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Detergent

All articles tagged with detergent. Lots of advice and interesting articles relevant to washing machines and dishwashers.

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Dishwasher Not Cleaning Dishes Properly

Dirty Dishes A dishwasher not cleaning dishes properly can have various causes. It’s rarely anything serious. If it’s a relatively new dishwasher to you and has never performed well make sure you are using an appropriate wash cycle for the level of soiling. There aren’t usually many wash cycles to choose from on a dishwasher but you can still get big differences in temperatures, wash intensity and wash results. This article is for when the dishwasher appears to run OK and finishes in normal time, but wash results are disappointing.

Load the dishwasher properly

Poor loading of plates, dishes or trays can allow some items to be shielded from water and detergent. So if it’s just one or two items that aren’t washed properly make sure nothing is being shielded. Load the dishes according to the advice in the instruction manual.

Blocked spray arm

One or more spray arms jammed or otherwise not rotating can cause poor wash results. Check that none of the dishes are physically stopping one of the spray arms from turning. Also check that it rotates freely by hand. Examine all the small holes along each spray arm for blockages (usually bits of food). Jets of water spraying out of these holes is the only thing that causes them to rotate so blocked spray arms can inhibit movement.

Detergent cover getting jammed

Make sure there isn’t anything in front of the detergent compartment in the door. Most dishwashers have a detergent compartment in the door with a spring-loaded cover. Detergent is placed inside and is dropped into the bottom of the dishwasher when the cover pops open during the wash. If there is a large plate or tray in front of this cover it can prevent the cover from springing open. It could either prevent it from opening altogether or only allow it to partially open. This could prevent the tablet from dissolving properly or cause it to only dissolve slowly over the entire wash cycle instead of on the main wash.

Dishwasher salt and rinse aid

Dishwasher salt and rinse aid are vital for a good wash, especially with hard water. Always make sure you are using proper dishwasher salt and keep topped up with rinse aid to prevent streaks and marks on dishes. If you are using 3 in 1 or other multi tab detergent make sure you have calibrated your dishwasher. This article explains how dishwashers may need calibrating or adjusted to use multi tab detergent have you calibrated your dishwasher for multi-tab detergent?

Streaks or drops of water and lime spots on dishes and glasses

streaks or drops of water and lime spots on dishes and glasses?

Poor detergent or even wrong type

It should go without saying that the quality of the dishwasher detergent is a major factor. A surprising range of wash results can be attained using different detergents. The consumer group Which? routinely test detergents and some of them are pretty rubbish. Check this article to get more information on how to find the best dishwasher detergents – Which is the best dishwasher detergent?

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Detergent capsules danger to children

Liquid-tabs I first wrote about the potential dangers of liquid detergent capsules and tabs in 2009 after I saw in the news that a baby was “badly burned” by a washing machine detergent when gel from a liquid capsule had been trapped (partially undissolved) inside a vest. The vest was then unfortunately put onto the child without the gel being seen.

As far as I know this was an unusual incident, but since then it’s emerged there are far more common dangers as thousands of children (commonly aged under 5) are finding the brightly coloured capsules very attractive, and are either popping them open by pressing down onto the soft bubble filled with gel causing burns to the eyes, or actually biting into them causing severe internal burns when some of the liquid is swallowed. There have been tens of thousands of incidents, at least one reported death, and many hundreds of hospitalisations world-wide. Fortunately most children have recovered but this is a very real danger.

Keep children away from detergent capsules

Detergent-capsules-2 Most parents are completely unaware of the dangers these products pose, and with a busy day-to-day routine often keep them under the kitchen sink, or close to the washing machine or dishwasher for convenience. Manufacturers need to seriously rethink these products, particularly their attractive colourful design but the most basic common sense thing to do is to make sure you keep liquid detergent capsules for washing machines and dishwashers out of the reach of children.

3-in-1 capsules Treat these capsules the same as bleach and store them out of the reach of children. Even much older children can find them fascinating to play around with, and although less likely to put them in their mouths they can still accidentally pop some of them open squirting the liquid into their eyes. BBC news reported back in 2012 that 5 children in Glasgow in that year alone had been admitted to hospital with serious chemical burns after either swallowing or biting into a liquid gel detergent tab. The children suffered burns (some described as life threatening) to the inside of the throat or the eyes and an 8-month-old baby girl spent 4 days in intensive care after biting into one.

The liquid gel inside these tabs is clearly potentially dangerous and although I’d expect most people would assume it wasn’t good for any of the contents to be swallowed they wouldn’t necessarily realise just how toxic and corrosive the contents could be, and just how attractive the lovely soft bubble-wrap type packaging is to hold and manipulate.

