Sunday, April 24, 2011

Dish scum



Are your dishes looking cloudy and filmy from the dishwasher? Your not alone. I have had this problem for a few months and tried all sorts of detergents, totally natural and not. I have a new dishwasher and blamed it on that. I almost unhooked it to return it. Then, my sister in law told me she was having the same problem and also another friend. They too thought it was their machine. We had to do the vinegar rinse just to get the baked on film off our dishes. Thanks to a comment from  Katie, the case of the cloudy dishes has been solved. Don't go out and buy a new machine.


It seems that phosphates have been removed from most dish detergents. That is a good thing in that phosphates are bad for our environment and we don't really want that in our water system or our households. However, it is the phosphates that caused the breakdown of hard water and for the dirt to breakdown in the cleaning cycle. Now, we are left with less than adequate cleaning products. That has been a very recent change so that is why we are all just discovering it. 


I have searched for a more natural cleaning product that still makes my dishes shine like they were hand cleaned. I was successful.




I have tried quite a few powdered natural detergents but was never happy. I have a new love. It is "Wave" detergent in Organic Lavender. I got it at Sprout's but you can probably find it elsewhere. It smells great and contains pure and simple ingredients. No more cloudy dishes and no more worry over chemicals left on my drinking cups. Oh, happiness. 

Thanks for solving the mystery, Katie!



7 comments:

Lewyville said...

I had the same prob with cloudy dishes until I decided to pour some distilled vinegar into the bottom of the dishwasher before I turned it on. My dishes come out sparkling clean everytime and it only takes 1/4 to 1/2 cup.

Kerri said...

Only bummer about buying through Amazon is that they charge double the cost of the detergent for shipping since it's sold through a private seller. It may still be cheaper to go through Sprouts. Thanks for the tips!

Shari Goodman said...

Usually I buy from Amazon where I can get free shipping. I am removing the ad, didn't realize it is $8.99 for shipping! Ridiculous! Thanks for the info, Kerri.

barbafamily said...

I work for a company called Melaleuca and they have a fantastic product called Diamond Brite. It's super concentrated (you only fill the dishwasher cup 1/2 way), is natural, has no phosphates, chemicals or chlorine bleach, it gets old soap scum off and it's reasonably priced! It's only $14.79 for 50 uses. Just thought I'd post about one of our amazing products :-) Thanks!

jack+alli said...

fabulous! thank you! i have been having the same problem for quite a while- glad to have the mystery solved :)

Laurie said...

How funny! I was having this problem too! I finally had luck with Cascade all in one pacs. But it took forever to get the film off all my dishes!! I'll have to try this detergent next time I'm at Sprouts. You'll have to do an update in a while and tell us if it's still working and if you're still "film" free!

Anonymous said...

I actually bought a new machine.