Variations of Jet-Dry and Finish (liquid) Detergent Booster

[labboy]

I have seen in my local stores that Finish has a new liquid detergent booster in addition to the powdered (citric acid) detergent booster. The liquid detergent booster is intended to be put into the rinse agent dispenser.

I called R-B Consumer Affairs and asked about the differences between the liquid detergent booster, classic Jet-Dry and Jet-Dry Turbo Dry.

They said that the liquid detergent booster is specifically to deal with hard water issues. It has the least surfactants of the three and the most citric acid. The Turbo Dry has the most surfactants.

I have not tried the new liquid booster yet. Not sure if I will because of the Bosch having a built in water softener. Turbo Dry works great but I have to turn down the dispense volume otherwise there is too much froth in the final rinse. (I couldn't use it at all in my prior Kitchen Aid tall tub or in the KDS22 in the garage.)

Bob

http://www.finishdishwashing.com/products/enhancers/boosters/dishwashing-booster/

 

[cuffs054]

I've looked at the Jet Dry but it seems to be 2X expensive as the Cascade brand here.

 

[launderess]

Commercial automatic dishwasher product lines

Have long offered rinse agents designed for a variety of purposes/conditions including hard water. My guess is with the now ban on phosphates in dishwasher detergents hitting some domestic users hard a market has been seen.

It has long been known weak acids like vinegar or citric will give dishes and glassware more sparkle. They do this by mainly dissolving hard water minerals and alkaline dishwasher detergent residue so it can be rinsed away. However acids alone will not give the same rapid and spotless drying results as surfactants. So a blend of two is usually marketed to deal with poor water conditions.

Keep in mind commercial dishwashers do not usually have heated drying cycles. Rather the heat from high temperature rinsing along with a good dose of rinse agent will cause things to mostly flash dry upon contact with air. What moisture remains can be handled with a dish towel.

All this being said tried using pure vinegar as a rinse agent and was not impressed. Things were still wet where using non-heated drying did the job. Using a mix of vinegar and rinse agent in the dispenser caused rust areas on some of my stainless steel flatware.

 

[labboy]

Vinegar

While I have not tried it in the Bosch, I did try distilled vinegar in various proportions with Jet-Dry in the dispenser of the TT KitchenAid. (I was trying to cut the Jet-Dry Turbo Dry with vinegar to minimize foaming yet still get minimal to no spotting.) I was never able to get it to work. No problems with rust just cloudy/spotted glass and flatware. Possibly if I had tried citric acid...

I do love chemistry (and have a background in it) but honestly was too busy to put much time into it.

Bob