The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: dodojojo on July 10, 2014, 11:49:15 AM
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I have seen the tip of using vinegar in place of jet dry in the dishwasher. It's something I also do especially since the water is so hard here.
The problem is the dishwasher's racks started rusting badly. The plastic wrapping dissolved and dark rust showed up. I can't be sure if it was due to old age/lots of use or down to the vinegar. But I only noticed the rust after I started using vinegar in place of jet dry.
Management finally replaced the racks today. I don't want risk rusting out the racks again so I'm holding off on using vinegar. If you have any alternatives to expensive jet dry and destructive vinegar, please share. I used to skip the jet dry part, but the spots on glasses and dishware was really awful--more than noticeable. I used generic dishwasher detergent. Could that make a difference?
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The only useful solution for hard water that I know of is to install a water softener. We used to own a home with a well that produced rock hard water and in retrospect we should have put in a softener. The water made it impossible to get anything clean (dishes, shower, clothes, etc) and corroded all the sink and bath fixtures.
If this is a rental, I'd point out the above to the landlord. If they choose to ignore the advice then you can quit worrying about how often they have to replace things that get destroyed by the hard water.
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I've found that the detergent I use actually matters. I used to use Cascade Complete Pacs (http://www.cascadeclean.com/us/cascade/product/complete-pacs). Last time I ran out of those, I decided to try something cheaper and opted for the Cascade Complete Gel (http://www.cascadeclean.com/us/cascade/product/complete-pacs) (b/c I didn't want to buy two big jugs of the Kirkland one, and with the promotion, it ended up being cheaper anyway). I was surprised to find that my plates and glasses don't seem to be getting as clean as when I used the pacs, so now I use a pac (well, the platinum one (http://www.cascadeclean.com/us/cascade/product/platinum-pacs) since it was on sale and cheaper than the complete ones) every third wash, and that seems to keep my plates and glasses clean enough for my standards. All this with regular jet dry in the rinse-aid compartment, and a small amount of vinegar on the top rack every time.
I'm not shilling for Cascade, I swear. It's just that's the one I've found to work for me. I do thank you for creating this thread, as it made me look into whether vinegar makes the racks rust faster (anyone confirm or deny this?), which leads to guides on how to clean your dishwasher -- which leads me to thinking I should check if I need to do that...
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I do thank you for creating this thread, as it made me look into whether vinegar makes the racks rust faster (anyone confirm or deny this?), which leads to guides on how to clean your dishwasher -- which leads me to thinking I should check if I need to do that...
Yeah, I would like to know too. I use vinegar as my main household cleaner and fabric softer in the washer. I wonder if it's best to not use vinegar in some of the household machines?
I'll look into the suggestions offered so far, thanks all.
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I used to use powdered citirc acid when I had a dishwasher--how I miss those days! Everything came out SO shiny and clear! ...but I did end up ruining the external enamel on my le creuset pots, so beware of that.
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I attempted to use vinegar ONCE to clean out my dishwasher (rental, and quite an elderly dishwasher), and noticed rust immediately afterward that definitely wasn't there before. So the correlation does seem to point in that direction.
I too found that it was worth it to buy a higher quality detergent. I also use jet dry, but forget to top it up all the time, so I probably don't actually use it more than half the time. Which reminds me I should pick up more. Good to know the off-brand stuff works well though.
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Yeah, I would like to know too. I use vinegar as my main household cleaner and fabric softer in the washer. I wonder if it's best to not use vinegar in some of the household machines?
I would also love to hear anyone's experience with vinegar/rusting! About 6 months ago, I got too tired of all the hard water spots and looked into a cheap way to fix that, and read about vinegar. Ever since, I have been putting about 1/4-1/2 cup of vinegar in the bottom of the load before starting it. I haven't noticed any rust problems yet, but it hasn't been that long. I rent, so it's not as big of a deal, but I would feel bad if I caused it to break.