Dirty dirty dirty. I never rinse them before putting them in.
It works about as well as dish detergent, if not better. We were starting to have real problems with detergent, it wasn't doing anything and I always had to re-wash, I very seldom have to re-wash anything now.
I haven't missed dish detergent at all. We've saved a fortune doing this.
Dish detergent used to work for me, I guess it stopped when they took the phosphates out. Before I switched to this I was getting really frustrated. I thought we needed a new dishwasher.
I *THINK* you should be ok mixing TSP or sodium hexametaphosphate with vinegar.
HOWEVER- DO NOT EVER mix chlorox or other chlorine based detergents with vinegar or any other acid!!! You create chlorine gas, and can badly burn your eyes or lungs within seconds.
"Miracle Cleaner" is exactly the same stuff as "Calgon" bath salts... without the scent. Anyone else remember the "Calgon, take me away!" ads?
Summerthyme
Yes, bleach and ammonia are deadly. But too many people don't realize that bleach and ANY acid is nearly as bad.
We have a good friend who is a dairy farmer- he lost 90%+ of his vision when some acid based pipeline cleaner splashed into a container which had some chlorine based detergent. A real tragedy.
Summerthyme
I've done some experimenting with citric acid, TSP, etc. trying to get my mix right.
I can say when you mix TSP and citric acid and get it wet, it does foam and sizzle. I think I read somewhere that it turns into salt and they neutralize one another. Don't know how reliable my source was. I think it was a gun-cleaning website or somesuch.