DIY Dishwasher Rinse Aid
This DIY dishwasher rinse aid is toxin-free, all-natural and made with only 2 ingredients. The best part is it is one of those recipes that is just so ridiculously quick and easy to make it probably shouldn’t even be called a recipe!! But we did.
Why Use Rinse Aid
Rinse aid is really helpful when you use natural and DIY dishwasher detergents and can be key in getting clean shiny dishes and not cloudy ones. Rinse aids help the suspended particles like bits of food and hard water remain suspended in the water and prevents it from settling on the dishes.
Can I just Use Vinegar as a DIY Dishwasher Rinse Aid?
You sure can!! Many people are happy using vinegar as a natural dishwasher rinse aid and that awesome. If you are one of those then carry one. However, there are many people who are concerned vinegar will damage their dishwasher. And other people just aren’t satisfied with the job vinegar does as a natural rinse aid, I fall into this group.
I was getting very disillusioned with Natural DIY dishwasher tablets as the clean dishes were cloudy and sometimes gritty and a bit slimy with a white residue on them. That was until I tried this DIY Rinse Aid using citric acid!!! It was a game-changer for me. I am now more often than not happy with my clean dishes.
Tips for Getting Clear, Sparkling Dishes When Using Natural Dishwashing Detergents
- DO NOT overload the dishwasher
- Rinse heavy food residues from dishes
- DO NOT use too much dishwasher detergent.
The last point is the big one I find and can really cause the dishes to come out with a white film on them. I now make my DIY dishwasher tablets smaller (if I bother to even make tablets and not just use the powder). That way I can easily adjust the amount of detergent used depending on the number and dirtiness of the dishes in the dishwasher.
If you love this recipe be sure to check out some of our other Natural DIY Cleaning Recipes to help you kick toxins to the curb and save money!
We Also Have A collection of DIY Personal Care and Beauty Recipes To Nourish Your Body Naturally…
- Moisturing DIY Hand Cream
- DIY ROll-on Deodorant
- DIY sensitive skin Deodorant without baking soda
- DIY Shower Gel
DIY Rinse Aid
A natural toxin-free dishwasher rinse aid that only takes minutes to make
Ingredients
- 100ml boiling water
- 2 tbsp citric acid
Instructions
- Combine the water and citric acid and stir until combined
- Allow to cool before pouring into the dishwasher rinse aid compartment
Notes
- It is best to make this rinse aid fresh each time you need to top up your rinse aid compartment rather than store it.
- You can add a few drops of essential oil if you like but I don't bother. It works totally great without it. Plus oil and water don't mix that well so the oil will just float on top and not get evenly distributed with the rinse aid.
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9 Comments
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It works great, thanks! It seems to work much better than white vinegar. I only mix half at the time (50 ml/1 Tbs) so that it all fits in the rinse aid compartment. I also use hot water from the tap; much easier and it dissolves very well. I add a drop of blue food colouring so that I can see how much is left through the little gauge but younger eyes might not need that. Lol!
Have enjoyed your site. Working on dish washer detergent. So far all clean except clear glassware. I have a commercial rinse aide in my machine that I want to use up. Why is it not working. Vinegar was no help. I’ll add the citric acid and see.
Hi Theresa, Periodically I find my glasses can get cloudy or look a bit greasy. When this happens I give my machine a good clean using the maintenance cycle and adding citric acid or washing soda (not at same time they cancel each other out) and this resolves the issue.
With the rinse, I do believe the citric acid one should help. I originally came up with this recipe because I just wasn’t happy with the results vinegar gave me.
citric acid is preferable to vinegar, which damages silicone gaskets. citric is also the basis of most fancy “dishwasher cleaners”, because mostly you’re trying to remove the scale that doesn’t dissolve in an alkaline environment
if you want to go further, commercial rinse aid has some ethyl and/or propyl alcohol to help the last of the water run off the plates; and if you wanted to add a llitle of the least troubling rinse aid detergent, the eco brands use butyl glucoside if you can find it. but for most practical purposes, citric acid is perfectly fine
the number one comment by maintenance techs is “OMG people need to use less powder”. i still buy powder (getting harder to find) so i can half fill the dispenser. but if you want to add extra grunt, especially for a heavily soiled load, i recommend a tablespoon or two of caustic soda (careful with handling that!) in the main compartment so that it’s active during the pre-wash. it breaks down fat and protein, and it’s extremely soluble so it can’t clog like powder does. i’m aware this is the mad scientist answer so caveat emptor
Any suggestions if you do need to store this stuff? I have an extremely small countertop dishwasher, the kind that uses a water tank I have to manually fill before each run. There isn’t a specific place to put any product in it, be it detergent or rinse aid. I use Charlie’s powdered soap for detergent, and I get so much white film that every month or so I have run the dishwasher empty, after spraying the walls down with a CLR knockoff. So, unlike a normal dishwasher, I can’t just make a batch of this rinse aid up when the dispenser needs filling.
I’d also appreciate any suggestions on how much of this rinse agent I should add for each load. I use about a teaspoon of the Charlie’s soap per load and I add a little less than a teaspoon of the booster powder.
And for anyone who ends up with a little countertop DW like mine, heed the ‘too much soap’ warning carefully. In the beginning, the machine would error out on me mid-cycle, at least 1 in 3 loads, forcing me to refill the tank and restart it. Eventually I realized I was putting in too much soap, even though I was only using about a quarter of the scoop (the green ones that come with each bag of powder). Once I cut down to a tsp or less, it entirely stopped happening, and I had to ‘descale’ the dishwasher less often. And that’s the minimum amount of soap that I’ve found breaks down the grease and food properly.
Hi Kat,
You can store this is a glass jar or bottle, whatever you have around that can be repurposed and is convenient. With how much, I am not sure, try a tsp or so and adjust based on how the wash turns out. sorry I can be more helpful.
Jenny
Hi Jen,
Do you find the citric acid rinse aid helps to get the grime off mugs? I’ve made a dyi powder and have been using vinegar as rinse aid but finding I’ve still got grime left in mugs and some food scraps. The dyi powder only spoon full is made up of bicard, citric acid, onguard cleaner concentrate and lemon and grapefruit oils (5 drops of each). Am trial the citric acid to see if that helps..
Hi Cara,
I haven’t tried citric acid to clean mugs. But if you are referring to stains on mugs, sodium percarbonate works a dream, washing soda also works quite well. put some in the cups, top with boiling water, stir and leave to soak for a few hours. My other suggestion is you replace bicarb with washing soda in your recipe. Here is alink to our recipe, which has explanations for what each ingredient does, washing soda is more powerful than bicarb. https://bloomingmandala.com.au/2019/08/23/diy-dishwasher-tablets/
I have noticed my diy dish washer works great. It’s the vinegar that fogs everything up. I would never recommend using vinegar as a rinse aid as i was very disappointed. Went back to store bought rinse aids and over several washing, the bad film from the vinegar finally wore off my glasses. I’m excited to try this one!