Is it possible to wash clothes with dishwasher tablets?

In life, many have had a situation where there are unattended dishwasher tablets at home. Perhaps the family's household appliances simply broke down, so the detergent is temporarily not needed, or perhaps the husband simply bought the wrong size capsules. Of course, you don’t want to throw away expensive household chemicals, but it’s also completely unclear what to do with them. In such conditions, some housewives begin to wash clothes with dishwasher tablets. We'll tell you whether it's possible to do this or whether it's better not to risk it.

Are the tablets suitable for white clothes?

PMM owners believe that there will be nothing wrong if they use dishwashing tablets in dishwashers to wash white clothes. Allegedly, the composition of the tablets is very similar to the composition of washing powder, and therefore is completely harmless to laundry. What does the tablet contain?

• Enzymes, thanks to which molecules of proteins, fats, starches and other things dissolve, which means stains and other contaminants disappear from clothes.
• Oxygen bleach, which contains up to 15% of the total mass in the tablet, helps to break down dirt.
• Polycarboxylate, which is a detergent.
• Nionic surfactants - they are 100% biodegradable, plus they are used to form foam.
• Aromatic fragrances.
• Finally, phosphonates, which help neutralize harmful impurities found in water.

If you carefully study this list, it becomes clear that it does not contain such aggressive elements as chlorine, which could damage clothes. Therefore, dishwasher tablets can actually be used to wash white cotton items, especially when you need to effectively remove dirt or stubborn grease from clothes.

If you still don’t trust PMM tablets, then run a work cycle with old kitchen towels that you don’t mind ruining as a test wash.

Once you're sure there's nothing wrong with using dishwasher tablets instead of laundry detergent, you can start washing your everyday whites. The main thing in this matter is not to overdo it with the dose of detergents, so never put more than two tablets in the washing machine per wash. If you are going to hand wash only a few items of clothing in a basin, then a whole tablet may even be a lot. In this case, cut one piece into two parts for more economical consumption.

What fabric can the tablet damage?

To answer this question, it is worth returning once again to the composition of household chemicals for PMM. It contains powerful bleach, which means that the tablet should never be used to wash colored clothes, which it could ruin. The same applies to delicate fabrics such as silk, viscose and microfiber, which are simply not designed to withstand such strong chemical exposure.

It is worth considering the fact that dishwasher tablets dissolve well only in warm and hot water, so if you start washing with this detergent, then choose long-term modes of 1 hour with a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius and above.

And if it so happens that you have already washed colored and white things in one wash, so there are stains and stains on the clothes, then this is not a reason to give up, but another way to use the tablets. In this unpleasant situation, housewives recommend thoroughly crushing a dishwasher tablet, adding six tablespoons of warm water, stirring, applying the mixture to streaky stains and waiting a few hours. After this, the clothes should be washed using ordinary white powder to remove all stains.

The tablet cleans the washing machine

There is another undeniable advantage of using PMM tablets in a washing machine. It's no secret that the washing machine drum often suffers from scale, mold and other unpleasant contaminants, so it needs to be cleaned after each wash. But even thorough cleaning is not a guarantee that various deposits will not appear in the drum, which will then have to be removed using a variety of means, such as soda and citric acid. The disadvantage of this method is that such mixtures can damage the “home assistant” if you add too much of them. And here again a dishwasher tablet can come to the rescue, which contains a lot of active detergents that effectively dissolve scale and other contaminants.

Because of all of the above, owners of dishwashers and washing machines recommend using tablet detergents monthly for washing at temperatures of 90 degrees Celsius and above. If you use the tablet in this way, adding it to the powder compartment instead of the powder itself, this will remove scale, dirt, mold and unpleasant odors from household appliances and extend their service life.

Thus, PMM tablets should never be thrown away, even if they seem to be unsuitable or no longer needed. They are capable of removing stains from clothes and disinfecting the washing machine, and there is absolutely no harm from them if you do not wash colored or delicate items with them.

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