r/lifehacks • u/exploringexplorer • Mar 18 '23
Used too much rinse aid in your dish washer?
If you accidentally use too much rinse aid in your dishwasher (which leaves an unwanted durable white residue on things), put a cup right-side-up on the upper or middle shelf & fill it with white/clear vinegar, along with the residue covered dishes. Then run your regular/auto cycle and everything will come out sparkling and clean.
Side note: For anyone thinking this has to do with the detergent, it 100% does not. From personal experience, my detergent use has always been the same and same amount. After accidentally overfilling the rinse aid receptacle and overrunning it into the dishwasher basin, my dishes ended up with the residue. Through much trial and error, rinses, figuring out it wasn’t the detergent, etc - I luckily found some wonderful information about rinse aid staining and how to remove it. That’s why this is shared here for y’all to save you from the same trouble and time to fix it. Hope y’all have a great day!
Final note: After figuring out the rinse aid was causing this and finding the remedy of the vinegar, I flat out stopped using the rinse aid after doing all the research about it. Most rinse aids are harmful chemicals and have no place on things we eat & drink off. So I stopped using it completely and the dishes look wonderful, if not better actually - plus I’m not inhaling or consuming those chemicals anymore. Woohoo! 🙂
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u/JSB-the-way-to-be Mar 19 '23
If it moves and it shouldn’t: duct tape. If it doesn’t move and it should: WD40. Everything else? White vinegar.
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u/Zlovell Mar 18 '23
The residue is not from the rinse raid. It’s caused from hard water. What is happening is the rinse aid causes the water to dry much faster, leaving behind the minerals on glass ware and inside the dish washer. Vinegar (or any lime scale remover) removes the hard water stains.
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u/exploringexplorer Mar 19 '23
Still is caused by the rinse aid. Without it the dishes dry naturally and don’t have any residue. The rinse aid is hydrophobic and repels the water from the glass/dish surfaces. So although it may be an interaction of causes as you’ve stated, rinse aid is an empirically proven causation for the white residue and cannot be removed from the equation.
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u/Zlovell Mar 19 '23
Sort of. You can get a water softener which would also remove the spots from the glasses and help maintain the life of your dishwasher. In a commercial application they have to use rinse aid to turn around clean dishes faster. That’s why most restaurants have either a point of use water softener or a whole house water softener. The cause is the water.
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u/exploringexplorer Mar 19 '23
I use a dedicated water softener for the dishwasher - so the cause is not the water. That’s why when washing without the rinse aid, the dishes are sparkling. In some people’s cases it may be - but not with mine. So nope, you ain’t here, you don’t know my circumstances and you’re wrong. I tried to play it nice out of respect and give you an opening because it may be the case with others, but your ego got the best of you. Don’t try to play god and a know-it-all when you haven’t experienced an event and it’s specific circumstances, it’s not cute or appealing.
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u/Zlovell Mar 19 '23
Lmao you actually are a crazy person
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u/exploringexplorer Mar 19 '23
🤣 aww Felicia did your feelings get hurt? If you didn’t act like a little bitch, you wouldn’t need to be put in your place like a little bitch. Bye Felicia. Take care. Kisses.
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u/twinturboV8hybrid Mar 19 '23
I don't think that's what's happening, rinse acid always has citric or some other kind of acid and a petroleum based solvent for that exact purpose. I think what's happening is he's putting the rinse aid in too early or it's leaking in before it should and messing with the detergents ability to bind to the calcium and magnesium in the water. I know- how can more of an acid make water harder? It's complicated. Ever notice they say to use more detergent if you have hard water? But why, detergent has a pH of like 9. And also contains citric acid. Chemistry. It's complicated.
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u/Waterlily898 Mar 18 '23
What even is rinse aid and why do I need to use it? Seems like a scam
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u/exploringexplorer Mar 19 '23 edited Mar 19 '23
It’s a liquid, containing hydrophobic chemicals that repel water from your dishes so they dry faster. It’s honestly just a waste of money and since this happened to me I stopped using it cause after reading about it, it’s just a bunch of bad chemicals for our bodies anyways.
