Best Dishwasher Detergent for Hard Water

Best Dishwasher Detergent

A lot of people owning an automated dishwasher with a white plastic interior will experience especially after washing goods that contained, e.g. tomato-sauce or paprika-powder that the interior of the machine and plastic goods can become red-stained.

Pale pink stains on plastic ware seem to occur in using certain detergents. Often only switching to a different detergent or using Cascade Plastic Booster removes the stains again

Sparkling clean dishwasher and keeping it this way is easy!

Yellow marks or stains on dishes, pots and pans can occur, if the protective coating on the racks has come off in spots and the metal is now exposed to water and detergents. Another possibility is if a metal utensil or pot/pan that is placed in the machine rusts in a tiny spot and anything that comes in contact with it will develop a yellow mark. Rust on pots and utensils can be removed with products from the silver polish/ brass cleaner – department of a supermarket or hardware store. If the racks’ coating is chipping off you might consider buying a replacement rack.

Best Dishwasher Detergent for Hard water, containing iron and other minerals, can stain plastic interior orange and cause a greyish film on dishes and the interior. This can be removed, e.g. by using Lemi Shine® from Envirocon. It is made to be used to remove hard water films and built-up in automated dishwasher machines and people who used it don’t want to miss it any more.

Also used by consumers is white vinegar, bleach, Tang and Lemon Kool Aid. These fluids or powders are placed into detergent dispenser or on the bottom of the dishwasher. Either a normal cycle or the short cycle is run with the empty machine. These products deliver mostly satisfying results and are fairly cheap. However, we recommend asking the manufacturer directly what they suggest to ensure that sealings, hoses, drains, pipes etc. are not suffering any damage from aggressive chemicals.

Which is the Best Dishwasher Detergent Type?

There are varieties of dishwasher detergents found in the market like powders, liquids, gels, tablets etc. Most of the detergents found in the market do their job nicely and choosing the best dishwasher detergent from the whole lot of detergents can be difficult. This is because as the one that works for someone may not work well for others and vice-versa. People can also make dish washing detergents at home but the homemade detergents are tricky to make as it is very important to get the ratio of ingredients correct.

Some rules of dish washing detergents

Detergents in dishwashers clean better if the extra grease and leftover food are scrapped off from them before loading them into the dishwasher.

Loading the utensils, dishes, and cutlery properly in the dishwasher is very important so that there is no blockage of water and detergent. The dirtier side of the utensils should be faced towards the machines center. The baking utensils should be placed in the bottom rack, facing towards the water sprayer as they have more grease and stubborn soils. The glasses should be placed upside down on their stands and the delicate items and the plastic items should be placed on the top rack of the dishwasher.

Only dishwasher safe items should be placed in the dishwasher for cleaning. Delicate and valuable items like silver, expensive glassware, tin, and wooden items are among few other items should not be placed in the dishwater as the dishwasher ingredients and hot water cycle of the dishwasher can damage them.

What are the different types of Dishwasher Detergents?

There are several types of dishwasher detergents available in the market. Although there is no clear-cut difference between them, in order to identify the best dishwasher detergent. Detergent tablets and packs score more among the people while people do not prefer detergent gel much.

Some of the types of detergents are as follows:

• Tablets: They are most convenient to use. They are in the form of solid cake which already have measured amount of detergent present in them. They can be put directly into the dispenser and are not messy. Although they have many positive features, they can be little expensive.

• Packs: They too come with premeasured amount of detergent but unlike tablets they come in packets which get dissolved in water.

• Liquid detergent: This comes in liquid form in a bottle. People have to measure out the amount needed by them for each dishwashing load from the bottle.

• Powder: This detergent is the lowest costing detergent in the market with respect to per load ratio. It is a boxed package and the amount needed has to be measured for each cleaning load. Although it is cost effective, it is messy to use.

• Gel detergent: This detergent is in liquid form like liquid detergent but is thicker in consistency. Though this detergent bridges the gap between cost and user-friendly ratio, this detergent is not very popular with the masses as the utensils do not get cleaned properly with this detergent. The detergent after washing sometimes leaves behind watermarks and greasy film.

What are features of best dishwasher detergents?

Some of the features of best dishwasher detergents are:

• Bleach: this feature helps the detergents to effectively clean stains from the utensils and bring shine on them.

• Enzymes: this feature helps the leftover food to break up from the utensils so that they can be removed and cleaned easily.

• Rinse aids: this feature helps in preventing spotting which usually takes place in utensils washed with hard water.

What is the difference between dishwasher liquid and dishwasher powder?

As dishwasher liquid and dishwasher powders are mostly used in the households around the globe, it is important to differentiate between them for choosing the best dishwasher detergent. Some of the differences are:

• Which one dissolves better? Dishwasher liquids dissolve better than dishwasher powders in water. Dishwasher liquid yields higher cleaning ability than powder as they create more foam.
• Which one is environmental friendly? Both the types of dishwashing consist of many chemical ingredients. However, dishwasher liquids have higher amount of chemicals compared to detergents thus making them more environmentally unfriendly than detergents.
• Which one cleans better? Although the cleaning mechanisms of both the types are same, their cleaning ability depends on the cleaning demands. Dishwasher detergents are more useful for cleaning less-demanding stains from utensils while dishwasher liquids are useful in removing heavier stains.
• Which one is dishwasher friendly? Both are designed for dishwashers but the residues left behind by dishwasher detergent are easier to identify than the residue left behind by dishwasher liquid. The residue left behind by detergent is less harmful than the residue left behind by liquid.

Finally – We found detergents are more economical than their liquid counterparts!