What is your choice for Dishwasher Detergent?

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In my vintage dishwashers (I haven't used a modern dishwasher in years) Cascade 2 in 1 Action Packs with Dawn by far out clean anything else. They have a new version supposedly with bleach, but that version doesn't seem to work as well as the blue, orange or red ones.

8-4-2007-21-16-49--Unimatic1140.jpg
 
Sista Shane....

I think we paid around $1,200, which included installation. We sold the Whirlpool that our builder put in (it had only been used for three weeks) which helped offset the price of the Bosch a little.
 
There is a lovely

product called Cascade Plastic Booster.....

It is a gel of Benzoyl Peroxide that is used to eliminate red stains on plastics and brighten plastic dishwasher liners.

It works very well.

It eliminated some rather set-in carrot stains on a white plastic cutting board that I thought had been set in with boiling water. (Long story).

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
I vary between the Wal Mart brand and the Cascade Pure Rinse formula and have been quite pleased. Both work incredibly well in my KA, which was probably one of the last pre tall tub models and it is around 8 years old. Occasionally I do need to a bit of chlorine bleach on certain loads,especially if I have been working with eggs. I have a sensitive nose and even after the dishes are clean, I can still detect a slight egg smell. Of course I notice that on "hand washed" dishes as well. Same thing with chicken, by the way... One way around that is to rinse the affected dishes in cold water with a bit of bleach, then do them in the dishwasher.

Anyway, if I do the bleach thing in the DW, I use it in the prewash which is short so I haven't noticed any dulling of the stainless tub yet.

On the vintage side - I miss "Dishwasher All" That actually worked quite well in our 1970's GE waterhog.
 
Robert,

Those Cascade/Dawn packets are what I was referring to as the "little rubbery packets" I occasionally use in the KA toploader. Good to hear someone else likes them, too!
 
I'm with Robert the Cascade 2 in 1 packs are the best in my machine. I like the blue or orange. The ones with bleach as Robert said don't make any difference other than making your dishwasher smell like bleach. I just can't stand the smell of the red ones. I'm definitely a no rinse person and if I have an extremely dirty load or a really huge load I will toss one in the washer and one in the dispenser at the beginning of the pots and pans cycle. Just in case.
 
We use Electasol Powder (no scent), Great Value (no scent) and Cascade Complete on occasion.

Even though these detergents are not marked as being unscented, they arent't orange, or lemon, or lime, or fruit scented at all.

The only lemon scent I like is in the lemon oil you put on your wood furniture.
 
In Minneapolis I was using Cascade Complete, and in the secondary cup some of this stuff they sold at Menards (a DIY store sort of like Lowes or HD) that had chlorine in it for coffee cups and such, at Terry's recommendation. We've always pretty much been a Cascade family, though I think we did use Finish a good bit when it was around.

I don't have a dishwasher here, but at work I use Electrasol in the Askos.
 
Finish

We use Finish powder which we buy in 3kg bottles (Cheaper) or Finish 3 in 1 Tabs.

I like the Finish powder because I can dose independantly for the prewash and the main, and I dont get detergent powder on my fingers like when unwrapping tablets.

Its the most expensive detergent you can buy over here, but I've found it consistently works better than some of the cheaper competing products.

I still can remember the smell of the bleach based Finish in the early 80's, if you opened the dishwasher mid cycle the chlorine fumes would sting your eyes.

Rinse aid, I'm much less choosey about. We either use store brand, or recently we bought a carton of 500ml Bottles of Finish rinse aid for a song.
 
Calgonit

Years ago they made Calgonite formular 211 for dishwashers and stopped making it in the 80s and Finish they used to make here also. I wish they would bring them back to the USA. I like Casade pure rinse formular.
Peter
 
Cascade Pure Rinse

Tried "Complete" and saw no difference over PR.

Loved Electrasol tabs, but hated the "Actionball" ones as they caused so much foam; besides don't fancy the idea of not adding any detergent to the pre-wash so tabs got the heave.

L.
 
Launderess, I haven't tried the tabs for the same reason. I can't see not adding detergent until the main wash. Of course, one could keep both powder and tabs (Cascade's were highly-rated by CR) and use powder in the pre-wash.

Hopefully, Quixtar's Dish Drops will be good. I have two big boxes of it coming. They also make it in tab form; same with their SA8 laundry detergent. Not much into tabs for laundry, either.
 
Only had my dishwasher a little while

Well, since I've only had my dishwasher a week and a half, I have only used two things. Wal-mart gel and Wal-mart powder! I didn't want to try anything too expensive because I wasn't sure how my used dishwasher was going to work... I think Maytagbear and I both have the same (Ge Nautilus). They both work great, but I think the gel smells MUCH better and is easier to use. Plus I don't have to worry about it clumping under the sink. I usually alternate between the gel and the powder with every other use. I do not rinse ANYTHING first (I have a year of not having a dishwasher to make up for!), and run my machine every other day! Dishes always come out spotless. I thought about the tabs or actions pacs, but it seems like a waste of money to me. Plus, you can't easily control the amount. And I would hate to unwrap the tabs before each use. If I didn't get good results with the Wal-mart stuff I would just use Cascade Complete. I think Cascade has done a great job of marketing and they have become the standard to which all other detergents are measured up to.

Anyone tried Polmolive? I've used their "washing up" soap before but never the dishwasher detergent.
 
