OMG I can't wash dishes

[Zilal]

This is an embarrassing problem, but I need help. I was going to post this on some housekeeping forum somewhere but in light of the effort it would take to register for another forum... and at least 5 seconds of my time... I decided to try here first.

I have stoneware dishes that I hand scrub in very hot water with Dawn, and then rinse... standard dishwashing procedure... but they don't get entirely clean. They have acquired, somehow, very stubborn patches of yellow sticky stuff that don't come off with scrubbing or various other household cleaners. If I really grind away at them with Comet they will come off, but it requires so much effort I'd really rather find a more logical method. Plus, I don't understand what this stuff is. It turns up on the bottoms of dishes too, it's a different color than the Dawn, which is blue. It looks rather like patches of grease but just doesn't respond the way I'm used to grease responding. I don't have hard water, either.

What am I doing wrong?! I cannot find anything about this on the web. Save me from the weird sticky stuff!

[Allie]

LOL!! I'd love to help, but I can't because I am just as bad when it comes to non-standard dish washing, weird sticky stuff! Most of the time, they end up in the trash instead.

Sorry!

[stasis]

Regretfully, I can offer no assistance. I do not wash dishes at all.
Never send a human to do a machine's job.

[yondyr]

Get a dog?

[HackerX]

Bump up your detergent to water ratio and let it soak for a while. That should help free up any stains. Also try rubbing the stain with just detergent before soaking.

[Lucid]

I have no ideas about the yellow sticky stuff you're talking about. I used to wash dishes for a living and I've never encountered it. If it's on your dishes after you've been eating and you don't know what it is, I'd be worried.

[rwyatt365]

sandblasting?

[Zilal]

Some of the responses made me laugh.

I went to town with the Comet last night and it got the dishes so clean, I was happy even with the amount of work involved. I have this lavender-flavored Comet and it makes the kitchen smell like lavender and bleach, which is a weird combination. But soaking longer with more detergent is something I haven't tried yet.

[gabriel]

Zilal, next time soak them in water with machine-type diswasher detergent, Cascade or something like that. It also works great for that disgusting coffee residue that a coffee pot gets inside it. Little water, little Cascade, little swirl 'n soak, all gone.

That is the total extent of my housekeeping knowledge.

[Solaris]

I once had some ironstone (I think they were called) dishes. I noticed that they had acquired the same substance of which you speak. I soaked them for days (the damn edges of these dishes was patterned as though you had pressed a fork down all around them). I scrubbed, I soaked...eventually I won.

I say go for the dishwasher. By the way, is Comet really intended for use on dishes?

[Zilal]

By the way, is Comet really intended for use on dishes?

I think it's meant for consumption, as I recall from elementary school:

Comet, it makes your mouth turn green
Comet, it tastes like listerine
Comet, it makes you vomit, so get your Comet and vomit today

[Solaris]

I think it's meant for consumption, as I recall from elementary school:

Comet, it makes your mouth turn green
Comet, it tastes like listerine
Comet, it makes you vomit, so get your Comet and vomit today

Hahahahahaha!! Thank you, I needed a good laugh in my morning. :laugh:

[thod]

Why dont you use steel wool and just scratch it off. You can get the same stuff in aluminium too for less scratchyness to dishs. Chemicals only go so far you cant beat physical pressure.

[Lucid]

hammer and chisel. That's my solution!

[rwyatt365]

Shaped charges?

[yondyr]

lol lots of 'useful' suggestions - upon the lines of destructive testing.

[Zilal]

Yes, I have not tried steel wool. I am not sure what that would do to the stoneware, which tends to get streaks from silverware, but it's second-hand already. I am not above testing. What I really want to try though is this stuff (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)... supposedly 10x the power of regular dawn, and the people at epinions are like OMG it's true! If it doesn't work on the mystery substance it will at least be cool.

[logos]

... I have this lavender-flavored Comet ...

If you can taste it, I would suggest another good rinsing or twelve...

