So I had a little talk with our local water department here in the lovely Inland Empire area of Southern California, and it seems there has been some changes in your standard, trusty dishwasher soap recently. We have some pretty hard water here, for whatever reason. It's not the Stringfellow Acid Pits or jet fuel in the water - I checked. After replacing not one, but three dishwashers and checking pipes here, and tossing a good box of Cascade in this process of elimination, it seems missing phosphate is to blame.

Apparently, recent regulations from EPA or whoever, made them remove most of the phosphates from the detergent for environmental reasons. So if you have hard water, you now get 'white cake' on your dishes. Sure enough, call the local appliance store and they are reporting similar complaints from consumers. Cloudy glasses, whitish silverware stains, etc. The water company says levels of phosphate were dropped dramatically, from 25-30% to under 1%. The old Cascade is all but off the shelves now. This change is very recent; in the last couple of months.

So, if you have hard water issues, there is a fix: A Finish Powerball, Jet Dry liquid and the old 20-Mule Team Borax, 1/4 cup for each wash.

So there you have it. Hope that helps for your hard water issues!

Yep. Oh, and that new stuff doesn't clean for **** either - despite what they claim.

Anyone remember appx 25 years ago when phosphates were removed from laundry detergent? Clothes just don't seem to be sparkling white after phosphates were removed.

Thanks Bohemian-I'm going to need that!

So you don't use the detergent at all just the borax and the jet dry?

I wonder if a teaspoon of naval jelly would help

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So you don't use the detergent at all just the borax and the jet dry?

I guess the Finish Powerball is the detergent. I guess they didn't reduce the phosphate as much in Finish. I'm running a load now, I'll let you know:P

One thing is certain, Cascade is pure crap now.

Bohemian, where in the IE?

Have you ever tried Trader Joe's dishwasher detergent powder? I've never missed the phosphates in that one.

Smartest plan - add a cup of vinegar to the dishwasher prior to starting. Easy, smart, healthy etc. and not a single white spot... our well water is so hard it's practically solid. :)

I read this recently as an alternative dishwasher mixture, but haven't tried it yet:

1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of baking soda, mix together in a container. Only use 2 teaspoons of the mixture and 1 drop of liquid dish soap in the cup, and straight white vinegar in the rinse aid dispenser.

Thank you for this post! I thought my dishwasher was broken. Everything I have is covered in white crap.

And here I thought it was my dishwasher as well! I got so sick of everything coming out spotted even after multiple washes that I switched to hand-washing everything in the kitchen sink, and using the dishwasher as a glorified drying rack. It's more effort but when I clean dishes I expect those dishes to both look and be clean, not covered in some toxic detergent filth.

Yep - it's the removal of phosphates.

Despite what people say it was NOT put in there simply for grins and giggles. It is what makes the detergent WORK when there are mineral ions in the water. Without it those ions precipitate out.

Thanks for this post!
We're on well water and have been having similar problems.

Just buy a bag of sodium hexametaphosphate.

http://www.needs.com/product/Miracle_Cle....

great link, been looking for a good solution. Vinegar works but this looks like the right thing.

I'm suprised that people haven't been simply making their own, Mo's recipie is correct.

grf, I'm not sure the homemade solution works for hard water issues. It may, I just don't know. All I know is that as of last summer, the dishwasher sucks and I end up cleaning with vinegar. My understanding is that this is due to the lack of phosphates. Sqmo's link solves that one directly.

There's a couple of recipes :) Pick whichever you like.

Sqmo - Do you use only the sodium hexametaphosphate by itself?

No I don't use it. I use a detergent with bleach in it and I pre-rinse my dishes. I have soft water and seem to get by just fine. If you want to use a booster such as the above, you would add it to the detergent in an amount proportional to your water hardness and the amount of gunk on your dishes.

You could also try simple Trisodium phosphate, or TSP, from the hardware store, normally used for cleaning walls.

Unreal. I thought the same thing. We even talked about replacing it.

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Have you ever tried Trader Joe's dishwasher detergent powder?

Yes, and it SUCKS. The dishes look cleaner before they're washed (in SoCal water).

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Yes, and it SUCKS. The dishes look cleaner before they're washed (in SoCal water).

Interesting. The TJ dishwasher powder works for me in Oregon like nothing I've ever used before. When I'm visiting my aunt in SoCal, washing my hair there gives it the consistency of straw. Water is so different depending on where you are.