Can you use regular dishwashing detergent in the dishwasher?

The high cost of special powder and tablets for washing dishes in the dishwasher encourages users to undertake risky experiments. What people don’t pour into the dishwasher instead of powder, soda, mustard, lemon juice and a whole bunch of other chemicals. Some people are interested in whether it is possible to pour regular dishwashing detergent into the dishwasher, since it is much cheaper. This operation initially seems dubious to us, however, if you are interested, we will try to understand this issue in detail.

If you pour gel for hand washing?

Even the most expensive dish gel is cheaper than a good dishwashing detergent in PMM, and this is no coincidence. A dishwasher tablet or powder contains powerful, concentrated chemicals that cannot be compared to regular gel in terms of effectiveness. It turns out that if we pour a few grams of Fairy gel into the dishwasher and run the program, we will end up with unwashed plates and pots. What else could happen?

Regular dishwashing detergent can be very foamy. During the execution of the program, foam will spread in all directions and can damage the electronic components of the dishwasher.
In detergents such as tablets, the manufacturer adds a special salt, which is needed to restore the dishwasher’s ion exchanger. Without salt, scale will begin to form in the machine. If you frequently wash dishes with regular detergent and do not add salt, the dishwasher will break down over time.

Salt can and should be added to the special compartment of the dishwasher and make sure that it does not run out.If necessary, add salt.

Some modern dishwashers will not start unless a powder or tablet is added to the special compartment. Their sensors do not respond to regular gel, so the system simply will not allow the wash to start.

How to replace tablets and powder?

We dismissed regular dishwashing gel as a potential replacement for a special detergent, but the desire to save money has not gone away. How can you really replace special tablets and powder so that the dishes are washed well and there are no problems. In fact, finding a good replacement is not that easy. Of course, there are many recipes for homemade dishwashing detergents, but in terms of effectiveness it is difficult to compare them with store-bought counterparts. Let's give examples.

Lemon powder. Take 100 g of citric acid and mix it with 400 grams of soda ash. Add 50 g of borax to the resulting mixture. The resulting powder should be stored in a dry, dark place and used as needed. This homemade powder cleans somewhat worse than the store bought one, but it is cheap and does not harm the dishwasher parts.
Tablets on children's washing powder. We take a safe children's washing powder for an automatic washing machine, approximately 300 g. Add 150 grams of soda ash and 30 ml of glycerin to the powder. Then add a little water, mix the slurry, then put it in ice trays. After drying on the battery, you will get homemade dishwashing tablets.
Salty powder. Take 150 g of table salt and 150 g of soda ash. Mix these components, add 50 g of borax, mix everything thoroughly and put the powder in a dry place. If you are going to store the powder for a long time, it is better to pour it into a hermetically sealed dry plastic container.
Magnesia powder. You need to take 400 g of magnesia, mix it with 200 grams of soda ash and 100 grams of baby laundry detergent. The resulting mixture can also be used for washing dishes.

You should not prepare powders and tablets based on mustard. Although mustard washes away grease, it also has a negative effect on the parts of the dishwasher. The fact is that mustard powder swells in hot water and settles on the machine parts, causing it to fail. It is also not recommended to pour vinegar into the dishwasher, since its smell will take a long time to dissipate and create a lot of problems. What else is possible replace detergent for PMM read in a separate publication, and we smoothly move on to the conclusion.

So, using regular dish soap in the dishwasher is generally ineffective and even unsafe. So it is better to refuse such experiments, otherwise you may end up with expensive repairs.