Troubleshooting Gray and Hazy Nylon Tools: Possible Causes and Solutions

[lalemom]

Customer asked me why her nylon tools are turning gray or have a white haze to them. Any Ideas Why?????

 

[pampered1224]

I have that problem once in a while when the Jet Dry in the dishwasher runs out out. And no, I usually can not get them to come clean again int he dishwasher. I usually have to soak them and then use a scrubby to get it off.

 

[barbara_anne]

Sounds like maybe she has hard water? You can use vinegar or citric acid to remove it.

 

[pclinskie]

so weird mine just turned. I have had them since they came out.

 

[chefjeanine]

This is why. . .follow the linkhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/science/earth/19clean.html

 

[akrebecca]

This is why. . .follow the link

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/science/earth/19clean.html

Says to log in.

I have that happen with my tools, glassware, cutlery etc... What I do is let the item/s soak in vinegar & hot water (about 50/50 ratio) for a while. Not sure why this happens. I have used JetDry-seems to make the problem worse. We have well water and have moved 3x in the last four years. Same at all 3 apartments. I have heard that because the DW detergent manufactors are leaving out a specific chemical, your dishes will not get as clean. Something to do with 8 states banning the use so the manus are just changing the formulas for the entire U.S.

 

[Dotty]

Wow.. and I thought I had accidentally washed mine on the pots and pans cycle.. maybe that isn't what happened. My husband also has a tendency to put utensils in with the silverware. I'll try the vinegar trick.

 

[chefjeanine]

Here's the article (edited for length) from the link I posted.“My dishes were dirtier than before they were washed,” one wrote last week in the review section of the Web site for the Cascade line of dishwasher detergents. “It was horrible, and I won’t buy it again.”

“This is the worst product ever made for use as a dishwashing detergent!” another consumer wrote.

Like every other major detergent for automatic dishwashers, Procter & Gamble’s Cascade line recently underwent a makeover. Responding to laws that went into effect in 17 states in July, the nation’s detergent makers reformulated their products to reduce what had been the crucial ingredient, phosphates, to just a trace.

While phosphates help prevent dishes from spotting in the wash cycle, they have long ended up in lakes and reservoirs, stimulating algae growth that deprives other plants and fish of oxygen.

Yet now, with the content reduced, many consumers are finding the new formulas as appealing as low-flow showers, underscoring the tradeoffs that people often face today in a more environmentally conscious marketplace. From hybrid cars to solar panels, environmentally friendly alternatives can cost more. They can be less convenient, like toting cloth sacks or canteens rather than plastic bags or bottled water. And they can prove less effective, like some of the new cleaning products.

Phosphorus in the form of phosphates suspends particles so they do not stick to dishes and softens water to allow suds to form.

Now that the content in dishwasher detergent has plummeted to 0.5 percent from as high as 8.7 percent, many consumers are just noticing the change in the wash cycle as they run out of the old product.

“Low-phosphate dish detergents are a waste of my money,” said Thena Reynolds, a 55-year-old homemaker from Van Zandt County, Tex., who said she ran her dishwasher twice a day for a family of five. Now she has to do a quick wash of the dishes before she puts them in the dishwasher to make sure they come out clean, she said. “If I’m using more water and detergent, is that saving anything?” Ms. Reynolds said. “There has to be a happy medium somewhere.”

In the case of the new dishwasher detergents, the main benefit is viewed as the protection of bodies of freshwater.

Once they go down the drain and into the environment through discharge at sewage treatment plants, phosphates end up in lakes, streams and drinking-water reservoirs.

Phosphorus pollution comes from multiple sources, including fertilizer and manure that enter the water through runoff. Dishwasher detergents contribute just a fraction, but environmental campaigners say any reduction can result in a tangible improvements. (Laundry detergents and hand soaps are already free of phosphates.)

