cleaning keyboards in the dishwasher - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

9 Jan 2006

...
  I know of no dishwasher detergent that contains
chlorine (which is a
 gas) nor large amounts of chlorine-based bleaches.  (Mild) 
 Bleaches and brightners are common in *clothes* detergents 
 where there are good for stain removal, but they're *not* 
 good in dishwashers, where the bleach would tend to fade 
 patterns on crockery.  Therefore dishwasher detergent 
 manufacturers use only very small amounts, if any, and 
 they're usually oxygen-based. 
I smell chlorine during the wash cycle and it's not coming from our
private well water, and I had assumed it was in the mix to promote
sanitization as it is for commercial dishwashers used in restaurants. As
for chlorine being a gas, yes it prefers to be a gas at room temperature
and sea level atmospheric pressures, but is released by many different
forms of solid chemicals that disolve in water and release the chlorine
to the water, from which it evaporates into a gas (like for swimming
pool sanitization).

...
  More to the point though, they don't contain
silicon dioxide, 
 at least not any I've come across (btw it's silicon, not 
 silicone).  They might feel gritty, but that's not sand, it's 
 solid detergent.  If you dissolve dishwasher detergent (loose 
 powder or a tablet) in a jug of water, it will eventually 
 dissolve completely, leaving no sand behind.
  Do you think manufacturers would put sand, one of the few 
 common substances that will scour glass, into a substance 
 used for cleaning glassware? 
Something in powdered detergents would "sandblast" the previously shiny
surface of the soft plastic handles of our Revereware pots. Liquid
detergents don't cause this problem.