[Scoundreller]

I could believe the enzyme bit. Soaps require 3 things to work well: sheer force, concentration and temperature. The higher the better for all 3.

Dishwashers can’t do consistent sheer force unless the sprayer hits your dish just right.

So makes sense that their cleaning agent will use some other mechanism just requiring application/soaking and not sheer force.

[twic]

Dishwasher powder is also extremely alkaline, i believe. I (cosmetically) ruined an aluminium Moka coffee pot by putting it through a dishwasher.

[refurb]

Nothing cleans quite as good as strong alkaline. In the lab, we'd use a 50% lye bath and it strips off everything.

If you want to add a bit of punch, you can add some 30% hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizer. Caution is needed as mixing a strong oxidizer and organic material is a recipe for fire or an explosion.

[rstuart4133]

> Nothing cleans quite as good as strong alkaline.

Depends on what you are cleaning. Most oven cleaners are strong alkalines, often sodium hydroxide. They work well enough on grease, but neglect it a bit and the heat turns the grease into a char that nothing short of a steel scraper and lot of elbow grease will remove. (On reflection, that char may be a combination of what was grease and protein.) In any case, alkaline cleaners and soaps won't touch it.

But allow to ammonia at it for 12 or so hours (it doesn't have to be wet - just exposed), and it just wipes away. The usual technique is to put the stainless steel fittings in a garbage bag, pour in a cup of cloudy ammonia, and tie off overnight. (If you want to have working nostrils afterwards, open bag outside.)

It even works on the glass door. Open so it's flat, cover with paper towels, soak paper towels in cloudy ammonia, hide outside for an hour so the smell doesn't take you out and burnt on crap wipes off.

I don't the chemistry is, but it's magic. It would be interesting to find out what the chemistry is, actually.

[Scoundreller]

Yah, lye won’t just clean, but also help make new soap from anything fatty!