Dishwasher Isn’t Working
You have pulled clean and sparkling dishes out of your dishwasher for years, and suddenly you notice that your dishes are no longer as clean as they used to be; there are food particles left on plates; the glasses have spots, and this has never happened before. You consider the age of your dishwasher, do a little research and find it should run fine for several more years; you are using the same dishwasher detergent you have always used. Or are you?
Instead of looking into fixing your current dishwasher, or buying a new one, take a look at your detergent. You might be in for a surprise when you read on the label, “low phosphate” or “New, Lower Phosphate Formula,” and wonder why all the excitement.
Phosphates are chemical compounds that when used in detergents, make the soap work to clean dishes the way you expect them to be cleaned and as a rinsing agent. Food particles are washed away and the hard water does not deposit on glasses and silverware. When phosphates are taken out of detergents, your dishes become dirty looking, have a feeling of grittiness, and you are left to wonder if the dishwasher, itself has stopped working.
So, what happened to the phosphates? Why were they taken out of dishwasher detergent? Sixteen states have adopted laws that prohibit the use of phosphates in concentrations higher than 0.5% in dishwashing and laundry detergents. The legislatures of these states along with cooperation of the manufacturers have taken this step in an effort to be more environmentally friendly and preserve the clarity and health of our lakes and streams.
Our water health is in jeopardy through the use of phosphates because not only do they help detergents work better at cleaning, but they also feed algae growth. Once the soapy, phosphate-containing water is dispatched down your drain, it follows through the sewer system and inevitably reaches streams and lakes where the algae feed. The more algae grow, the more oxygen they take out of the water. With oxygen at a premium, the naturally occurring aquatic life of the lake becomes suffocated and dies. It is a cycle of death and pollution that can be remedied, at least in part, by limiting or eliminating the use of phosphates.
Having a healthy water supply through the use of phosphate-free dishwashing detergent does not mean you are destined to always having dirty looking dishes. You can prewash or presoak your dishes before loading your dishwasher. This will help with those extra bits of stuck on food and adding a cup of vinegar to your dishwasher will work as a rinse agent. You may find there is no need to call a repairman for your dishwasher after all.
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