The first significant regulatory rumblings came in Washington State in 2006. As more and more states followed suit, manufacturers faced the prospect of uneven laws that could disrupt retail distribution nationwide, said Dennis Griesing, vice president for government affairs at the American Cleaning Institute, which represents the cleaning product industry. The nationwide product rollover began late last year.

Industry officials generally insist that most customers have not noticed a change. But in its September issue, Consumer Reports reported that of 24 low- or phosphate-free dishwasher detergents it tested, including those from environmentally friendly product lines that have been on the market for years, none matched the performance of products with phosphates.

The magazine did note that the formulas were improving, and it rated seven detergents “very good,” including two of six Cascade products it tested. Susan Baba, a spokeswoman for Cascade, said that while most Cascade customers had not noticed any change, Procter & Gamble was modifying the formulas of some products in response to complaints.

“As we learn more, we’re finding out that there’s a lot more variation than we saw in the labs,” she said.

Ms. Baba added that the conversion to low-phosphate content had been complex, with three or four ingredients needed to match what the phosphates accomplished alone.

Elise Jones, a 32-year-old mother of two in Chatham, N.J., and a blog editor for Babybites, a group for new and expectant mothers, said she noticed “a white dusty film” on her dishes and children’s cups starting about a month ago. “I thought it was the dishwasher,” she said, before she heard of the change in formulas.

All the same, she agrees with the restrictions on phosphates because “we all worry about our water supply.”

 

[lesliec]

I don't use dishwasher detergent here. I just put a squirt of dawn dish soap (a small squirt, or it will overflow) and put vinegar where the rinse aid goes. I feel like these two changes have really helped to get our dishes cleaner and they are much cheaper alternatives, as well as healthier.

 

[chefjeanine]

I don't use dishwasher detergent here. I just put a squirt of dawn dish soap (a small squirt, or it will overflow) and put vinegar where the rinse aid goes. I feel like these two changes have really helped to get our dishes cleaner and they are much cheaper alternatives, as well as healthier.

I've been wondering if something like this might work. Thanks for sharing this idea!

 

[akrebecca]

chefjeanine- Yupe, thats what I'm talking about. I remember reading an article about the lack of phospates in the DW detergent. My first thought was "why are they doing this? This means that I will have to rinse the dishes each time. That means I am using more water to clean my dishes. Which means I am using more of our precious resources." So, do I 'waste' water or eat off dirty dishes? Ummmm, yeah, No contest. IMHO, I don't see how reducing a very small percentage of phosphates released by detergents. I would rather have the regulations on fertlizers which are more heavily used. Not sure how they can regulate manure.

 

[taterbug]

I had this problem with not only my tools, but started noticing a dull haze on plates as well. I started pouring about a cup of vinegar in the bottom of the dishwasher and it helped. Since there are only three of us in the house and I already hand wash most of my larger items anyway, I now simply wash dishes by hand. I always hated unloading the dishwasher, so now after the dishes have dried, I have less to put up each day.

 

[akrebecca]

***WARNING*** Thread Hijack!!

So, I was kinda thinking about this last night. I woke up at 4am, and realized that this whole phosphate thing is related to the xray machines at the airport. See, I have really been going back and forth about flying to conference this year. Where I live, Alaska, flying is easier than driving. I am not keen about being exposed to the radiation given off by the new airport security machines. I really don't want to be groped, I mean go through an 'enhanced pat down' either. So I have checked out my options.

Driving: 64 hours from my house to Chicago. Cost in gas $2000+ RT
Hmmmmm. Not a viable option.

Train from Bellingham to Chicago: approx $900 RT
Not bad. BUT

Ferry from Alaska to Seattle: $1400+ RT

So for me to avoid the 'minisicule' amount of radiation given off, I would be paying over twice what it would cost to just 'man up' and take it.

So, if you have read this far, you might be wondering how does this relate to phosphates. In the article above, and other articles on the net, they state, basically, if we can keep small amounts of phosphates out of the water supply, then we are doing good. I say, every small amount of radiation I am exposed to thru airport screening, builds up over time.