Because that is the reason it doesn’t work any more: dishwasher soaps no longer contain enough phosphates to work even in water that isn’t hard.
It started in Washington State, where it was considered to be a contributing factor to the algae in their rivers–so it was banned statewide; the Feds were putting the screws to them, and wouldn’t allow them to construct a new water treatment plant in Spokane unless they cut back on the phosphates to a degree that wasn’t even physically possible. (Now, of course, it turns out that the type of phosphate used in dishwasher soap isn’t even the kind that was promoting the algae.)
When Washington banned full-phosphate dishwasher soap, there was a brief period of time when people there drove to Idaho to get normal dishwasher soap. Now all the North American soap manufacturers have thrown in the towel, and one cannot buy dishwasher detergent that works effectively on its own.
Now, there may be areas like the Pacific Northwest where it makes sense to wash dishes by hand, as people are starting to do, more and more–after all, they have tons of water there. But it sure doesn’t make any sense in arid regions, such as Southern and Central California; washing dishes by hand uses more water than doing them by machine.
Speaking of which, if you have a dishwasher that saves water, it may be less effective. Also, if it’s an “energy-saving” appliance, it may not be getting the water hot enough to clean effectively. In that context, the environmental extremists’ taking good soap away from us is all the more cruel.
Remember the days when you could count on your dishwasher’s internal water heater to sterilize dishes–say, if someone in the house had the flu, or for baby bottles? In the old days, dishwashers used water that was hotter than human hands could stand. Now, if you want to ensure that something is washed in truly hot water, you may have to don gloves and wash it yourself, depending on just how “energy efficient” that machine is.
I use Glass Magic, which has radically transformed my dishwasher from a “dish-dirtier” that left a mineral film on everything, into a normal appliance that cleans stuff 95% of the time. Glass Magic also means that I don’t need any blue liquid to keep water drops off of the glass–though it’s more expensive than TSP per volume, and Glass Magic only has 21% phosphates in it. Therefore, if you’re simply countering the phosphate-deficiency in your detergent, the TSP might be more economical.
And apparently, some Europeans have decided that phosphates are better than the alternatives, such as polymers. One can get dishwasher soap in Western Europe that contains 40% phosphates. Party down!
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Those nutty nutty up is down libruls.
Look, Babe–you want to waste water during a drought, that’s your call. But it ain’t good citizenship.
The Historical House does not have a dishwasher, so I do everything by hand. When I’m sick, I toss the silverware in a pot of water and stick it on the stove, and use scalding hot water on the cups. Seems to work.
Sadly, it comes equipped with an energy-efficient washer and dryer, which is just a nightmare. The washer takes 52 minutes to run through a normal cycle. Aside from being time-consuming, it also means that it’s impossible to be in the shower within an hour of starting the laundry. Last I checked, my time is worth something, too, and is certainly a scarce and valuable resource for which there is no replacement. (Life is short, people. What is this worth?)
That aside, you’re highlighting a major problem with “environmentalism”: there are ALWAYS trade-offs. The most obvious is those lights that contain mercury but use less electricity – good if you are trying to cut down on coal burning, bad if you’re trying to cut down on pollution in landfills. (One of the reasons that I’m so pro-nuclear power is that America is very able to handle the downside to it; we have so much open desert that putting a bunch of reactors out there and housing the spent fuel rods is safer than it is in other, more densely populated countries or areas with a more delicate ecosystem.) Likewise, money spent on organic or local food is not spent on other things that would help the environment.
TSP is getting hard to find, too. I used to get it at paint and hardware stores it’s a great cleaner/degreaser for painting prep – and now I find “TSP Substitute” crap at twice the price and half the effectiveness.
My all-time favourite: low-VOC paint that destroys concrete. Here in Massachusetts, our ‘environmentally-friendly’ paint has destroyed whole stretches of highway; there are no dashed white line lane markers, but streaks of potholes miles long. Of course, you then have to repave the things, which can’t be great for the environment, either….
I’ve taken to adding TSP to each load and then, when I feel in a celebratory mode, I take about ten pounds of TSP and sprinkle it in all the drains of the city I can get to. Keeps a minor balance in the environment. Gets the dishes clean too.
You see, one of the driving forces in GreenThinking is to create, for our children, not only a smaller and less prosperous world, but a dirtier one too.
Here’s a source for Cascade Industrial Strength with phosphates
http://www.restockit.com/cascade-automatic-dishwasher-detergent-85-oz-(34953pg).html?pnl=1_4#ReviewHeader
$55 bucks for 35 pounds. Free shipping.
We have that same law in good old Socialist State of IL, and we have to go to Missouri to get real dish washer detergent now.
Just to see what would happen I wrote to Cascade. Here’s the corporate line and blather:
“Thanks for contacting Cascade.
I’m very sorry that your dishes are not getting clean. We have many checkpoints along our manufacturing lines to ensure the quality of both our products and packaging, so this should not have happened. Please be assured I’m sharing your report with the rest of our team.
Thanks again for taking the time to write.
Michelle
Cascade Team”
Yeah, right.
What is the percentage of phosphates in the Cascade Automatic Dishwasher Detergent 85 oz. With Phosphates (34953PG) product?
Answer to John, above: In Aug 2011, I bought a case of Cascade Professional Line/Institutional/Foodservice Dishwasher Detergent with the same Product # 34953PG. We’re a small family, so I run my dishwasher abt twice/week. I still have 3 full boxes left and they say: “PHOSPHORUS CONTENT: This Cascade formula averages not more than 7.0% phosphorus, in the form of phosphates, which is equivalent to 0.9 gram per tablespoon.” We have a water softener. This Cascade solved the problem of a white powder residue left on my *clean* dishes.