Can you mix regular bleach with Cascade dishwasher detergent that ALREADY has chlorine bleach in it?

[jdimaio]

The cascade product says that it "contains sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, sodium silicate and chlorine bleach." I would assume that this would mean it is safe to add regular bleach (which is chlorine bleach, correct?) in the dishwasher along with the detergent, but I'm not sure. I usually put a tablespoon at the bottom of the dishwasher to ensure disinfecting my dishes (I mix my cat's dishes with my own, so I like the idea of disinfecting). This may be kind of a bizarre question, but it's hard to find a definitive answer elsewhere. Thanks in advance.

[scooke]

Dear James,

The dangerous mixture of any bleaching product is with ammonia or acids.  Adding some additional commercial bleach to Cascade would not cause any reaction with the Cascade.  The MSDS I found for Cascade did not mention any sodium hydroxide although it has several sodium salt surfactants.

I would suggest that you may be using overkill, as the Cascade will disinfect as well as the bleach in cleaning bowls.  The germs don't really care if you eat out of the bowl, or your cat does.  Adding more may not help the disinfection outcome, but it may cause more rapid corrosion of some utensils, or possibly discoloration of some plastics.  Excess bleach down the drain just adds to the environmental stress.

Best regards,

Steven

[jdimaio]

This is great information, Steven. Thank you for taking the time to answer!

[hlmark]

Too much chlorine in the mix will cause some chlorine gas to evaporate into the environment. In a closed space the concentration of chlorine in the air could reach levels that won't do your lungs any good. As for getting information, have you tried asking the manufacturer of the Cascade (I'm too lazy to go looking that up right now)? After all, they know, or should know, more about their product than anybody else!

[jdimaio]

Hi Howard. I did contact Cascade, actually. They gave this response:

"We do have caution statements on the bottles, depending on the version “CAUTION: DANGEROUS FUMES FORM WHEN MIXED WITH OTHER PRODUCTS. Do not mix with dishwashing liquids, ammonia, other dish or cleaning products.” OR “Contains enzymes. Do not mix with bleach containing products due to incompatibility”. "

The former is the one found on Cascade with bleach, I believe. Which would make sense. I would assume most manufacturers would always tell consumers not to mix with anything else.@