This is a guest post by Jody Tompson. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
If you live in an area with hard water, you have probably noticed a recent change in the performance of your dishwasher. Specifically, your dishes might have a white film or residue on them after they go through your automatic dishwasher. In addition to looking dirty, these “clean” dishes can also feel gritty or sandy when you handle them. Some people have grown quite frustrated because they have been unable to find a solution to this problem. One week the dishwasher was working fine, then, in a matter of a few days, the dishes began looking terrible.
I have been researching this problem since the fall of 2010 and wanted to share what I have learned. Beginning in the summer of 2010, many state governments began passing laws that changed the ingredients in dishwashing detergent. For example, the law went into effect in Massachusetts, Washington, and Oregon on July 1, 2010. Yes, it’s true. The new detergents don’t work very well anymore. Specifically, phosphate was prohibited as an ingredient in all consumer dishwasher detergents. Phosphate was the ingredient that helped detergent work better, and it rinsed the hard water deposits off the dishes. Now that the phosphate is gone, some people with hard water are unable to get their dishes clean. The hard water deposits are mostly calcium and magnesium. They are not dangerous or harmful – but they make your dishes look terrible. Also, the inside of your dishwasher might be covered with the white residue. When these hard water deposits build up substantially, they can form blockages in your drain (standing water in the bottom of your dishwasher) and your sprayer arm (the spinning arm that sprays water toward the top rack). Obviously if the water flow is obstructed in your dishwasher it will not clean your dishes well.
You might be wondering why the state governments have passed these laws. The reason is based on environmentalism. Phosphate is thought to be responsible for creating algae blooms in our waterways. When the phosphate is flushed into the sewer systems, it eventually makes its way into both fresh and salt water bodies. There it acts like a fertilizer and encourages algae to grow in the water. The algae grow rapidly and consume a lot of oxygen in the water. When the oxygen is severely depleted, the aquatic life in the area becomes oxygen starved. Here in Florida, the Gulf of Mexico has seen algae blooms that are responsible for the death of thousands of fish in a few weeks.
To overcome the problem, I have heard stories of people who bought a completely new set of dishes, only to discover that their new dishes were soon covered in a chalky film also. Other people have purchased new dishwashers because they assumed that their old dishwasher was faulty. In most cases of chalky, cloudy, gritty dishes, the problem is the hard water deposits. Nothing more complicated.
I did a lot of reading, talked to some appliance retailers, and talked to some chemistry professors at our local university. I conducted lots of experiments with my own dishwasher and after dozens of trial and error mistakes, I created a product that solves this hard water problem. It’s all-natural, contains organic orange peel powder, and does not contain any phosphate. And I promise it works great. It will make your dishes and the inside of your dishwasher look like new again. It will break up hard water clogs in your sprayer arm and drain. It’s a powder that you add to each wash cycle. Use 1-2 tablespoons and less of your normal detergent. So your cost per wash does not increase.
Another feature of the product is that it is packaged in re-used water bottles. Recycling a plastic bottle is good, but re-using a plastic bottle is even better! We might be the only company in America that sells a first-rate product in a second-hand container. Have a look at my website and buy a bottle if you want your dishes to be clean again! The product is called CitriClean and can be found at https://www.CitriClean.net
I am Jody Tompson, a father, husband, and professor in Tampa, FL. I founded CitriClean of Florida, LLC in March of 2011. Contact me: [email protected]