Homemade Automatic Dishwashing Detergent?

[sunsaver]

Ive heard of people getting the big cheap boxes of generic laundry soap and using it at half the rate of the more expensive dish powders. I'm not sure if they add something to it or not, but soap is soap, right?.

A lot of times your just paying for packaging. Kerosene is sold at a higher rate and called mineral spirits, and at a higher rate called lamp oil, and at an even higher rate where they call it "charcoal lighter fluid". It's all the same grade of petroleum. Looks, smells, pours, burns the same.

 

[mydakota]

I do have trouble with my glasses being cloudy. We have well water too, and it is pretty hard. How much citric acid powder would you add to the soda/borax solution to combat that?

 

[VickiLynn]

In a plastic container combine:

1 cup Borax
1 cup baking soda (or try baking soda and washing soda)
cup salt
cup citric acid (or LemiShine, or Fruit Fresh or
2 pkts. unsw. lemonade-flavored Kool Aid - ONLY lemon
flavored or you'll dye your dishwasher.)
A few drops citrus essential oil--lemon, grapefruit, orange,
tangerine, or a mixture (antibacterial and grease-remover)

Put all of it in the container, shake it up.

To use, put a tablespoon or so into each cup of your dishwasher.

Keep it dry so the acid & alkaline ingredients don't react. If it gets clumpy, put a desiccant packet from a vitamin bottle or a small pouch of dry rice in the container with the mixture.

How well it works depends on your water and your dishwasher, so the recipe might need some fiddling to work for you.

 

[Augustmomx2]

I didn't have good luck with the homemade recipes. I ended up with etched glassware using the borax/washing soda recipe.
Cloudy glassware was a problem, too, no matter how little I used. I tried a blend of 1/3 each of purchased stuff, borax and washing soda, but the etching continued. Now I'm guessing it was the washing soda, but at the time I wasn't sure and it was too late.

Cutting cheap purchased stuff with baking soda did okay, but didn't clean the dishes completely, and I even rinse before putting them in the dishwasher.

I finally threw in the towel and went back to Cascade. But mostly I wash 'em by hand.

I agree and I added the citric acid in the form of the kool-aid. I tried it a few times and was not happy w/the cleanliness or the cloudiness :/ I have fairly-hard water, so I don't know if that's a factor as well?

 

[Marianne]

I used vinegar as a rinse aid, so that should have helped, wouldn't it?
The glassware is definitely etched. I tried soaking glasses in straight vinegar for a couple hours...nada.

BUT it was washing soda in my mix, not baking soda.
I have well water, too, but we have a good water softener.

BTW, I bought some cheapo dishwasher detergent to add to the washing machine once in a while for whites - I decided I better dissolve it in some hot water first. I was surprised at how much floating filler crud was in there. Boooooo hisssss, little brown flecks.

 

[savingdogs]

Some of this might have to do with our dishwashers. My old dishwasher did not have a good rinse cycle like my new one. That could be why some people are getting more cloudiness. I think homemade dishwasher soaps might not rinse off as easily as the supermarket counterparts.

 

[Marianne]

Some of this might have to do with our dishwashers. My old dishwasher did not have a good rinse cycle like my new one. That could be why some people are getting more cloudiness. I think homemade dishwasher soaps might not rinse off as easily as the supermarket counterparts.

My dishwasher is fairly new and a high dollar one to boot (bought on clearance, naturally!). But no dishwasher I've had has been as great as the very first one, cheapo portable GE, plain jane..what a power horse! Finally rusted out after years of service, so we didn't try to build it in when we added on to the house and I got a new kitchen.

 

[Laureli]

I thought any borax in it was kinda dangerous in that borax ingested is very toxic...

 

[VickiLynn]

I thought any borax in it was kinda dangerous in that borax ingested is very toxic...

Yes. You probably shouldn't eat the stuff. Borax is a problem if you repeatedly expose someone directly to it. Otherwise, from what I have read, washing dishes and clothes with it is alright; it rinses away and doesn't compromise the environment.

 

[savingdogs]

I don't think there is a borax residue or any residue at all on my glassware using the borax mixture, but thank you for pointing that out, you are correct that borax is toxic. I think as long as you make sure things are rinsed completely it should be fine. However that is a good point, if you were trying to sneak something from the dishwasher before it was finished, you would certainly want to rinse it very completely by hand.

I'd like to try that recipe Vickilynn, thank you for posting that.