Potential Danger from undissolved liquid detergent gel in laundry

Danger Another issue to be aware of is related to my article in 2009 about the 17-month-old child reported to have been burned by the gel inside an Ariel Excel washing machine detergent. A spokesman for Proctor & Gamble who make the detergent in question are reported to have said: “All our products are extensively researched and are safe to use as directed.”

Liquid-tab-detergent I’m assuming this incident happened because the detergent did not dissolve properly and even survived all the rinses. Overloading* the drum can cause this. The warning is that particularly when washing children’s items you should make sure the washing machine is not overloaded to such an extent that the whole mass of laundry just turns round in one big lump. In such situations the detergent has no room to dissolve properly and as this case highlights, undissolved detergents can burn and could have serious consequences. Instructions on the packet should also be read and understood. It’s too easy to assume we don’t need to look at instructions for commonly used products but we should.

Don’t under-load either though

The washing machine drum does need to be correctly loaded in order to avoid under-loading which can result in violent out of balance spins or a refusal to spin altogether. The drum also needs to be fully loaded to wash economically and cut down unnecessary loads. Tips on ideal loading can be found in my article – Am I overloading my washing machine?

Overloading may not be relevant in this case

* The case above has prompted me to remind people about overloading, and highlight the potential for more serious consequences than just poor wash results. I’m not saying overloading was definitely the main factor in this case, only that it could be. There is the potential for other causes that I am not aware of.

Updated First Published

Washing machine detergent from the past

washing machine detergent Life used to be much simpler. Especially where washing machine detergent was concerned. I’ve just found a fascinating old publication by one of the leading detergent manufacturers, Unilever. Back then even their name was simpler, they were just called, “Lever”.

I’ve had this booklet for over 30 years. One of the sections mentions that a particular wash symbol will have changed, “by 1987”. It’s an expensively produced booklet with a glossy cover. I remember when things like this came bungled with a new washing machine. The thing that strikes me about it is that as the photo below shows, back then they just made 2 types of detergent for automatic washing machines. An “original” automatic washing machine detergent and a “new” biological detergent. They also had a special hand wash only detergent.

Only 2 types of detergent for the washing machine

detergent

Too many types of detergent?

These days there are many more types of detergent to choose from. Back then it was just a matter of picking either biological or non-biological, and favouring a brand. It can be argued that detergent specialising in specific jobs such as looking after colours so they don’t fade, whitening whites, low temperature washing and so on makes sense. Are we better off now or just victims of clever marketing? I’ve just checked on their web site and counted 17 different laundry detergent products.

Related articles: See more of my articles tagged with Detergent

Which? Articles on detergent

Washing machine and dishwasher detergent is pretty expensive. Which? have done extensive tests and research on them. You need to be a member to read all the results but there is still plenty of useful information even if you aren’t. (Why not become a member for a month for just £1? – details on their links below)

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Dishwasher Making Whistling Noise

Noisy Unusual and persistent noises from any appliance shouldn’t be ignored. Some may be serious and others might be trivial. Believe it or not, a dishwasher making whistling noise could have an unexpected cause. According to a dishwasher manual I’m just reading, one of the “malfunctions” it advises on is if, “there is a whistling noise during washing”. The advice is that this is not a cause for concern, but to try using a different brand of detergent.

It’s quite an unexpected solution and amusing to think it could be explained so simply. I can’t think of a fault that would cause an actual whistling noise although unusual noises from any appliance shouldn’t be ignored. If it doesn’t sound like it’s coming from a motor or pump, try a different brand of detergent first. You could also try running the dishwasher without any detergent in to see if the noise stops.

Apparently some dishwasher detergents cause whistling sounds and some don’t.

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Using all in 1 multi tab detergent

Unlike washing machines, dishwashers need to be set up for the correct water hardness levels. Manufacturers use factory default settings that try to be suitable for the average house in the UK. However, as water hardness varies considerably from area to area this means yours could be set too high or too low. If using all in 1 multi tab detergent -especially in a soft water area you might be able to stop using rinse aid altogether and save money.

Have you adjusted your dishwasher’s water hardness settings?

The majority of dishwashers probably aren’t set up properly but still manage to work ok as far as the owner is concerned. However, if you live in a very hard water area you may experience issues such as poor wash results and damaging limescale build up inside. If you live in a very soft water area you may get excess foaming, or just be wasting dishwasher salt by using too much.

