Dishwasher versus aluminum pan: why is it better to wash such dishes by hand?

The dishwasher is becoming an increasingly common part of modern kitchens every day. And this is no coincidence: it allows you to significantly save time and effort, which will come in handy in a series of other endless household chores. But here’s the problem: some inexperienced housewives, having washed aluminum dishes in the dishwasher, notice with horror that they have ruined their favorite saucepan or new meat grinder - it has turned black. What to do now? Why did this happen, is it possible to put aluminum products in the dishwasher?

What happens in the dishwasher?

So, after being in the dishwasher, the aluminum products darkened. Why did this happen? The fact is that the process of machine washing is associated with two nuances that have a detrimental effect on the properties of aluminum. This is a combination of hot water and lye, which is part of the detergent.

Alkali is used to dissolve and then wash away contaminants without mechanical impact (after all, dishes, unlike clothes, cannot be spun in a machine). But this substance is the real enemy of aluminum. The alkali dissolves the protective oxide layer on the surface of such dishes, after which the metal freely reacts with hot water, oxidizes and darkens.

It is important to remember that the appearance of the dishes is not the main problem. When aluminum darkens, it loses the protective barrier that prevents potentially dangerous metal from getting into your food during cooking.

If you constantly wash aluminum cookware in the dishwasher, eventually the soft metal will begin to break down, so it becomes truly unsafe to cook in it, even if the temperature is not very high and everything seems to go fine the first time.

When is a dishwasher not contraindicated?

Such situations, it turns out, exist, and housewives need to know about them.

• Aluminum products with a non-stick coating, unless otherwise indicated on the packaging, can be loaded into the machine.
• If the dishes have another protective coating and the instructions also do not prohibit such washing, it is permissible to use a dishwasher.
• You can also use a dishwasher for aluminum utensils if you create conditions under which destruction of the protective layer does not occur: run the cycle at a low temperature and use a detergent that does not contain aggressive alkali. Such products today can be found among a huge variety of washing powders, tablets or gels.

Even if the marking does not prohibit machine washing, choose the most delicate mode with low temperature for this.

How to fix the situation?

If an incident has already occurred, this does not always mean that the dishes will certainly have to be thrown away. First, you need to soberly assess the “scale of the disaster.” In many cases, damaged dishes can be helped by preparing them for further use and returning them to their original shine.

If the washing took place at a not very high temperature and with a small amount of detergent, the damage will most likely be repairable. And vice versa: the higher the temperature and the more detergent, the more difficult it will be to correct the situation (and sometimes it is completely impossible).

So, first you can try a gentle method: wash the affected item first with a strong vinegar solution, and then with a soda solution. If this does not help, you will have to resort to using special household chemicals.

Don’t follow your grandmother’s “good old and tried-and-true” recipe, which calls for boiling aluminum pots or pans with laundry detergent and soda to brighten. This way you will only ruin everything completely.

How can you treat darkened aluminum? There are several remedies that make sense to try:

• GOI. This paste must be applied to a piece of felt and polished on the aluminum surface.
• Dialux. This is also a polishing paste that can cope with blackening of soft metal.
• HORSE. This is an automotive rust control product that can be called “heavy artillery.” That is, it is worth resorting to his help when previous methods did not produce results. You should first treat the damaged product with HORS, and then polish it with any of the above pastes.

How to wash aluminum cookware?

So, if there is a sign on a pot, pan or duck pot that prohibits machine washing, you will have to do it manually. It's actually not that difficult. The main thing is to avoid abrasives, metal brushes or scourers, high temperatures and alkaline detergents. That is, you should wash it with warm water, using only a soft sponge and a liquid non-alkaline detergent (or, in extreme cases, ordinary kitchen soap).

The main problem with darkening of aluminum cookware is the destruction of the protective oxide layer, which is why aluminum and its impurities can get into the food. Therefore, you should wash products made of this metal very carefully.If there is even the slightest doubt about whether a particular saucepan or cauldron will withstand machine “execution,” it is better to wash it by hand.