Back in June, my dishwasher stopped washing my dishes well. It was leaving white stuff all over the dishes, and left a white film on my plastics that wouldn't come off. I tried running an empty load with just vinegar, I took apart the drain and tried and clean it out, I did multiple things and it just wasn't working. So we shut it and locked it and put it out of commission. We didn't have the money to replace it so we went to strictly hand washing. The children were not thrilled, and neither was I, but we didn't have any other options.
Two weeks ago, The Doctor was listening to the local news radio and they mentioned that recently phosphates had been regulated in dishwasher soap, going from as much as 8.7% to 0.5%. This was causing a lot of people to complain that their dishes weren't getting clean and it was leaving a white film on their dishes.
Sound familiar?
When he told me about it, I immediately got online and started researching it, and found a lot of people who were complaining about it. Some had even gone out and bought new dishwashers, to no avail. A lot of people had resorted to crossing state lines and buying dishwasher soap in states where it hadn't been regulated yet!
I wondered about my dishwasher soap, so I went and read the box. "Contains no phosphates." Ah-ha!
So I did more research and found the solution. I went to Lowe's and bought a box of TSP - trisodium phosphate, which cost less than $5. I added one tablespoon of it to my dishwasher, and 1 tablespoon of my dishwasher soap, then loaded the dishwasher and prayed.
Ta-daa!!!!!! It worked! My dishes came out clean and sparkly! I was so excited, but not anywhere near as excited as my children were! It was The Chocoholic's week to do dishes, and when I told him he could use the dishwasher, he squealed with excitement! He had so much fun doing the dishes that night! If only that would last!
So if you are struggling with your dishwasher, try this out. It worked for us! And saved us a lot of money!
4 comments :
I have been frustrated as well. I will have to try it.
Wow! I had not heard anything about this being a problem before. I have had similar issues with my dishes not getting as clean as I'd like. I will have to go out and buy a box of trisodium phosphate! Thanks so much for the info. I was hating to think we might have to go the new dishwasher route. Thanks!!
That was some quick thinking on your part!
I've been having the same problem! My glasses look horrible. I heard about it on the news as well, but haven't done anything about it.
So you just have to add the Tablespoon of TSP to every load? And where at Lowe's do they carry it? Like what department? I need some!!
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