Cutting dishwasher tabs in half?

[ClaraSais]

Does anyone else cut their dishwasher tabs in half to get more washed out of a pack?
I’ve heard of this hack and thought I’d give it a go. But my OH has completely freaked out and said it’s not sensible to do it and it’s toxic etc. wondered what everybody’s thoughts on it were please?

Ps. For the record he’s being particularly toxic tonight 😂

Maybe just buy powder and use half the amount?
Dishwasher detergent is very corrosive, so you need to be careful.

No, I think it would be false economy as the washer will get dirty do the dishes don’t come out clean.
I started buying cheap tablets and I can tell the difference.

We've always done that. Broke in half by hand. Well, until H. gave up on dishwasher & prefers washing by hand. What harm was supposed to happen to us for this audacity?

You can get loose powder for dwasher & just poor that in.

Heck we also have a woodburner so I should be comatose on floor in nonfunctional health I suppose, according to MNers.

I think it’s not a hack but stupidity.
Companies aren’t going to give you more dishwasher soap than you need in a tab. That would kill their profit margins. The market incentives them giving you as little soap as possible per tab so they can make more profit.

So a dishwasher tab is almost certainly the absolute minimum soap you need to get your dishes clean.

Cut it in half, and you get dishes not that clean. Perhaps just hot rinsed and with a lovely film of baked on grease.

We do it. I'd not considered any toxicity issues, but then we use Ecoleaf tabs so they don't really have any warnings on the box and we are still alive so guess it's ok 😁.
We also don't bother with rinse aid. I'm not bothered about streaks on glasses so it seems like an unnecessary expense!

I use half the amount suggested in the washing machine and it’s fine. So conceptually I think it’s worth a go. Maybe if your dishes aren’t particularly greasy.

We’ve done it for years with ecover tablets - all clean, no problems.

Why would it be any more toxic than using a full one??

I have done it with the solid Aldi ones. We have very soft water so I don't think we need as much detergent as some ( I never bother with rinse aid or salt either) and everything washes just fine.

I'd imagine the hardness of your water might affect the efficacy of using half a tablet. Soft water will produce a lather more easily so would likely clean better compared to hard water.
As far as toxicity is concerned I can't understand the chemistry of using less chemicals being more toxic.
Of course regular cleaning of the dishwasher, especially the door seal and filters would affect the overall cleanliness of the wash.
The door seal gunge is notoriously disgusting!

We have very hard water.
H. does insist on rinsing dishes quite thoroughly, when he did use the dishwasher at all, I mean. Maybe that's why half is enough for us.

Are you using liquid tabs? Is that what he’s worried about?

I also do it with the solid tablets.
Dishes come out squeaky clean as usual.
Only started doing it after I turned the machine on without a tablet by accident and the dishes came out squeaky clean that time as well! So thought why not give half a tablet a go?
We live in a very soft water area so maybe that helps and I pile the dishes in the sink first whilst everyone washes there hands so they get a light rinsing first.

I also don't use rinse aid anymore or salt, no streaks, just clean and clear dishes!

We break or cut ours in half and it definitely does a brilliant job - my mum now does the same too at their house. Saves a lot of money and less waste.
It’s a lot easier to get the ones that snap than cut them

I use vinegar as rinse aid

it would be impossible to do with the type of tablets i use, they have powder inside a cellulose capsule with some liquid section.
cascade dishwasher pods.
just make sure the dishwasher is full and run it on an eco setting.

I don’t see why not, especially in soft water areas.

I use less laundry powder and fabric conditioner than the packs recommend and everything comes out fine too.

Been doing this for years.

Half a tablet, no rinse aid or other bullshit.

Stuff always clean, no toxic fallout that I’m aware of.

No they are dishwasher powder tabs

In response to @Reinventinganna ^^

@lljkk dont even get him started on the wood burner!! Kept his mouth shut when we had a powercut for two days and it was our only source of heat in the winter

Agree, I don't think it's a hack!

We do this OP. A plumber told us to do it when we had blocked pipes. We've since moved and now only got a narrow dishwasher so it makes even more sense to only use half.