aluminium dishwasher safe detergent

[Craig_m67]

Anybody know of a dishwasher detergent/powder that won't attack Aluminium?
I've noticed that Finnish has a habit of attacking anything made of Al, ie. pots, stove top espresso maker, etc..


I've a few things I'd like to degrease

[LaStregaNera]

Most dishwasher tablets are pretty caustic to acieve their dishwashing action - liquid detergents are probably better in that respect - try a small amount of hand washing up detergent in the soap dispenser on the dishwasher?

[Craig_m67]

Hmmm...  not really cleaning as well as I'd like. Will check back in an hour (long cycle)

Not sure that was worth it. Degreaser and elbow grease are just as effective and were still required in the end.  I guess it comes down to the detergents used. Need to find something thing that will shift grease and oils, varnish etc but not harm Al....and keep the dishwasher family friendly

[AikenDrum105]

I've recently re-discovered how good Kero is for cleaning aluminium parts - hat tip to Pancho there.

I picked up an industrial size electric toothbrush (bunnings grout cleaner)  the other day - that is brilliant for getting in to those, hard to rrrrreach places inside sumps and blocks and heads

The Kero leaves a fine oil film on the alloy too - so they don't oxidise / gall as they do after degreaser. 

I have used the dishwasher in the past - just a small amount of normal dishwasher powder - and spray the bits over with wd-40/inox/etc  straight afterwards and they come up ok.   it's the hot water / sloshing doing the trick in there more so than the particular detergent I think.

maybe

[Craig_m67]

I picked up an industrial size electric toothbrush (bunnings grout cleaner)  the other day - that is brilliant for getting in to those, hard to rrrrreach places inside sumps and blocks and heads

The Kero leaves a fine oil film on the alloy too - so they don't oxidise / gall as they do after degreaser. 

Cheers... I rarely need an excuse to go to Bunnings

[poohbah]

Craig, what does your missus say when she opens the dishwasher and finds essence of Alfa on every rack?

[jazig.k]

I've read about this before. I intend to get a dishwasher for the shed one day...
In a few threads I have read over the internet some guys are setting up kero with a dishwasher [plumbing kero tank in where the tap would normally be]. I'm not sure how I feel about kero running in a dishwasher with heater elements...

Lucky we have a car size 'dishwasher' set up at work for this exact thing! Only got it about a month ago. I'll find out what fluids/detergents that uses. It's awfully noisy though, couldn't use it after 6pm at home noisy.

[Beatle]

We had a heated industrial washer at work a few years ago, but it used an alkaline/soap solution.  The stuff got warm, but not as hot as a dishwasher.

No way I'd be using kero/diesel etc in a regular household dishwasher     And just because a mate of a mate did so, once, and lived, don't make it smart.............