I'm getting more concerned about the chemical traces left on plates which we then presumably injest with our next meal. I read that we shouldn't wash our dishes with anything that shouldn't be safely eaten/ drunk!![&:] Well I don't think I'd want to be having dishwasher tablets on toast for lunch!;)
So.... any eco and human friendly solutions to dishwasher detergents??
RE: Which Dishwasher Detergent
2 tbsp bicarbonate of soda and 2 tbsp borax per load
Not that you'd eat borax either [:'(]
I'm thinking though, as dishwashers use such hot water, do you need anything at all in there by way of detergent? Unless the stuff is very greasy.
I'm also wondering, as you are looking at the environmental implications whether a dishwasher is the 'green' solution at all. how does it compare to washing by hand?
I'm not critiscising you, just thinking out loud.
i wash by hand and unless something is greasy, say after sunday lunch, I don't use any washing up liquid at all; I just use hot water. And I always dump things in a bowl of cold water so that things don't dry on, making the washing up easier. Burnt saucepans get sprinkled with bicarb and left overnight.
Don't Ecover make dishwasher tablets?
Amethyst x
RE: Which Dishwasher Detergent
Thanks, I got the borax and soda bic for laundry and general cleaning, so I might try that - maybe try without the borax, see if the soda bic works on it's own. I also have white vinegar as a cleaning product - could experiment.....:eek:. Hopefully won't blow the kitchen up [8D]
I think I read years ago (probably when justifying the dishwasher in the 1st place ;)) that a dishwasher compares to a sinkful of water as a shower does to a bath - uses less water. Ofcourse there's the electricity to run it, but the water for a sink load has to be heated somehow. Our dishwasher doesn't run every day - we turn it on once it's full so probably 4 maybe 5 times a week. I have a scrape and rinse rule - so the pots are not overly grotty - I reckon we don't need the yucky tablets at all.
I've never got into the eco product range. Since deciding to reduce our home's toxic load for my family and the environment, I've been particularly interested in the natural "homemade" variants - HP has been great sorce of info.
RE: Which Dishwasher Detergent
I have tried lots of different home made recipes for the dishwasher and not had much success but then not tried borax in the recipes, i used vinegar in the rinse aid compartment, salt in another compartment and then a variety of ingredients in the main washing compartment - in the end i started using Faith in Nature Clear spring dishwashing liquid which is pretty good and easy for my husband to manage - hmm it was only him who moaned about the cleanliness when using my home made stuff[:@]
RE: Which Dishwasher Detergent
We switched to using Ecover Tablets and Rinse Aid about a year ago. Have been very happy with the results and wouldn't go back now.
As for efficiency a dishwasher uses very little water, our Bosch uses 14Litres which is probably comparable to hand washing the same amount as a full dishwasher load. As for electricity usage they use more than a washing machine, a full cycle on our machine uses 1KWh, using the Eco programme actualluy uses slightly more electricity than Auto (but less water) at 1.1KWh and finally a quick wash setting (no drying) uses 0.7KWh. These are real world tests with our equipment using a plug-in Watt-Meter.
It has changed our dishwasher usage in that in the past we might use it more than once a day, now we don't and the big items and slightly dirty items get handwashed.
HTH
Paul