For many years * we have had a cast aluminium meat tenderiser, a hammer shaped thing with different grades of points on each of its two faces.
This morning, on removing it from the dish washer, it came out with a thin soot-like covering over it. Up 'til now it has performed with no problems as it has no moving parts of any description. It was employed yesterday to undertake its usual task of beating a very nice piece of steak prior to cooking. A manual wash by junior kitchen staff (me) in a bowl of standard water plus washing liquid has removed all traces of the covering.
The senior washing operative says she has not deviated from her normal procedures and is sure no great quantities of vinegar or similar substance was allowed into the machine. The washing tablet thingy is the same as she has used for some time.
This was the only piece of aluminiium in the wash and nothing else seemed to be effected. The only other metals in the wash were normal stainless steel cutlery and other utensils - no silver or other posh stuff in there!
For now the standard washing and operating instructions for this piece of kit have been changed to restrict it to manual washing until the cause can be pinpointed.
Any ideas as to the cause of this malfunction would be welcome from you boffins out there. I need to be sure before putting it down to operator error thus causing problems in the kitchen department.
* Eldest daughter has put her name on this for when we kick our buckets as she used to be tasked as volunteer (unpaid) steak tenderising staff during her younger years.
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Have you changed your dishwasher powder lately? The salt in the dishwasher was always going to mangle this aluminium piece of kit for you sooner or later.
I have to say it should be thrown in the bin. A very nice piece of steak should not be beaten to death. If its not tender when cooked its a: poor steak or b: badly cooked.
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>>The salt in the dishwasher was always going to mangle this
The salt in the dishwasher shouldn't come anywhere near the items being washed, unless there's a fault in the machine.
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>> The salt in the dishwasher shouldn't come anywhere near the items being washed, unless there's
>> a fault in the machine.
Or unless you do what I always end up doing, which is to pour too much salt down the funnel thing used to fill it so it overflows and ends up in the bottom of the dishwasher ;-)
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>> >>The salt in the dishwasher was always going to mangle this
>>
>> The salt in the dishwasher shouldn't come anywhere near the items being washed, unless there's
>> a fault in the machine.
Apart from the fact its dissolved in the water you mean?
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>> >> The salt in the dishwasher shouldn't come anywhere near the items being washed, unless
>> there's
>> >> a fault in the machine.
>>
>> Apart from the fact its dissolved in the water you mean?
>>
It still shouldn't come anywhere near the items being washed. It's the same principle as any water softener in a house, they wouldn't be popular if they produced salty water at the taps.
Further reading: home.howstuffworks.com/question991.htm
So why do you load up water softeners with salt if the plastic beads do all the work? Over several cycles, calcium and magnesium replace all of the sodium in the beads, after which the unit can no longer soften water. To fix this problem, the softener enters a regeneration cycle during which it soaks the beads in a strong solution of water and salt, or sodium chloride. The sheer amount of sodium in the brine solution causes the calcium and magnesium ions in the beads to give way, and the beads are recharged with sodium. After regeneration, the water softener flushes the remaining brine, plus all of the calcium and magnesium, through a drainpipe. Regeneration creates a lot of salty water -- around 25 gallons (95 liters).
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>> It still shouldn't come anywhere near the items being washed. It's the same principle as
>> any water softener in a house, they wouldn't be popular if they produced salty water
>> at the taps.
Which is why you have a bypass tap for drinking water.
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OK Zero, I'll let you carry on thinking you get salty water as a result of a water softener.
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I let you carry on thinking that there is no bypass for drinking water.
Oh and I will also let you carry on thinking that a dishwasher water softener is anywhere as near efficient as a consumer water softener. Its not because it doesn't have to be,
If you dont believe me, drink the water from a dishwasher.
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 21 Jan 12 at 16:56
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Dishwasher pills are bleach, has the protective coating on the hammer thingy died due to a higher temperature in the machine, or just worn away? Aluminium does not like bleach or salt if you use it.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 21 Jan 12 at 13:05
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Zero,
Chief Operator says all consumables are managed as per manufacturer's instructions. Will read through the manual sometime to see if any mention of damage to aluminium is mentioned.
Beating any lump of steak with this implement has been part of the ritual of cooking it for ever in this household, perhaps as you say - not required.
ON,
There seems to be no sign of any coating on the hammer, also any breakdown in a coating would probably be patchy, whereas this happened over the whole surface.
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"In the chemical reaction between detergent and aluminum ATOMIC hydrogen is formed. Atomic hydrogen has a very weird property of actually being able to move completely through solid aluminum......because it is such a small particle. Atomic hydrogen cannot be contained in an aluminum vessel.....it moves right through it as though it weren't there. It remains in the atomic state only until it meets another atomic hydrogen atom which then produces the hydrogen molecule H2. Molecular H2, which is a gas, cannot pass through solid aluminum. This process of hydrogen going from the atomic form to the molecular form causes the metal to actually flake (sometimes even crack) helping produce the powdery residue that you saw. The hot water in the dishwasher greatly accelerated this reaction."
Not my words but seems plausible
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CGN
Scary stuff, all happening in a little box under the kitchen worksurface while we sleep! :)
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Disclaimer:-
We live in a no scale area and have no experience of using salt in dishwashers or any other anti scale products. :-)
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Meat tenderiser - Zero
