Appliantology^®

The Oracle of Appliance Enlightenment

Soap on a Rope

We've found that most of our customers are pretty aware of the two appliances in their household that use detergents: the washing machine and the dishwasher. Most of our customers can tell if a noise is abnormal or if the machine has a new vibration. But most people don't realize that these machines are very sensitive to and affected by the type of detergent they use.

For example, if you have soft water and use a phosphate-containing dishwashing powder in your dishwasher, you run the risk of over-sudsing your dishwasher and creating a huge mess in your kitchen. We've seen this very problem with several of our customers who called us out on a complaint that their dishwasher spewed suds onto their kitchen floor. Invariably, over-sudsing problems are caused by using phosphate-containing detergents, combined with soft water (or just using too much detergent).

For those customers on septic systems, phosphates are some of the worst things to put into your septic system. This is because phosphates are not readily biodegradeable and can accumulate in your septic tank creating nasty problems like overflowing and backing up.

The other problem with most commercially available detergents, both laundry and dishwashing, is that they all contain fillers--inert, abrasive crap added to the detergent mix simply to take up space and to help clean your clothes or dishes by the abrasive action of the added silicates (sand). These fillers actually harm your dishwasher, washing machine, and clothes! Fillers in commercial detergents cause a whole host of problems including: clogging washing machine and dishwasher drain hoses, binding washing machine pumps, gunking up dishwasher impellers, creating foul odors in washing machines by providing nice homes for bacteria, creating leaks in dishwashers by working in between the tub gaskets and surfaces.

While we love having the work that these nasty detergent fillers create in your appliances, we also feel we would do you a better service by telling you about this problem and how to prevent it.

Related Articles:

• Hard Water Basics.
• Water Filters.

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