Dishwasher & washing machine cleaners

Adam Funk presented the following explanation :

The consensus a while back, was no, unless your water is very hard and the mixture very cheap. A few years of paying for these, would more than pay for a new washer.

Much of what you see demonstrated in the TV ads is kidology/ staged.

We live in a soft water area, I do all my own repairs on such machines and have never seen any but them being absolutely clean as a whistle. The only dirt which collects, is a tiny bit of black, at the bottom of the drum to door seal. Our rule is a maximum temperature empty machine wash, every few months, to kill anything in there and prevent any smells.

They don't just remove the deposits due to hard water but also stray bacteria, grease etc especially in a washing machine.

Possibly but is it worth it, especially at Aldi prices? Contrary to common myth, items like this from Aldi seem to be fine when it comes to quality. Some of their cleaning products are excellent. Senior Management swears by their bathroom cleaner. Their caravan cleaner is as good as any I've tried- it brings our motorhome up like new.

When my washer/drier started getting stinky I rang up the Persil help line and the man suggested I do a "maintenance wash" (maximum temperature/no laundry in the drum) using washing soda (put in the drum). (Odd that he didn't recommend Persil - standard laundry powder works just as well in my experience - though I haven't had any stink problems since I started using the 60° setting for some washes.)

The stink is due to microorganisms I assume, which would occur whatever the water hardness I would think.

Dishwasher ones do degrease quite well.

I've never used a washing machine one though.

The main problem of that type we had with our washing machine in a hard water area was the bottom inside of the door seal becoming black. We had it for something like 15 years. The replacement is cold fill only and often takes a couple of hours to do a wash, depending on the program and was made in China.

Naah. Use the wrong detergent and you get too much foam and it seeps out the door and trips the aquastop...

Thomas Prufer

They do 2 things.

1. remove limescale, the existence of which indicates a poisoned ie failed deioniser, which affects wash performance & causes cloudiness.
2. remove protein gloop that can block the tubing.

No reason not to mix your own. I gather washing up liquid is the detergent of choice to remove protein gloop.

So if your machine isn't scaling, a drop of washing up liquid in each wash does the same job.

NT

On 20:06 16 Nov 2018, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

What about fatty gloop?

Seems to do pretty well on those too.

Given that's it's quite difficult to clean the whole water matrix once it has glooped up, I have always cleaned our dishwashers once a month. Clean seals, clean filters, top up salt and rinse aid, run with dishwasher cleaner.

The dishwasher cleaner is only about a pound per month from Aldi.

Only problems we've had (in about 25 years) have been the cutlery basket disintgrating at the bottom (children dropping sharp knives in blade first) and worn out covers on the detergent compartment (cheap and quick to replace). Oh, and a split external drain hose.

We had this problem too about 5 years ago. I cable-tied some stainless steel mesh to the undersides of the baskets and they?ve been no trouble since. e.g.

Tim

For washing machines just use half a pack of washing soda fir one cycle at the highest temperature.

Most washing machines are cold fill only these days. Washing immediately in warm or hot water cooks in stains and so they all start a wash cycle with cold water.

I just bought a new bottom for the basket, Bosch spare.

You don't need to use as much as that. A cupful will do. And ordinary laundry powder works much as well I find. If using washing soda put it straight in the drum. And either way don't put any washing in the drum.

Are you sure your machine needs it? The most annoying problem I see is in and around the softener/ conditioner tray and the drain. The rest is pretty clean.

Brian

Why in the drum and not the drawer?

I haven't had any problems with stink in either appliance, but I do use the 90° programme on the washing machine a few times a month. I have had problems with black mould in the top of the drawer slot, but I now aim to spray distilled vinegar in there after every wash (& remember about 3/4 of the time) & that has kept it from coming back.

Well, the dishwasher had to have the heating element replaced after 4 or 5 years, & the repairman said it was furred up. However, our water is soft enough that the test strips say not to bother with the salt.

Common myth? I thought it was fairly well known that Aldi's cleaning products are generally good.

The main reason to use the drawer for laundry powder is that you don't want the it to be in direct contact with the laundry as it's too concentrated until all the water goes in; but the soda crystals might not be washed out of the drawer so easily.

(I remember when dispenser drawers always left a lot of powder behind. Then the manufacturers worked out how to fix the problem.)