I do not recommend the GEL

of the Wal*Mart dishwasher detergent. It is an old fashioned chlorine type. I don't find it very effective.

As I said before, the Wal*Mart powder is good, but I hate, loathe, despise, abhor, and abominate Wal*Mart.

Yes, my dishwasher is a GE Nautilus portable, model GSC3200J01WW. Had it two years now.

Still in love with it. My water bill did not go up a bit.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Hi, has anyone tried the new Wal-Mart Great Value brand dishwasher tabs? I bought a box of 36 for $3.67 last week and so far I'm pleased with the results. I find them to work as well as the regular Electrosol tabs.
 
I have been meaning to bring home a box of the new Miele dish tabs. I have heard some good things about them.
 
The Wal-mart gel did fine for me, but I don't have too much experience with it. I thought we had the same machine, Maytagbear, just in different colors. I also wanted to say a special thanks to you. I was excited after I got my dishwasher and I thought this would be the perfect place to share my news with (appliance people, right?) and you were the ONLY person who even bothered to respond. Thank you! I've read mixed reviews on that machine (and wrote a nice one on epinions!), but I do love it despite the loud noise level. Jfinflorida, I did see the Wal-mart dishwasher tabs and they really looked like a good value compared to the other brands. Glad they work well.
 
Vacuumfreeke,
Since I have a very noisey dishwasher myself (Maytag). I just tell myself that the more noise it makes the better it's washing!!!
 
I've been using the Miele tabs in the loads with baked on stuff. Clean and sparkling, with no soaking! These are very expensive, but I like them the best of the lot.
I've been switching those off with Harris Teeter's own brand tabs on the average loads. These are solid performers and get the stains out my teapot.
I have a Bosch SHE58 dishwasher that was my Christmas present this past year.

http://www.boschappliances.com/product696.html
 
Great Value Dishwasher Detergent (Powder).

I bought a box for $1.88 at Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market the other day. I must say, for the $$$, this is a really great product.

Thanks Gadgetswitch!
 
I used Cascade for years but switched to Electrasol because it has chlorine which is why it cleans better than Cascade.

Ross
 
I just bougth a box of Cascade today for $2.69 at target.. Refuse to give wal mart money unless i have to. I use 1 electrosol tab and 1 teaspoon of powder in the open cup and the closed cup gets a full dose of powder.. The only i can get the dishwasher to clean anything... On the longest cycle at that
 
I use the electrasol tabs with the rinse aid ball - never had any troubles.

I also have the Dish Drops from Quixtar. Overall my preference is Electrasol in any format.
 
Great Value and Kirkland...

I alternate between the Great Value and Kirkland most times...depending on where I'm doing my shopping that week.

The powders are both made by Huish Detergents....maker of the Sunsations. The Kirkland and the Great Value seem to have less filler than their Sunsations product, and I can't tell a difference between the two in our dishwasher. They're both excellent products, even in my little 18 inch Kenmore (D&M) portable. The Sunsations is a notch below but still good.

The Everyday Living from Fred Meyer (Kroger) also appears identical to the the Kirkland and Great Value (Huish is the number one manufacturer of house brand cleaning products). I have had really good luck with it in our dishwasher and the price is again great.
 
Not Gel!!!

Ever since I had a problem with powder residue in previous dishwashers, I have used liquid exclusively. I have become even more exclusive and will not use the gel type again. I reached this conclusion by way of my kitchen sink. I never use abrasive powdered cleansers on it and recently found that liquid dishwasher detergent (the white stuff) does a great job of getting stains out of the sink. I tried using gel on the sink and it was miserably ineffective and a lot of it remained in blobs and simply went down the drain. I don't see how gel can do as good a job of cleaning dishes as the standard liquid if it has no effect on my sink. I've also noticed that a few minutes into the first wash cycle I can open up the door on my dishwasher and still see blue gel that has not dissolved. I will steer clear of gel from now on.
 
I'll take the tabs !

I really like the Electrasol 2 in 1 tabs. I used to get the 3 in 1 kind, but am already using a rinse aid in the dispenser.

I do not hand rinse. I do not add any pre-wash detergent. My machine only goes though three water changes: Pre-rinse, main wash and one solitary rinse. I would prefer more rinsing, but my dishes are very clean and no one has died here yet. My Whirlpool pool built Kenmore machine is one of the best machines I have ever owned and I got it for FREE!

The last time we were out of Dw detergent, it was just before payday and was feeling very thrifty so decided I would try the Walmart powder, as I had previously seen the comments here. We were not bowled over-had to fill the cup all the way to get good results. Dennis squawked about the dishes not being as clean. I used the box up but now have gone back to the Electrasol tabs. Besides I have a cool metal tin for them with a picture of Jane Jetson-on one side she is loading her space age dishwasher and on the other side she is doing the the Dishwasher Dance of Joy. Dennis and I also do that dance as we no longer have a horrid dishdrainer eating up half our counterspace and we no longer have to wash dishes by hand. No wonder my friend's Mom called the dishwasher "The King of Appliances"!

I am not sure about the hardness of our water here. The sign at the Home Depot (where they are trying to sell water softeners) says it is 10 grains, but a test strip I tried here at our house showed to be 3-4 grains. All I do know is that Dennis must take a pumice stone to the nasty black ring that forms in our "terlet" regularly
 

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