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Tips on Getting Your Dishes to Sparkle with NonPhosphate Automatic Dishwasher Detergent If you’ve changed to a phosphate-free automatic dishwashing detergent (ADWs) recently, it’s only natural that you might be noticing some differences in how your dishes are coming out of your dishwasher. Some of you have expressed disappointment that your glassware is not coming out as sparkling clean as it was before. Others have found out that cleaning tricks they used in the past with phosphate-loaded detergents also work with detergents that are phosphate-free. ConsumerReports.org ran tests and found no difference between testing phosphate-loaded and phosphate-free ADWs when tested as a group. They did note the most important active ingredient in the better ADWs was "enzymes". Enzymes dissolve organic materials, like food residues, efficiently. Mineral deposits proved more difficult, with phosphates being helpful, but not essential to their removal. You can read their one-page overview by clicking here. Door County’s hard water makes dish washing trickier. Differences in well water extracted from various ground depths suggest that what dishwashing tricks may work for one homeowner will fail another. Factors in this consideration include: Water hardness and
effectiveness of water softener
Water temperature during "fill" and "wash" cycles Type of ADWs detergent Brand of ADWs detergent Additives Here’s what’s
working in one local household that’s getting glassware clean:
Begin the wash cycle with
hot water—divert cold water that’s standing in the pipe coming from the
water heater.
Using Wave™ detergent with the addition of one tbsp of baking soda and one tbsp of Borax™. Different cleaning tricks may work in different homes. Try experimenting yourself! Run loads with different detergents and different additives, like: baking soda Borax™, and vinegar. Share your results with us at info@DCPhosphateFree.org and we’ll include them on this page, and in our mailngs! |
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