I really want to put aluminum in the dishwasher. Know a good detergent?

December 27, 2024 7:43 PM

So yeah: I try to only use things that can go in the dishwasher, but I do still have a few aluminum items that I'd like to be able to put in there, rather than having to wash them by hand (or just putting them in with everything else with regular dishwasher detergent and oxidizing the surface). Do you know of any good consumer-grade, consumer-size dishwasher detergents that are aluminum-safe (and not highly corrosive with scary warnings)?

When I search for aluminum-safe dishwasher detergent, I'm pretty much only finding gigantic buckets or other huge containers of industrial dishwasher detergent with corrosion warnings because they contain high concentrations of sodium hypochlorite (chlorine bleach). Is there any safe, cute, consumer-size option available that I could use at home?

I'm also open to mixing up something, but I don't want to damage the dishwasher. I briefly looked into options that use a tiny bit of dish soap with other ingredients (e.g., vinegar and bleach), but again, I don't really want to use bleach if I can help it, and it's possible that even a little bit of dish soap could damage the dishwasher.

I'm pretty good at searching for products, but I'm not finding much this time, so I'm just hoping there's something out there I've missed! Otherwise I'll just continue to suck it up and handwash aluminum stuff and/or just commit to damaging its surface.

posted by limeonaire to Home & Garden (2 answers total)

I looked into this not too long ago because I am strongly in the “put everything in the dishwasher” camp but was tired of the smut buildup on my aluminum sheet pans!! In short the answer is “no” to specifically consumer sized aluminum-safe detergent (vs commercial like you have seen). Though I found some available to purchase in somewhat reasonable gallon sizes, many were designed for specific dishwasher systems. From my research, what makes these specifically “aluminum safe” was that they had corrosion inhibitors for soft metals and since most consumers aren’t washing entire loads of aluminum items that there isn’t a market for it. I couldn’t find good info on if these corrosion inhibitors were ingredients you don’t really want on items that aren’t soft metals, like if they were forming a protective film only on aluminum items and building up on say, stainless steel or ceramic. (I try not to give into “chemicals are bad!” nonsense but I am really sensitive to tasting scented detergents on my dishes, so the idea of extra residue that I could detect icked me out enough not to want to buy a gallon of any of these to try.)

BUT! This is one of the few dishwasher detergents that gives the nod to using it on aluminum (most seem to say specifically not to use with aluminum at all) and coincidentally is my favorite detergent: Seventh Generation powder.

The downside to their directions giving the go ahead for aluminum is that you’re supposed to separate out different metals in the dishwasher, I assume because different metals react to each other and cause more corrosion. Because the tarnish and smut that builds up on aluminum things put through the dishwasher isn’t dangerous, I still put my aluminum things in with other dishes. This means I occasionally spend time scrubbing off the residue on the surfaces that touch food since I dislike seeing the discoloration transfer to my food but I still prefer that to handwashing. Also now that dishwasher detergents are fairly mild and that I use a lot less of it (see video below), my aluminum sheet pans seem to be faring better in the dishwasher than before and I don’t need to remove as much tarnish.

Bonus: I ended up switching to the detergent above because of the series on dishwashers and specifically his information on powder detergents vs pods/liquid on the YouTube channel Technology Connections. Totally worth the 30 minute watch, and subsequent deep dives on the older dishwasher videos.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 1:17 PM on December 28 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Yeah, I think there's actually a chemical reaction that occurs if you have stainless steel in proximity to aluminum. One tip for getting stainless steel super shiny is apparently to put a ball of aluminum foil in the dishwasher, and they also sell fancy rods of aluminum you can put in the dishwasher for this purpose. Discovered all that while trying to research this problem

That's at least a lead! I don't mind doing loads with only aluminum or only stainless steel. I appreciate the info!
posted by limeonaire at 1:49 PM on December 28 [1 favorite]