Dishwashing Detergant - What happened to Cascade?

[mom2one]

So the good old cascade with phosphorus is gone. I have a dishwasher with the stainless steal on the inside, unless I use this stuff, the inside of the dishwasher looks pretty bad. So now that phosphorus has been banned, what cleans well? Anyone else have this problem? What cleans the dishes and keeps the inside of the dishwasher clean?

[brittone2]

Last night I was reading the appliance forums over at Gardenweb prepping for some things we need to do after our move. I saw an appliance repair guy there was commenting about the phosphate free detergents having some buildup for some people. His suggestion was to use a citric acid product for dishwashers. I've never used one but apparently they make them. HTH.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I wonder if Tang would work as the citric acid product. I know Tang can be used to clean toilets quite well!

Beth

[MelissaTC]

My guess is a product like Lemi Shine. My parents have hard water and use it to cycle through the dishwasher. You can get it at Wal-mart in the cleaning section, near the dishwasher detergents and such.

[khm]

I used Tang in the dishwasher when we moved in. The previous owners lived here for three years without installing a water softener, and in this area - ya NEED a water softener no ifs ands or buts.

I couldn't find Lemi Shine, and saw Tang recommended. I probably ran 4 Tang loads and it really, really helped clean out the thick, thick build up of white haze. (The black heating element was solidly white before Tang.)

[mikala]

We're currently using Method and Ecover tablets. Both are supposed to be decent for the environment, seem to work well and I haven't noticed any build-up in our stainless steel dishwasher over ~4 mo of daily usage. The dishes look great too. They are pricier than Cascade but not horrible if you find a good sale.

[Dcclerk]

We're currently using Method and Ecover tablets. Both are supposed to be decent for the environment, seem to work well and I haven't noticed any build-up in our stainless steel dishwasher over ~4 mo of daily usage. The dishes look great too. They are pricier than Cascade but not horrible if you find a good sale.

Yeah that We use both and are happy with both. I usually get them at drugstore.com. I really hated what Cascade did to our dishes. I think both Method and Ecover are much better. My MIL even noticed what a difference the change over has been in our dishes and started to use it, too!

[daniele_ut]

My guess is a product like Lemi Shine. My parents have hard water and use it to cycle through the dishwasher. You can get it at Wal-mart in the cleaning section, near the dishwasher detergents and such.

Yup, that's what we do. Our water is so hard we practically have rocks coming out of the tap and Lemi Shine really cleans the SS in our dishwasher well. I am getting to the bottom of a huge bucket of the old Kirkland brand dishwasher powder that Costco no longer sells and I am dreading when I have to replace it.

[elephantmeg]

we used a bottle of dishwasher cleaner and now use a little lemi shine in each load

[Reina]

DISTILLED VINEGAR. it works...