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u/lrpfftt Mar 19 '23
I quit using it for this reason but I have to say that I miss it. The dishes don't dry as quickly. It's a pretty nasty chemical though so I'm done with it.
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u/lycopeneLover Mar 18 '23
Rinse aid is gross, I don’t want hydrophobic detergent residue on my glassware thanks
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u/whovianlogic Mar 18 '23
recent research agrees with you. rinse aid can damage the lining of your gut and cause problems. study
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u/cdawg85 Mar 19 '23
THANK YOU for sharing that study! Fascinating. I'm no medical scientist, but I read through the introduction and discussion and was completely shocked at the results. I don't know why, but it was all new to me, so thanks again for sharing knowledge!
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u/ydmf222 Mar 18 '23
Ya, I stopped using it. Notice no difference. Why bother with extra chemicals.
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u/exploringexplorer Mar 18 '23
Totally agree. I stopped using it after the residue it left behind and reading up on it.
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u/nobodycool1234 Mar 18 '23
Another potential issue if you have very soft water - I have a softener because of my well and we get to 0 hardness. The detergents are made assuming a certain level of hardness in your water, started off washing my dishes waaaay to harshly (heavy cycle, too much detergent). What happens starts as a rainbow effect and then eventually becomes hazed like a sandblasting effect. Unfortunately those glasses are ruined, but since learned my lesson, light wash cycle and practically a dusting of detergent in the bottom. I was running my dishwasher like I did with city water and etched all my glasses into milk glass, rinse aid doesn’t seem to make a difference one way or another but I keep that on the lowest possible setting.
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u/Xx420PAWGhunter69xX Mar 18 '23
Maybe the salt resevoir is filled and the machine is set to a house without softener?
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u/co-oper8 Mar 19 '23
Nooooooo rinse aid is a shitty chemical that should not be on your dishes in the first place.
A scientific study just came out saying that it was harmful. -It ends up all over your dishes and then of course in your body.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36464527/
If there are soap streaks on your dishes when the cycle is over it doesn't mean you need to experiment on your family with rinse aid chemicals that some megacorp never properly tested for safety! It just means you're putting too much soap in!
LPT: there are hundreds of chemicals available at the store to "clean" with. In my opinion they literally make your house dirtier!!-
There is NO ONE at the helm making sure that extensive testing is done to guarantee they are safe for your family. Its a toxic experiment on human subjects. Your skin is a membrane. If you're smelling it you're inhaling particles of it.
Vinegar and baking soda are clean enough to eat and they will clean most everything just fine.
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u/exploringexplorer Mar 19 '23
It wasn’t soap streaks or too much soap. Read the side note above. But I agree with you that most companies do not have our backs and care about the product safety. After this issue with the rinse aid I’ve stopped using it and the dishes are actually even cleaner than before plus I feel safer knowing they’re not bathed in harmful chemicals.
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u/ronniecalberta Mar 19 '23
Now that it’s mostly detergent pods, what if I want a little more (or less)?
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u/exploringexplorer Mar 19 '23
You can buy detergent pods that don’t have rinse aid. I use the method free + clear ones. They do an amazing job. And ever since I had this issue with the rinse aid, I’ve stopped using it and the dishes are coming out even nicer than before plus I’m not inhaling or eating the nasty chemicals anymore. https://www.target.com/p/method-dishwasher-packs-free-clear-30ct-17-2oz/-/A-82721420
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u/GermanShephrdMom Mar 19 '23
Holy crap, this JUST happened to me. Doing the vinegar thing right now. Thanks OP!
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u/Forward-Woodpecker-4 Mar 19 '23
I use a cup of vinegar in every load of dishes i do. I keeps build up from happening or calcifying on the washer, because i have very hard water in my home
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u/photogypsy Mar 19 '23
Science types will probably correct me because I feel like I’m oversimplifying, but rinse aid is basically the same stuff they call wax in an automatic car wash. I don’t want to eat that and neither do you. Fun fact you can run cleaning strength vinegar in your rinse aide spot for similar results.
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u/co-oper8 Mar 19 '23
Rinse aid is unhealthy, and people are eating it all the time. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36464527/
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u/bethaliz6894 Mar 18 '23
Be careful using vinegar, it will breakdown rubber and makes it sticky,