First of all I need to explain, I am a guy and I do not have much to do
with using our dishwasher. We purchased our dishwasher roughly 9 years
ago and we have never done anything to clean the inside of the machine.
It has a stainless steel interior and I guess I never thought that this
type of interior would need cleaning. After all, the dishwasher
splashes around extremely hot, soapy water, so it stood to reason (in my
own mind anyway) that the dishwasher pretty much cleaned itself. Well
my wife came to me about 2 weeks ago and told me that we might need to
replace the dish racks in our dishwasher due to the dark stains that had
nearly covered the entire surface of both racks and the silverware
baskets. When I looked I also noticed a film that covered most of the
bottom and sides of the stainless interior as well. I couldn't believe
how nasty the inside of our dishwasher looked.
We tried running vinegar through the machine but it barely touched
the stains. Some friends stated that we should try bleach, toilet bowl
cleaner or even some Muriatic acid, but my wife didn't want to introduce
anything that could be harmful to our family or our dishes. Therefore I
struck out to research some alternative cleaners on the Internet. This
is how I found the
Glisten Dishwasher Cleaner. In fact, I found it
right here on Amazon.com, and for a great price. Since the product
description stated that a deeply stained dishwasher may require two
treatments, I purchased two boxes of the Glisten Cleaner.
Glisten Dishwasher Cleaner is manufactured by Phelps Industries,
LLC. The product claims to remove built-up soap scum, food stains and
discoloration due to iron and other water impurities. They recommend
using the product monthly for best results. Well we went for 9 years
without using anything, so I figured that if it worked this time then I
would probably use it about once per year, or whenever the interior of
the dishwasher started to look stained again. The directions instruct
you to pour the 3oz powdered contents into the main wash soap dispenser
in the dishwasher. You are to pour any excess powder into the bottom of
the dishwasher. You then run the dishwasher through a light or regular
wash cycle, and you are promised a "sparkling clean" machine. It then
goes on to say that for heavily stained dishwashers, a second
application of Glisten may be necessary.
I followed the directions and ran our dishwasher on a short wash
cycle and waited eagerly for it to finish. My wife and I opened the
machine and peeked inside. What we saw completely blew us away. The
interior looked like that of a brand new dishwasher! I am not
exaggerating one bit. The stainless steel interior was spotless and
shiny again, and the dish racks and silverware baskets were bright
white. I couldn't believe my eyes. We have looked at the inside of the
machine at least a half dozen times tonight, as we just can't get over
how bright and shiny the inside of our dishwasher looks. Another perk
is that the interior of the machine has a clean lemon scent as well. To
think that a product that costs under $5 could make a $900 dishwasher
look like new again is simply amazing. We have tucked our second box of
Glisten safely away for use in the future. I now feel confident that
any time our dishwasher begins to look dingy we can just run 3oz of this
product through the machine for a like new finish again. Hats off to
Phelps Industries and their brilliant
Glisten Dishwasher Cleaner. I
can't express enough how much I recommend this product to anyone with a
dishwasher.
On another note, the manufacturer also claims that this product can
be used to whiten dingy diapers, brighten socks and under garments (and
most other whites), and can even be used to clean stains and hard water
deposits (including iron) in the bathroom, kitchen and laundry room. It
even claims to remove stains from dishes. Please note that I have not
tested any of these claims. It is advertised as a dishwasher cleaner and
I purchased it for just that reason.