White Residue on Dishes Toxic?

[soocool]

Ok, I started a thread eariler about cleaning the white residue from my dishwasher. But I guess my real question is, what is that white residue? Leftover detergent, calcium? There''s white powder al over my so-called clean dishes! Can this be harmful if ingested? Does anyone know?

 

[neatfreak]

It''s probably just from your hard water. Do you have a water softener? And if so do you have salt in it?

 

[soocool]

We don''t have a water softener, but if the residue was from hard water, I would assume I would also have it in my shower, bath tub, and toilets, but I don''t.

 

[VRBeauty]

Socool -- it''s either minerals from hard water, or detergent that hasn''t rinsed off completely. You can always try different detergents to see whether that does the trick. If it doesn''t, and you''re still concerned, you could take one of the offending plates to a lab for evaluation.

I live in an area that has very hard water. Can''t relate to your dishwasher problem because I don''t have one. The only time the hard water really shows up is when I wash my car

.

 

[diane5006]

If you are not using Jet dry...try that...I also like the Cascade complete packets...I use that and the Jet dry...even though we have a softener...

 

[mrssalvo]

same things happens to me with our hard water. no residue from the shower or anyplace else though. I use jetdry which does help but we really should have a water softener here. the water is just horrible! if there is the white residue, I usually just wipe it off with a clean towel, I hope it''s not toxic

 

[soocool]

I often wonder if it is the dishwashing liquid/powder and not the hard water then what are we ingesting. There are warnings for children and pets not to ingest the liquid/powder that you put in the tray so what if this is left over powder/gel (if it did not dissolve or you used too much) on your dishes, glasses, and utensils? I have often hard to scrape stuff off the walls and bottom that looks like soap scum and not powder.

 

[oobiecoo]

We have this on our dishes/dishwasher and its so annoying. We do a pre-wash, wash everything in the dishwasher, then have to rinse them again afterwards to get the residue off. We''ve tried jetdry and different detergents... I really think its the calcium or whatever in the water though. DH thinks you can run CLR through it so we are going to try that.

 

[soocool]

Date: 2/25/2009 1:57:13 PM
Author: oobiecoo
We have this on our dishes/dishwasher and its so annoying. We do a pre-wash, wash everything in the dishwasher, then have to rinse them again afterwards to get the residue off. We''ve tried jetdry and different detergents... I really think its the calcium or whatever in the water though. DH thinks you can run CLR through it so we are going to try that.

Didn''t think of CLR, I may try that. Does it say how much to use in the dishwasher?

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Have you tried natural d/w detergents? I''ve tried a few and the one that works very well is Trader Joe''s.

 

[soocool]

I have to check to see if there is a Trader Joes near me. Thanks.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/25/2009 3:08:24 PM
Author: soocool
I have to check to see if there is a Trader Joes near me. Thanks.

Yep, no problem. There are a few other natural brands (one had Green in the Title) and none of them work.

 

[musey]

I'm so glad I happened upon this thread!

I had been using a Seventh Generation fluid until a couple of days ago, and bought a bottle of palmolive in a pinch. We'd had the white film issue before but this last load was BAD. I had no idea what it could be (hey, I'm new to being a grown-up

) so I'm really glad I saw this thread!

We'll try the CLR thing and get the liquid from Trader Joe's. We live in an apartment so I don't think the water softener thing is an option for us.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/27/2009 3:00:58 PM
Author: musey


I had been using a Seventh Generation fluid until a couple of days ago, and bought a bottle of palmolive in a pinch. We''d had the white film issue before but this last load was BAD. I had no idea what it could be (hey, I''m new to being a grown-up

) so I''m really glad I saw this thread!

Oh, yeah, Seventh Generation was the one I tried that didn''t work. For some reason I thought it had "Green" in the title. . .lol

 

[VRBeauty]

Here''s a suggestion I stumbled on elsewhere -- fill the rinse cup with white vinegar.