[Firelie]

My suggestion is to get some lower-maintenance dishes. :)

[Solaris]

My suggestion is to get some lower-maintenance dishes. :)

I second this idea. Maybe the reason the dishes are second hand is because somebody else had the same problem. Haul them off to a second hand place, and pick up some other dishes while you are there.

[Zilal]

Well, I have noticed the Mystery Substance on my metal pots and plastic spatula too, lately, so I guess it isn't just the dishes... though that is what I thought at first.

The scraping, I mean, whether I'm scraping with my fingernail or with this scratch pad that I have, it just kind of moves it around but it remains stuck on. Thus the comet, which seems to be able to lift it off the surface.

I should bring this stuff into the lab for analysis.

[Santana28]

i havent read the responses but i thought the thread title was funny. i have NEVER been able to hand wash dishes. my mother used to throw all of this dishes in the sink full of dirty water and leave them there for me to do them... i used to freak out because they were all contaminated and i had to drain the water before i could wash and i had to run my hands through nasty muck unnecessarily and i would argue with her that what she was doing was wasting water, time, aggrivation, and destroying the dishes and sink, not to mention just plain illogical and gross and she used to get sooooooo mad at me. i would have to drain the sink carefully. then rinse everything individually, and hand wash them individually. then rinse them individually again. then dry them individually. it takes me HOURS to do a full load of dishes by hand... thank god for automatic dishwashers :)

[yondyr]

(Automatic dishwashers? knew Americans were spoilt.. next they'll invent magic beam ovens)

[Santana28]

(Automatic dishwashers? knew Americans were spoilt.. next they'll invent magic beam ovens)

that would be cool...hehe ;)

what we have in creature comforts, we lose elsewhere... so i wouldnt exactly call us spoiled...

[The Rose]

Yes, I have not tried steel wool. I am not sure what that would do to the stoneware, which tends to get streaks from silverware, but it's second-hand already. I am not above testing. What I really want to try though is this stuff (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)... supposedly 10x the power of regular dawn, and the people at epinions are like OMG it's true! If it doesn't work on the mystery substance it will at least be cool.One product I absolutely love - it can dissolve bubble gum - is Orange Clean, or some variation of it. I usually buy it in a two quart jug and pour some into a spray bottle. I spray it straight onto whatever I want to clean and let it set for a while. There's very few things it can't get out. It would even be more powerful than the Dawn concentrate, I believe.

The bottle I have now, I got in the automotive aisle at Wal-Mart. It's called Greased Lightening Blast - orange powered. It's a "super strength auto/shop degreaser". I use it mostly on the stubborn film in the shower/tub.

I use a steel wool pad on my dishes, too when the food is really stubborn.

[Solaris]

Well, I have noticed the Mystery Substance on my metal pots and plastic spatula too, lately, so I guess it isn't just the dishes... though that is what I thought at first.

The scraping, I mean, whether I'm scraping with my fingernail or with this scratch pad that I have, it just kind of moves it around but it remains stuck on. Thus the comet, which seems to be able to lift it off the surface.

I should bring this stuff into the lab for analysis.

I'm starting to feel concerned for your body. What are you eating? If this is what it does to your dishes, what must it do to your insides?

[yondyr]

pssst, magic beam ovens = microwave ovens.... but you knew that

[Zilal]

I'm starting to feel concerned for your body. What are you eating? If this is what it does to your dishes, what must it do to your insides?

I only eat things that were on sale at the grocery store.

Well, the stickiness also gets on my stove, come to think of it. It is hard to clean the stovetop off too. Which makes me think it's, like, grease that something happens to. Maybe there's some weird substance in the air here that's, like, combining with the grease droplets to make a potent chemical that is impossible to remove from any surface.

[Lucid]

I only eat things that were on sale at the grocery store.

Well, the stickiness also gets on my stove, come to think of it. It is hard to clean the stovetop off too. Which makes me think it's, like, grease that something happens to. Maybe there's some weird substance in the air here that's, like, combining with the grease droplets to make a potent chemical that is impossible to remove from any surface.

You could patent and market this.

[Solaris]

You could patent and market this.

You could sell it to NTs and NFs to annoy overboard SJs with.