Over the past few months I have helped a some friends start making up liquid laundry soap. Now that they have seen how easy it is they are asking more questions about additional recipes. One that keeps coming is is Dishwasher Detergent.
My journey to the current dishwasher detergent recipe that I use has been a long one. Mainly that of trial and error. And then more trial…
The original basic recipe that I saw over and over was this:
- 1/4 cup Borax
- 1/4 cup Washing Soda (not Baking Soda)
- 1/8 cup Kosher Salt
- 1/8 cup Citric Acid
Use 1 T per load in detergent compartment.
You can see some discussion on this during the Real Clean Roundup over at Not Dabbling in Normal from May 2011. Same recipe as you see listed above
Well, that basic didn’t seem to work for me and there are several variables that seem to make this either; sort-of work, work really well, or not work at all. I have been through all of them.
The Big variable is the water. It is amazing how much difference there is in water. We all know about soft water and hard water, and then there is everything in between. All those “everything’s” are huge variables, apparently, in making your own dishwasher detergent.
In all my trials, what it came down to was the amount of citric acid in my recipe and the amount of homemade detergent that I actually put in my dishwasher each time. Here is the recipe that is working for me.
- 1/4 cup Borax
- 1/4 cup Washing Soda (not Baking Soda)
- 1/8 cup Kosher Salt
- 1/4 cup Citric Acid
1 T per load in the compartment (no more, no less)
If my silverware and glasses come out cloudy – that usually means I got carried away and added to much detergent mixture. If it happens, I am more careful about measuring it out next time I do the dishes.
For a Rinse Aide:
I use regular white vinegar in the rinse air compartment or a citrus infused vinegar (made by taking the peel (no rind) off any citrus and letting it sit in vinegar for several weeks.
Now that I have been making my own dishwasher powder for a few years, there is still one more things I have struggled with; the mixture getting hard in the the jar.
Every time I wanted to run the dishwasher I would have to chip away at the jar of dishwasher powder to get some of it out. I am a pretty patient person, so I didn’t get too worked up about having to chip away at it, but the final straw was when I couldn’t get it broken up with a spoon like I normally did and I used a knife.
Not only did I chip away at the dishwasher powder, but I took a big chunk of glass out of the bottom of the canning jar it was in. Opps! This patient person reached her limit. Time for a change.
My quick fix to this problem was just to keep the ingredients separate. Ya, that means opening four jars to just get the ingredients out, but each ingredient isn’t clumping up anymore. No chipping away at it. It is working great.
Now instead of 1T out of a big jar I measure out just shy of 1 teaspoon of each ingredient per load and things are working great. No more clumping. No more chipping away. yes, I have to open four jars, but I still think that I am ahead of the game when it comes to frugal and environmentally safe.
Do you make your own dishwasher detergent?
Sincerely, Emily
You can see what else I am up to over at Sincerely, Emily. The topics are varied, as I jump around from gardening to sewing to making bread or lotion and many things in between.
Hi Emily, have not made my own dw soap yet but wondered about a suspending agent for you soap. As a potter I mix a lot of glazes, if I have a glaze that settles out I put a handful of Epsom salt to a 5 gallon bucket. Also use bentonite, which is mined in Texas.
Your washing ash is what we call soda ash and it is used in quite a few glazes. We also use gertsley borate which is a by product of mining borax and also can gel up a glaze like pudding if there is enough other stuff with it.
Hi Sandy, Oh How I wish I would have known about the epsom salt or bentonite with working with clay and glazes. I dreaded opening certain glazes and spending precious time mix and mix to get the heavy stuff that had settled out and formed a hard layer on the bottom. I think the teacher should have know that. UGH! It still didn’t keep me from playing with clay.
This dishwasher detergent is in a dry form. If I keep the components separate and on their own they remain easy to work with, but once I combine them something happens and they clump together. They never go into a slimy or liquid stage, just a big clump of hard mass that is hard to break up to use it. I am assuming it is a reaction between the elements and not humidity because one their own they are fine. I have even tried some of the gel packets form medicine containers in there, they didn’t help at all. So I don’t know…. there may be something to add to the mixture to keep it powdery and unclumping. It’s a pain to open four jars to do a load of dishes, but it is a lot less of a hassle then dealing with the clump and I will still do it because it is a lot cheaper they buying detergent.
Been there…pinched that
Though homemade laundry detergent worked fine for us, the dishwasher detergent didn’t. Even though I added vinegar for a rinse and tried many recipes, our dishes were cloudy and the inside of the dishwash always stunk.
I did however solve the clumpy problem of the detergent. Once it had formed a hard lump, I put it into a plastic bag and whacked it with a meat mallet until it was a powder again. I put it back into my original container and it didn’t seem to clump up again. Maybe this will work for you.
Hi Becky – I fought with the cloudy glasses as I worked out a mixture that worked for our water. It did take a long time, but I happy to finally have it worked out. My dishwasher has never stunk though – that is odd.
I like the idea of putting the hard lump in a bag and whacking it with a hammer though. Sure would have felt good to do that.
I don’t recognise the names of the products you use here, so I would be wary of doing this, do you know their chemical names?
Hi Joanna – good point. Here is what I found that might help translate American English to European English.
The chemical formula for Washing Soda is Na2CO3, and it is also known as sodium carbonate or sodium ash. It is completely different from baking soda (bicarb) and washing powder.
The chemical formula for Citric Acid is formula C6H8O7. This is what I found in wikipedia: “The dominant use of citric acid is as a flavoring and preservative in food and beverages, especially soft drinks. Within the European Union it is denoted by E number E330. Citric acid can be added to ice cream as an emulsifying agent to keep fats from separating, to caramel to prevent sucrose crystallization, or to recipes in place of fresh lemon juice. Citric acid is also often used in cleaning products. Citric acid sold in a dry powdered form is commonly sold in markets and groceries as “sour salt”, due to its physical resemblance to table salt. It has use in culinary applications where an acid is needed for either its chemical properties or for its sour flavor, but a dry ingredient is needed and additional flavors are unwanted (e.g., instead of vinegar or lemon juice). Citric acid is an excellent chelating agent, binding metals. It is used to remove limescale from boilers and evaporators.[ It can be used to soften water, which makes it useful in soaps and laundry detergents. By chelating the metals in hard water, it lets these cleaners produce foam and work better without need for water softening. Citric acid is the active ingredient in some bathroom and kitchen cleaning solutions. A solution with a 6% concentration of citric acid will remove hard water stains from glass without scrubbing. In industry, it is used to dissolve rust from steel. Citric acid can be used in shampoo to wash out wax and coloring from the hair”
Kosher salt
Borax is generally described as Na2B4O7•10H2O. It is also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate. It is commonly used for household cleaning. You will find it used in many of the homemade laundry detergent recipes. In grocery stores in my area it can be found in the laundry detergent isle, usually on the bottom shelf, in a box – called 20 mule team borax. People use is at a laundry detergent booster in hard water.
The fact that this stuff solidifies so readily makes me wonder if it isn’t a prime candidate to make dishwasher pellets like the ones you can buy commercially. Perhaps you could wet it intentionally, drop your tablespoons full of detergent into an ice cube tray (or similar mould), let it dry fully, then pop them out and put them into a zip-top bag.
If it works, it’d turn the inconvenience into a convenience. On the other hand, they might just get stuck-together inside the bag.
HI Justin – that’s a great idea!!!!
Hey Everyone! Thanks for your comments and questions. I am recovering from surgery and just need to take it easy a few more days…. then I will be able to focus a bit more (a little at a time) and answer your questions.
Get well soon Emily xxx
Thanks