store made in Wilton Connecticut. It's called "Sun"

 

[launderess]

Wouldn't a dehumidifier hope prevent moisture from effec

In theory yes as the drier the surrounding climate the better. But rather than go through all that expense of electrical climate control I'd just get some "Damp Rid" or similar product. Even silica gel packets spread around inside a well sealed plastic bag would work IMHO.