Dishwasher 101 & Giveaway!

When I found out that I was going to be a Finish Revolution Blogger, I had no idea that I had so much to learn about dishwashers... no wonder my husband always preferred to look after that job himself.

Now, I have no problems at all wheeling Frankenwasher across the kitchen and hooking her up. The Finish Quantum tabs are simple to use, I just pop one on the bottom of the dishwasher (because her little flap doesn't like to open), and all of my dishes are coming out cleaner than they ever have.  The kind folks at Finish held a webinar for us Bloggers with Finish’s North American dishwasher technician trainer, Diane, and I thought I would pass along some of the more interesting things I learned.

• When loading your dishwasher, never 'nest' the utensils, bowls, or anything for that matter.  The water needs to get around the dishes to clean them.
• The water running into your dishwasher needs to be at least 120 degrees Celsius to be effective... check your hot water tank settings and if your dishwasher is far away from your hot water tank and has far to travel, you may need to set it even higher.
• Both hard and soft water can alter the effectiveness of your dishwasher, without a quality detergent.
• Amazingly, 80% of the time a technician is called, there is nothing wrong mechanically with the dishwasher.
• Stainless Steel water bottles and pans can go in the dishwasher after all (again with a quality detergent).
• With a quality detergent, pre-rinsing is just a waste of water.
• Do not keep your dishwasher detergent under the sink... really!  The moisture there is enough to activate the cleaners within the detergent and by the time you use it it's really no good anymore.  Who knew?
• The two different types of cleaners used in dishwasher detergent are bleach and enzymes.  Both do different things, so you need to make sure that you get a detergent that contains the cleaner you need.  Gel detergents can only contain one or the other.  
• Enzymes attack the foods that tend to stick to dishes in the dishwasher; oatmeal, eggs, mac & cheese.  Bleach picks up where the enzymes leave off.  Finish Quantum is rated #1 because it has both bleach and enzymes.
• Finish Quantum has been phosphate-free since 2010.
• Finally, I know how Finish Jet-Dry Rinse Agent works... simply put, it makes water 'wetter'.  A droplet of water has high surface tension and a vertical drop will just hang there until it dries, leaving spots.  Jet-Dry lowers surface tension and allows the water to run right off, making drying times faster.

I never paid attention to what brand dishwasher detergent we bought up until 3 months ago, and also thought because of Frankenwasher's 'quirks' that we'd always have to use gel.  Now I'm hooked on Finish Quantum and found out it's #1 for a reason... it's the best!

Frankie feels 15 years younger, smells great and has never worked better... I think I'll keep her.

I want to share my Finish Quantum love with you, and have been provided with 2 boxes to give away to 1 of my readers.  Canada only, sorry!  Follow Finish Canada on Facebook for more upcoming surprises!

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Disclosure: I am part of the Finish Blogger Program by Mom Central. I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group.  The opinions on this blog are my own.