Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Dishwasher Experiment

I thought I'd come back and update on this. When the cycle finished, I took a look at the dishes and was surprised to find them looking great. No grease, and the only real issues I had were with a pot that still had some crusty stuff stuck to it. There also wasn't any white powder or any of that residue you sometimes get. I don't think this method would work too well if you don't prerinse (which we always do, anyway, because of the lousy dishwasher we always find in housing), or if you have pots and pans that are very messy, but for normal, everyday stuff, it works great.

Basically, what I did was put about a tablespoon of baking soda and a teaspoon or so of lemon juice in the cup. It foamed up a bit, so I was worried that would mess things up, but I snapped it shut and turned the thing on. Next time I might use a little vinegar for a rinse aid, but it didn't even really need it this time around.

2 sonar pings:

Mrs. Captain PAO said...

what about if you can't use lemon/citrus flavored detergents on your silverware?

we have fiestaware silverware and it specifically says not to use lemon stuff or it will leave spots. and it does, our old silverware was marked.

Ana said...

Hmm, I'm not sure about that. Most of the other recipes I've found called for just borax and baking soda, so you could try that. The blogger whose recipe I linked said that she though the citric acid was what was working on the grease, so I thought it was worth trying, but obviously people do it without it.