I decided to do a patent search on DW detergent to see if I could find any information about the use of detergent tablets. The search turned up all kinds of information about DW detergents and patents granted to P&G, Palmolive and Reckitt Benckiser. Almost all companies state that the use of tablets provides easier dosing, and less storage and transportation costs. I wonder which is really important to them, the ease of dosage or reducing storage and transportation costs. Multi layer tablets solve some problems due to the fact that it keeps some components separate from each other avoiding reaction, instability and exhaustion of the components before they are even used, and some components are damaged by the compression used to make tablets so putting them together in layers helps prevent this. Given this I wonder if they can mix this stuff together into a powder? I know they could, but would it be as effective? Dishwasher Pacs are described as a tablet also, just that one compartment of them may contain a gel which may contain hydrogenated castor oil as a thickening agent. Oil this is the reason my hands were oily when I bought a bag of Cascade 2n1 action pacs reached in and found that some of them were busted, pulled my hand out and it was full of oil. P&G and Reckit Bencisker approach etching a little differently in that P&G uses insoluble zinc salts and RB uses a variety of soluble materials and could use zirconium, titanium and other things. RB also claims to add water soluble glass components to their mixtureI guess to help replace components that get worn away from washing. One patent for DW Gel stated that the Gel was developed because water was known to leak into the detergent cup during the dishwasher pre wash and once there would mix with the detergent and cause a very high alkalinity and a breakdown of the detergent before it was released into the main wash. The Gel worked because it had a higher surface tension and the water leakage was not consequential.Hmm never heard about this--I thought it just supposed to be convenient. If I remember correctly I had a Dw that you could not use a gel in because it would be oozing out of the cup during the prewash.so I guess water could run in also. I found something interesting in a P&G patent that was dealing with the use of enzymes. The information stated that chorine bleach required manufactures to use special processing and storage precautions to protect compounds and it caused some damage to metal rims on china and silverware, but that there was no known surfactant that could perform its function which was to prevent the formation and deposition of troublesome proteins and protein grease complexes on hard surfaces during the washing process. These statements make me wonder if this is the reason I get identical cleaning results from ElectraSol powder containing chlorine bleach and almost any other detergent containing enzymes. Both of these clean just fine for me. In the patents all companies give a series of scenarios and ingredients they MAY use in the products and they dont necessary state that they are using any method but they do state a preferred scenarioso no one can ever really tell what they are doing, but you can get an idea of the compounds involved. I found the search interesting and it seems that this is just one big research field in which all companies know a lot about the background and chemistry involved and are merely tweaking things by building on the past which makes sense. I did not do a complete exhaustive search so there may be other patents that are newer than the ones I found which are dated from about 1990 to 2003. The above comments about the information are mine. If you want to get the details you should do the patent search. Good stuff if you are interested in wading through it.

It looks like that family owned store doesn't sell very many boxes of powdered detergent except when mamapinky pays them a visit, that box of Clorox II is an antique. ; ) As for All Oxi Free & Clear: I stock up every time a store has it on sale, it's basically the same thing as Wisk but it only has two enzymes.

I have used Daz before, a few years back. It works pretty well, and smells very clean. It will not clean like Ariel or Persil (Euro versions), though. It is expensive, yes. I had a friend in England who used to be able to get free shipping, and I definitely made use of it. lol.

Did a load of dishes with Bubble Bandit last night. At first glance, everything looked amazing. However, as I was unloading things, I noticed that anything with a small amount of food on it, didn't wash away. :/ There was also a horrible streak on two glasses. Re-Washed everything this morning with Cascade Gel + STPP, and once again Spotless. I just don't get that Bubble Bandit stuff. :(