The Case of the Missing Dip-It ... and a solution!

[moderncleveland]

Hey guys! Do you remember Dip-It? Boy we used to love this stuff. And took it for granted. It was the best way to clean the percolator, but also useful for cleaning plastics, Tupperware, Melmac, the works.

We noticed lately that we haven't been able to find it. It's been on my shopping list for waaay too long, but I just can't find it anymore. Every single grocery store or drug store I go into I check for it, and it isn't there.

Turns out, bad news. The company that made Dip-It was bought by Lime-A-Way, and THEY made a whole new reformulation. Some useless liquid stuff. And it doesn't work! If you look online this weird new product has basically nothing but one star reviews. I don't know why a company would do this.

But there's good news here! I found this:

https://www.everydaycheapskate.com/ask-anything-dip-percolators-laminate-floors-unscented-dawn/

And this page describes how you can basically make your own Dip-It with citric acid. I'm going to experiment with this tonight. I hope it works. Gosh, if it does, someone needs to put this in a can and sell it!

 

[wayupnorth]

I would like to know if that works as I have a huge service set of Melmac I use every day. Unfortunately, all the tea and coffee cups do have mostly tea stains that are packed away. I love the melmac that was handed down to me and I quickly found out that it is not microwave safe.

 

[ea56]

I’ve used powdered Dishwasher detergent to clean out percolators for at least 20 years now. Fill the percolator to the max number of cups with cold water and add 3-4 tbs of DW detergent to the basket and run it through a cycle (if it’s a stove top perk bring it to a perk and perk for 7 mins) then unplug the pot or turn off the burner and allow the solution to sit in the pot for 30 min. Pour out the dirty water, rinse, refill with cold water and run another cycle, pour out water and rinse. Viola, your perk will be as clean as new.

Now to clean Melmac and remove old stains I think you could fill a sink or dishpan with really hot water and add maybe 1/2 cup of DW detergent, place the stained Melmac in the hot DW and water solution and allow it to sit for 30 mins, the rinse off. I’ve never tried this, but I think it may work and I don’t think it would damage the Melmac. But to play it safe try in out on one piece only to see if it does the trick.

Eddie

 

[combo52]

Eddie’s use of dishwasher detergent to clean a percolator will work very well.

We grew up with melmac plastic dishes I think my mom thought it was the best thing with five boys.

The cups used to get badly stained from tea so periodically, my mom would put all the cups in the sink fill it up with water and add a little chlorine bleach, the cups tasted terrible when you use them there after for a while. But when we got a dishwasher, you could just put a quarter cup of bleach in the dishwasher during the main wash cycle that came out beautiful, and the rinsing was so much more thorough than handwashing that they didn’t taste of bleach.

Also many modern dishwasher detergents won’t leave these stains anyway so you may want to try getting the stains out and start using them since you use your dishwasher Tim.

JohnL

 

[ea56]

John,
I grew up with Melmac too! We didn’t have a DW, but I don’t recall that the Melmac ever got stained either. But then the cups were darker colors so coffee or teas stains wouldn’t have shown much.

Eddie

 

[weed30]

I’ve used powdered Dishwasher detergent to clean out percolators for at least 20 years now. Fill the percolator to the max number of cups with cold water and add 3-4 tbs of DW detergent to the basket and run it through a cycle (if it’s a stove top perk bring it to a perk and perk for 7 mins) then unplug the pot or turn off the burner and allow the solution to sit in the pot for 30 min. Pour out the dirty water, rinse, refill with cold water and run another cycle, pour out water and rinse. Viola, your perk will be as clean as new.

Now to clean Melmac and remove old stains I think you could fill a sink or dishpan with really hot water and add maybe 1/2 cup of DW detergent, place the stained Melmac in the hot DW and water solution and allow it to sit for 30 mins, the rinse off. I’ve never tried this, but I think it may work and I don’t think it would damage the Melmac. But to play it safe try in out on one piece only to see if it does the trick.

Eddie

I'm sure this works great! I use powdered Cascade to clean my Chemex and my SS travel mug - a little powder + hot water and let them soak for a bit. I didn't discover how easy and effective this is until a few years ago.

 

[weed30]

Hey guys! Do you remember Dip-It? Boy we used to love this stuff. And took it for granted. It was the best way to clean the percolator, but also useful for cleaning plastics, Tupperware, Melmac, the works.

We noticed lately that we haven't been able to find it. It's been on my shopping list for waaay too long, but I just can't find it anymore. Every single grocery store or drug store I go into I check for it, and it isn't there.

Turns out, bad news. The company that made Dip-It was bought by Lime-A-Way, and THEY made a whole new reformulation. Some useless liquid stuff. And it doesn't work! If you look online this weird new product has basically nothing but one star reviews. I don't know why a company would do this.

But there's good news here! I found this:

https://www.everydaycheapskate.com/ask-anything-dip-percolators-laminate-floors-unscented-dawn/

And this page describes how you can basically make your own Dip-It with citric acid. I'm going to experiment with this tonight. I hope it works. Gosh, if it does, someone needs to put this in a can and sell it!

View attachment 317951

That recipe sounds safer, but there is still a commercial version of dip-it. I don't know if it's the same formula but usually when it's commercial it is the same or very close. (and effective so not sold to us lowly consumers!) https://www.ebay.com/itm/315750218920