How to set your dishwasher up for water hardness

You will need to follow instructions in your dishwasher’s instruction manual because they will differ from machine to machine. If you don’t have it, you may be able to download one using links on my instruction books and user manuals page because all appliances can be found once you get to a manufacturer’s booklet download page.

Rough explanation of water hardness settings

There are usually two separate adjustments which are easily made. First, as shown in this photo, on the lower side of the inside panel of the dishwasher (usually just above the salt compartment) there may be a small dial. On my dishwasher this has just two settings, 1 and 2. By default they will always be set to hard water, which is fine if you have hard water, but if you are in a soft water areas it can be turned down to 1.

On my dishwasher there is another “electronic” setting with levels from 1 – 10. My instruction manual lists a chart with recommended settings quoting all possible water hardness ranges. The lowest setting even tells you not to use any salt at all. The way I need to calibrate my dishwasher is to press specific option buttons which put it into the correct mode and simply select which level from 1 to 10 I require. There’s no point describing it here because every dishwasher will be different. Just check your instruction manual.

How do you find out how hard your water is?

You can check with your water supplier, most if not all should have this information on their web sites – Water company contact details

If you are using Multi-Tab or All In One tablets

If you use multi-tab detergent you shouldn’t need to use water softener or salt so these adjustments aren’t necessary. However, you must check out this article to make sure you have set up your dishwasher so it knows not to use them – Have you calibrated your dishwasher for multi-tab detergent?

Update

After carrying out the adjustments in this article I did notice that occasionally there was water left in the tops of some mugs and other items with small indentations in. I could live with it, but eventually I decided to undo my calibration for multi tabs and add rinse aid back in, which seems to have stopped it. However, I did turn down the small dial in the rinse aid dispenser in the door so that it uses the minimum amount because the tablets were doing 90% of the work.

My conclusion is that the 3 in 1 multi tab detergent may not be 100% good enough to do the job alone depending on the brand and quality of the tablets and the hardness of your water. Our water is moderately hard, if soft I expect I could have completely done away with rinse aid. Experiment with your own settings dependant on your water hardness levels. If you are using these all in one tablets you should not need normal amounts of rinse aid as well.

Dishwasher detergents reviews

Which? have tested all of the dishwasher detergents – Full dishwasher detergent test results

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Calibrate your dishwasher for multi-tab detergent

Have you calibrated your dishwasher for multi-tab detergent?

Dishwashers are designed to wash dishes using a combination of detergent, salt, and rinse aid. They have always been designed to work like this with each component doing a specific but vital job. However, we now have multi tab detergents that claim to do away with the need to use salt or rinse aid. So if you use 3 in 1, 4 in 1, or all in one (multi-tab) tablets many dishwashers now allow you to optimise the settings for them, which alters the way they work.

Why configure a dishwasher for use with multi-tab detergent?

Telling your dishwasher you are using all in one detergent can do several things. First it stops wasting any rinse aid still in the dispenser because the dishwasher will no longer let any in. It might not concern you if you no longer use it but you may one day want or need to use ordinary detergent and need it in. More importantly though it can prevent problems because if you have too much rinse aid going in then it can cause white sticky streaks on the dishes or a bluish film on glassware and knives. It also stops your dishwasher constantly reminding you to put more salt or rinse aid in. Finally, it may adjust the wash times, on my dishwasher it reduces the time of some wash cycles by about 10 minutes.

Is all in one (multi-tab) detergent any good anyway?

Which? have thoroughly tested dishwasher detergents. At the time of writing 3 out of their top 4 Best Buy recommendations are multi-tab. So it seems that some at least are worth using. However, they also have 2 DON’T BUY detergents that they have found to be so poor they advise not to buy it. Both of them are also multi-tab. To find out which the best dishwasher detergents are take advantage of their £1 offer – Full dishwasher detergent test results at Which?

How to calibrate dishwasher for all in one detergent

You will need to consult your instruction book unless there’s a convenient option button. Not all dishwashers will have the multi-tab setting, especially old ones, though ours does and it’s 5 years old. Check in the instruction book. If you can’t find it you may be able to download one from my instruction manuals page which focuses on washing machine manuals but the links go to manufacturer’s sites where you can download manuals for any of their appliances.

Another alternative might be to search online for multi-tab function plus the brand and or model of your dishwasher.

If using All in 1 tablets but dishes aren’t properly dry

The idea of all in one or multi-tab detergent is that dishes are properly cleaned and dry at the end of the cycle without the need to use dishwasher salt or rinse aid. However, if dishes aren’t being adequately dried at the end you may still need to use a little rinse aid. Try adding rinse aid to the rinse aid compartment and setting the dosage dial right down to position 2 or 1.