Phosphate free dishwasher detergents

[dustin92]

I bought a large box of Cascade complete (phosphate free) powder at walmart yesterday, and ran a load last night. (we have a BOL GE nautilus dishwasher) and while I usually use a tablet of some sort (with phosphates) in the main wash, I use some powder or liquid in the pre wash cup. I was out of phosphated powder and so I had to buy some phosphate free. I decided to use the phosphate free for a test load to see how it worked. After the cycle had finished, I opened the door to inspect the dishes and everything looked good UNTIL I pulled out the bottom rack. There was an aluminum cookie sheet and a 9x13 cake pan and they were BOTH completely BLACK! I was NOT happy! I scrubbed the inside of the cake pan with a SOS pad and that removed most of the blackness. Why does this happen? I even looked on the box for a warning not to use it on aluminum- nope! Do all phosphate free detergents do this?

 

[labboy]

Pretty much...

I have not found a phosphate free formula that works as well as the old formulations. There are many posts on AW and other sites about issues associated with the phosphate free formulas.

Adding STPP (1 tbsp divided between the two detergent cups) then topping off with the Cascade Complete solved my issues.

Attached is a link to the Cascade website so you can see the many other people who have complained. They now have a whole page devoted to their "improved" phosphate free formulations.

http://www.cascadeclean.com/en_US/allinoneactionpowder/readreviews.do

 

[maytagbear]

I don't know for certain, but I think the "new"

are really OLD formulas. I think many of them have chlorine, and chlorine reacts badly with aluminum, at least in my experience.

I still have phosphated detergent, and I still get great cleaning from my GE Nautilus. I don't think mine is totally BOL. I was at a friend's newer condo last night, and her GE dishwasher only had one dial, and a rocker switch to turn off the heating element. To me, that was a BOL dishwasher!

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[neptunebob]

I have a theory: I think to make up for the lack of phosphates, the manufacturers added more stronger base chemicals like sodium hydroxide - a lot of lye. What ever you do, do not get Cascade gel on your bare hands! I had chemical burns from it, where before it was harsh but not that bad. That is probably what blackened the aluminum, as probably stripped some of the metal away. Which is understandable, as Alcoa uses a lot of lye to get aluminum oxide out of bauxite soil.

 

[jerrod6]

For Non phospate I've had good results from the Finish Brand.
Finish all-in-1 tabs, Finish gel pacs, Finish Quantum tabs,Finish Powder. Kind of cheap too.