Some alternatives to additives

If you search internet for home made additives for Dishwasher, you would get lot of details, I'm going to share my experience and how much you could save.

Non-Iodized salt and Vinegar are said to alternatives for Dishwasher Salt and Rinse Aid respectively. For Detergent some sites have mentioned few alternatives and I checked with (Borax, Washing Soda, Vinegar) it worked to certain extent but could not match Dishwasher detergent in performance.

Let's see how much we could save with these alternatives...

Non-Iodized salt is an alternative for Dishwasher Salt. I'll start with a word of caution. You need to use crystal salt that DOES NOT contain Iodine, if you use the one containing Iodine then the membrane inside the softner unit would get damaged and you may have to change it completly. I bought it from agencies that sell Industrial salt though they may expect you to buy atleast one bag (~ 25 kgs). I bought 25Kg bag for Rs 75. That's Rs 3 per Kg. I have changed my softner setting to maximum to match the performance and I refill every 7 days and that works to about 5 kg per month (maximum). That works to about 15 Rs per month or Rs 0.50 per wash.

Vinegar (synthetic should be fine) is an alternative for Rinse Aid, it costed me about Rs 30 per 500 ml bottle. I increased the rinse aid level in the dishwasher by one point so that it could match the performance. For me 50ml gets consumed in 15 days and that works to Rs 6 per month or Rs 0.20 per wash.



Dishwasher Detergent - Though I could find some alternatives given in the internet like Home Made detergent - Borax, Washing Soda, Vineger it doesn't match the performance of Dishwasher detergent. I did try adding half quantity of Dishwasher detegent added with half quantity of Home made detergent however the results were satisfactory only. For this reason I'm not considering this as an alternative thougth we could save some money with mixing them with Dishwasher detergent.

The overall revised cost works to

Dishwasher Salt : Rs 0.50 per wash
Dishwasher Detergent : Rs 2.80 per wash.
Rise Aid : Rs 0.20 per wash.
Electricity Expense : Rs 3.37 per wash.

Total Rs 6.87 per wash or Rs 206 per month

Limitations of a Dishwasher (things you need to know)

The limitations of a Dishwasher in Indian conditions are given below...

Magic Hands

• Dishwasher doesn't have a any magic hand that would be used to scrap off the Stains or left over food particles that are struck to the vessels. Anything that would normally have to be scrapped with hand may not get removed in a dishwasher completely. That would include, dried rice vessels, Milk vessels heated twice without washing, Curd vessels left dried, deep fried Kadai left dried and any food that would get struck to the vessel. The only exception to this is oily vessels that would come up clean. This could be avoided t0 certain extent if you get into the habit of running such type of vessels under the sink tap in order to keep them wet. We normally remove them by hand with scrotch-brite before placing them in the dishwasher.
• You need to remove solid food particles before putting the vessels on to your dishwasher atleast try to loosen up the food particles so that they get removed during wash cycle.

So the bottom line is, you still have to do that 10% of work which you normally have to do after your maid has completed her unfinished job - The only difference is that you need to do it before. Believe me its worth it, because the sparkle in the vessels, the feeling that your vessels are hygenic (~70 degrees) and the vessels are ready for use, if you give 5-10 minutes time after washing cycle is completed.

Time

• Dishwasher would take about one-and-half hours to complete the entire washing cycle. In our experience short cycles (~30 minutes) are useful to clean glassware and ceramics. Wonder how glassware in those 5 star hotels are looking new, its because of this - you just need to choose the program for cleaning glasses that would take about 30 minutes and your glass & glass containers would be sparkling .

So if you imagine that Dishwasher could be used for cleaning vessels faster that hand-wash they it would fall short of your expectation.

Vessels & Size

• Theoritically you could put big vessels inside dishwasher, however it won't be economical due the limitation in the total space available.
• If you place bigger vessels, it not only consumes more space but also it might prevent water (spray) falling on other vessels. This doesn't mean dishwasher are meant for smaller vessels, we use about 5 medium-size vessels meant for milk, rice, curd, sambar, rasam etc in daily wash. Cooker, Water Pot (Thanni Kudam) are strict No.

Bottom line is if you want clean 5 medium-size vessels and one cooker, it is economical to clean the cooker by hand and use the dishwasher to clean 5-medium/10 small sized vessels.

Arranging Vessels

• Its very important that you place the vessels properly so that you get optimum results. It is not rocket science but just commen sense. It would vary depending on the type/size of the vessels you are using at home and I'll cover this in a seperate post.

Its easy to learn how to place the vessels provided you are inclined to devote some time to understand and master it.

How to spend less on your Dishwasher (lesser than what you pay to your Maid)

At the outset I'd like to let you know that neither this blog nor this post is agaist Maids. Among House Maid population, there are still about 5 to 10 %, who are reliable and do a neat job, we too had a maid (in our native city) who worked in our house for about 20 years, she was reliable and we considered her has one in our extended family. If you still have one like her, then please continue with them as you are supporting a person and her family indirectly.

Coming back to the topic. There are about four items I consider as recurring expenses while having a dishwasher.

1. Dishwasher Salt
2. Dishwasher Detergent
3. Rinse Aid
4. Electricity Expense

(Note that all the details provided below are based on IFB Neptune model with Intensive Wash program and bore water being used)

Dishwasher Salt : Dishwashers in India generally have a Water Softening unit (IFB has) that helps in converting hard water to soft water so that your Dishwasher Detergent works well. Need to fill atleast a Kg of it, once a month depending on level of hardness in your water. There is a specific way to set this level in the Dishwasher, I'll tell you the practical way I follow to set it right (but little later). We fill it once in a month (30 washes) and costs Rs 70 / Kg. Comes to Rs 2.30 per wash

Dishwasher Detergent : This is not a normal detergent that we use for washing cloths, but, a special detergent - one meant for Dishwashers. Need to fill it every time - just before you start the Dishwasher. We use about 3 spoons (I'll explain in detail, little later) and it comes for about 75 washes. It costs Rs 210 / Kg. Comes to Rs 2.80per wash.

Rise Aid : This prevents water spots on you vessels and brings the extra shine on your vessels. Need to fill about 50 ml each month (I'll explain in detail, little later). Its costs Rs 75 / 200ml. Comes to Rs 0.63 per wash.

Electricity Expense : Takes 2 units per wash (Intensive Wash - thats the maximum level in IFB - Neptune). Going by the slab rates prevailing currently in the city I'm living - Hyderabad, Comes to Rs 3.37 per wash.

Going by the cost I've earlier mentioned , the total expenditure works out to Rs 9.10 per wash. We normally run the dishwasher once a day, hence our monthly expense works out to Rs 273.

Coming Next: Some alternatives to additives

Dishwasher - Would it work for our Indian type vessels

Yes, it definitely works well.

We bought a dishwasher in October 2008, so that my wife need not depend on the maid. Years have passed passed since then and we are happy with its performance and convenience it provides.

We spent good amount of time, to understand how our IFB Dishwasher (Neptune) works and experimented a lot, before we finally arrived at the right quantity of detergent, salt and rinse aid required for our dishes to get cleaned. The result, we spend less than what we used to pay to our maid earlier.

In my next and subsequent post, I'd share our experience, knowledge and details we gathered so that it is beneficial to all the visitors.

Next Post: How to spend less on your Dishwasher (lesser than what you pay to your Maid)