dishwasher detergents (from CR)
The March 2005 issue of Consumer Reports has
articles on dishwashers and detergents. Here's a summary of the dish
detergents:
Enzymes rule! ALl enzyme
based detergents were judged as very good to excellent. The non-enzyme formuilas
rated merely fair. Gels are not very effective. Seems that the enzymes are just
not compatible with gels.
Some of the
best brands were house brands: Trader Joe's, Kirkland (Costco) and WalMart.
The top 8 were almost identical in
scores.
Cascade 2 in 1 Action
packs
Trader
Joe's
Cascade
Complete
Cascade Pure Rinse Electrasol 2 in 1
tabs
Kirkland
(Costco)
Great Value
(WalMart)
Electrasol Dual Action
Tablets.
There is a little difference
with the next 4 brands, which all did score as Very Good, almost
excellent:
Seventh
Generation
Kroger
Ecover
Cascade
Complete gel
The last few differed
mainly in the way they worked with hard water (spotting problems) and soft water
(etching). The top 8 scored the same all the way. Looks like it will be easier
to choose if your DW has a rinse-aid dispenser, in which case, you don't want
the formulas with added rinse aid.
Posted: Sun - February 6, 2005 at 10:15 PM