Cheap yet reliable dishwasher tablets and rinse aid

Farway wrote: »

I have, L's, Wilko & A5da anyway and not impressed. I'm in very hard water area. I now do as Petula and buy Finish in bulk when I spot them on offer

Out of interest, what is it that you're not impressed with farway? Do they not clean properly? I'm wondering now whether as I've used nothing but Lidl and Aldi for years whether I'm missing something.

All I'd say is that over time here is a film on cheap glasses but that doesn't bother me and I think that can happen with any dishwasher stuff. I find that the Perrier glasses that I use regularly come out sparkling but that may be because they're designed for commercial use.

QQQ wrote: »

No, it's not as it should be. You may want to adjust the water hardness settings on your dishwasher.

Thanks for that. I'll investigate but I have to say I wasn't aware it had such settings.

maman wrote: »

Out of interest, what is it that you're not impressed with farway? Do they not clean properly? I'm wondering now whether as I've used nothing but Lidl and Aldi for years whether I'm missing something.

All I'd say is that over time here is a film on cheap glasses but that doesn't bother me and I think that can happen with any dishwasher stuff. I find that the Perrier glasses that I use regularly come out sparkling but that may be because they're designed for commercial use.

I seem to recall reading that it isn't a film as such, it's almost chemical etching as a result of the aggressive detergent needed to wash, say, saucepans with stuck-on residue as well as glasses in the same wash. This will also damage fine porcelain and especially decorative trims, like the gold sometimes applied around the rims of expensive tea cups.

The professional advice seems to be that all-in-one tablets work OK in medium hardness areas but in hard water districts you are better using salt and rise aid as separate entities.

I have tried Finish relatively recently and I did not find it any better than Aldi's tablets.

A._Badger wrote: »

Don't forget, the water hardness setting only works if you are using salt as a separate item. It controls the amount of salt released into the wash and cannot affect the amount of salt dispensed by a tablet which is an average amount. I'm told this is why people living in very hard water areas are advised to stick to using salt in the traditional way.

A._Badger wrote: »

I seem to recall reading that it isn't a film as such, it's almost chemical etching as a result of the aggressive detergent needed to wash, say, saucepans with stuck-on residue as well as glasses in the same wash. This will also damage fine porcelain and especially decorative trims, like the gold sometimes applied around the rims of expensive tea cups.

The professional advice seems to be that all-in-one tablets work OK in medium hardness areas but in hard water districts you are better using salt and rise aid as separate entities.

I have tried Finish relatively recently and I did not find it any better than Aldi's tablets.

I think you're both right. I think calling it a film was wrong it probably is a general sort of scratching.

I've fiddled about with buttons on the dishwasher as suggested in the manual but don't feel it's done anything for hardness. Who knows?

We're in a hard water area and I use separate tablets, rinse aid and salt so I'll stick to what I'm doing.