Homemade dishwasher detergent, didn't work so well

[Stella_luna]

Please help me tweak the recipe and make it work better! I mixed equal parts borax/baking soda and put two tablespoons of that in the soap dispenser. The Jet-dry dispenser is full of vinegar. The load came out clean, but with a thin film of powder. What did I do wrong, do you think? We have hard water and low water pressure, if that helps any, but conventional detergents have always worked fine.

[mnnice]

I haven't had good luck with homemade dishwasher detergent (or natural brands for that matter) and I have fairly soft water. I have seen receipes for detergents that also use citric acid (not exactly sure what that does).

Good luck

[jjawm]

Dishwasing detergent is the only cleaning product I have not been able to sucessfully make. I tried the borax/baking soda, and it worked briefly. I tried putting in a bit of Dr. Bronner's with it, and that didn't work. So now we're back to using commercial products (although we've discovered we can use 1/2 a tablet rather than a full one).

[SeekingJoy]

You might be using too much. Also, I use a tiny squirt of dishwashing detergent (7th gen) in the mix.

[maryjane]

We also had bad luck with dishwasher detergent (borax & baking soda). I ended up getting the Costco brand "environmental" detergent. I sometimes cut it with a bit of baking soda.

[SeekingJoy]

Also, try washing soda instead of baking soda.

[Adamsmama]

Originally Posted by maryjane

We also had bad luck with dishwasher detergent (borax & baking soda). I ended up getting the Costco brand "environmental" detergent. I sometimes cut it with a bit of baking soda.

Does this work well? I was thinking of trying this next time I run out (which will be in about a week).

[Leta]

Use white vinegar as a rinse aid (a la Jet Dry). Also, mix in some packets of lemon Kool Aid to your bs/ws mix. Generic is fine, just don't use the stuff that already has sugar added.

[homemommie]

I tried the kool aid /citric acid recipes too with no luck. I have yet to find a home made cleaner that will work for the dishwasher.