Can Fairy be used in the dishwasher?
Against the backdrop of the economic crisis, our man really wants to save a little. Come on, this would be constructive saving, but sometimes, in an effort to save a couple of extra cents in his wallet, a citizen plunges himself into monstrous waste, and all due to a lack of information. A “fake” has been circulating on the Internet for quite some time now that it is possible to add regular Fairy to the dishwasher instead of a special detergent for manual washing of dishes. We are tempted to check it out. But really, let's find out experimentally whether it is possible to put Fairy in the dishwasher.
Is it dangerous to fill with Fairy?
From an economic point of view, the prospect is more than tempting. A bottle of Fairy for washing dishes by hand is cheaper than Fairy capsules for washing dishes in the dishwasher. In addition, as the advertisement tells us, you only need a few drops of this product to wash a whole mountain of dishes. It’s not difficult to bring two facts together and the opinion has already formed that by adding a few drops of Fairy to the dishwasher, all dirty dishes will be washed perfectly, and you can save a lot. Let's not make preliminary conclusions, but let's check this in practice.
The experiment involved: two technicians from our service center, dishwasher Bosch SMS24AW01R, a bottle of Fairy, two dozen artificially soiled plates. The purpose of the experiment: to check whether a dishwasher will wash dishes with a few drops of this detergent and whether it will not harm the equipment.
- A few drops of Fairy were added to the powder compartment. To prevent the product from leaking out, the craftsmen smeared Fairy on the inner surface of the compartment.
- We started the normal washing program.
- At the end of the program, the dishes were removed and placed for inspection.
What is the result? The plates were washed rather poorly. The contaminants were only partially washed away. The machine would wash in the same way without any detergent. Obviously, the power of a few drops of Fairy is not enough to wash dishes in the dishwasher. At the same time, the product dissolved well, as evidenced by the clean powder compartment, on which only light traces of foam remained.
It turns out that there is no point in using Feiry, since it does not wash dishes in the dishwasher at all? Let's not rush to conclusions and continue the experiment. We decided to repeat the experiment, and instead of a few drops of Fairy, we added a full tablespoon of this product. What did increasing the dosage of the drug give?
After 35 minutes of washing, foam came out of the cracks in the dishwasher door. The washing had to be stopped because there was a risk of foam getting on the control module. And so our experiment ended ingloriously. It turns out that if you pour a little Fairy into the machine, the dishes will remain dirty, and if you pour a lot of Fairy, increased foaming can “kill” the electronics of the dishwasher. Draw conclusions.
Repairing the control module can cost half the cost of a new dishwasher.
How to save detergent correctly?
It’s probably already clear to everyone what will happen if you use regular dishwashing detergent in the dishwasher. But you still want to save money. Let's figure out how this can be done without reducing the quality of dishwashing and without harming the “home assistant”.
- Reduce the dose of special detergent for washing dishes in dishwashers by half. If it is a powder, add fifteen grams instead of thirty.If they are tablets, feel free to cut them in half. A whole tablet is needed only if the machine is loaded to capacity with very dirty dishes.
- Stockpile the dishes and wash them once a day. This will save you some more money. In addition, you will benefit a little by reducing water and energy costs.
- If it's time to change the electric meter, install a device with separate readings. At night, electricity is cheaper, which means you can save a little by running the machine at night.
In order to run the dishwasher at night, you don’t have to go to bed late or get up on purpose. It is enough to launch a delayed start. The machine activates itself when needed.
Homemade detergents: benefit or harm?
There is a fairly large group of people who prefer to make their own dishwasher detergents. Adherents of homemade products vying with each other to praise the recipes for their cleaning “potions”, forgetting to mention that their components can cause serious harm to equipment.
Take, for example, recipes based on mustard. It’s hard to say who and when first thought of pouring dry mustard into the dishwasher, but the effect is invariably amazing. Mustard swells in hot water, clogging sprinkler nozzles, garbage filters, pumps and even pipes. It is enough to wash the dishes with mustard detergent 2-3 times and then you will have to seriously clean the machine.
Recipes with vinegar essence are even more dangerous. Such chemistry can damage the heating element. You will save 2-3 dollars by using vinegar instead of a professional product, and then the heating element will break, and you will think about what to do about this problem. Replacing the heating element will cost much more; you can stock up on dishwashing tablets for the year ahead.
Summarize. Special dishwashing detergents were developed for this technique for a reason. There was a good reason for this. So leave the usual Fairy in case you have to wash the dishes with your hands and go to the store for powder or tablets. Good luck!
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6 reader comments
Thanks for your experiment, very instructive!!
Yeah... If foam can easily get into the electronics control module, then water can do the same. Let it not be directly, but in the form of moisture. A planned breakdown is obvious. You need to look for a dishwasher with an insulated and practically sealed electronics module.
Today I tried to wash dishes in the dishwasher using a regular fairy. Everything worked out great. Just don't go to extremes. Not a tablespoon or a few drops, a fairy teaspoon and everything is fine. And the foam doesn’t rise and the dishes are washed. It's like you don't specifically want to talk about it. I have a large dishwasher.
Regarding vinegar and mustard - a lie. I have been using both products for 3 years. All OK.
Fairies are tough. I don’t wash dishes with it by hand either.
But, if you splash a little good low-foaming dishwashing detergent - not into the detergent tray, but into the machine itself (to rinse it in the pre-rinse mode), and pour regular soda into the tray (after the tray lid opens, you can add more spoon of soda), then the washing result will be quite decent.
I rarely use it when I suddenly run out of the product and I’m too lazy to go to the store. Dishes wash well. Bosch machine, manufactured in 2007. Works great!
I washed it and everything is fine. No foam came out anywhere. The composition of the products is identical, by the way.