How can we prevent dishwasher detergent residue?

By

jody

Try this new product: CitriClean. It's an all-natural powder that you add to each dish washing cycle. Use less detergent and 1-2 tablespoons of CitriClean - so your cost per wash does not increase. It contains no phosphate and it works great. Search for CitriClean of Florida.

By

kwiita

Almost bought a new dishwasher, then read posts here about Lemi-Shine. It worked beautifully. Never even realized the dishwasher formula had changed. Glasses and dishes look brand new!

By

pslattin

I had build up on glasses for months, it just kept getting worse. Finally I tried LemiShine, used it on washed glasses, in the detergent holder, and it took most of the stuff off. I'll do it again to make them sparkle. I never would have known about that product if it hadn't been for the other posts.

By

houlesranch01

Yes, now that Phosphates have been removed from most dish washing detergents, it makes it so much harder to get dishes clean. I live in Colorado and we have very hard water here. Even to the point that I have used bleach a few times (not recommended but it helped in a pinch) I am going to get a lot of vinegar tomorrow I already use vinegar to rinse my clothes in and that really helps with preventing static cling so now I will use it in the dishwasher too and try that.

By

chretienne

The cloudiness is likely not from the detergent. It's probably caused by hard water and is either etching (which is permanent) or mineral deposits (which can be removed). There's a very informative discussion of that stuff here: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/cleaning/msg0914183422410.html .

By

louel53

There are a number of things to try. Switch detergents, try a rinse agent. Add vinegar to the rinse cycle, about a cup.
And sometimes it is the type of glasses. I had some made of Duralex years ago, and they got very cloudy. Regular glass ones did not.

By

volvomom

I agree that Cascade is terrible! We had the same problem and tried everything! We recently tried 1 part Borax mixed with 1 part Baking Soda, with vinegar as a rinse agent. It helped a lot! Plus it's a whole lot cheaper than that expensive dish washing detergent. It also saved us money and saved water since I now no longer have to "rewash" the dishes by hand.

How can we prevent dishwasher detergent residue? Our dishwasher leaves a residue of detergent on everything we wash, especially glasses and plastic baby bottles.

I used an eco-friendly dishwasher detergent made by Palmolive. It has left a hardened white coating on most of my dishes, glasses, and silverware. I have Jet Dry in my machine, but that hasn't helped. Is there any way to remove these unsightly deposits?