PROBLEM

[timfulford]

ok everyone.... bicarbonate is used in most toothpastes as a polish. try it on a piece of hard clear plastic and you will see how much it marks the surface.
washing powder either dishwasher or washing powder will not damage the seal, there are many seals in dishwashers and washing machines and the seals don't fail because of the powder and they are exposed to it day in day out.
scrubbing a metal surface with anything like a pan scrub will also wear the surface away, coated or not. Just take a look at an old pan and you will see what happens.
grinding sugar, salt any other crystal will eventually blunt the blades and wear the pan, that's a physical fact due to the nature of a crystal being spun around at very high speeds. Crushing ice may slightly reedge the blades but any grinding will of course blunt the cutting surfaces, grinding cinnamon sticks WILL eventually blunt the blades, cinnamon is wood bark and blunts tools so therefore it will blunt cutters in a machine like a TM. Ask anyone who works with wood and they will tell you that wood blunts tools, just as food blunts knives.
I hope that helps with the technical facts for all TM users.

[Yvette]

Thanks everyone I just purchased a non marking scourer (as I normally just use a chux) so I will scrub everyone time I use it and hope no film develops on the bottom again and I will cook on speed 1. I will keep you all posted as I am just about to cook the Fast Chicken Curry for dinner.

[Katya]

I think you may find you need to use speed 2 or 3 rather than 1 Yvette...  I only say this in case you find speed 1 didn't help and you get disheartened. 

[Yvette]

Thanks Katya, does this dry out the food cooking it on a higher level?

[Katya]

I don't find it does at all but it may pay to keep an eye on it the first time you try it.

[Frozzie]

yvette depending on how much is in the bowl i usually adjust the speed until i see the ingredients moving..sometimes speed one isnt enugh but 1 and a half is if you get my meaning ...adding the butterfly could help with certain recipes also as long as it didnt require over speed 4 which most dont  

[Yvette]

Thanks Katya and Frozzie I have it on 1 and a half now so I will see how it goes, I also use a kilo of chicken in my recipes.

[CreamPuff63]

when I put things in the dishwasher I worry about it being akin to sandblasting - mindmapper am I being pedantic?
(Usually if I am in doubt anyway, I just handwash)

[andiesenji]

I don't know what kind of bicarb soda you have in OZ but the stuff we have here in the US is certainly not "abrasive" per se., and does not have a Mohs hardness to affect stainless steel (SS is 5.5 to 6.0, soda is 2.5) and I know from personal experience that it will not damage chrome plating because I have used it for many years to polish my vintage chromed appliances. 
If used fairly dry, it will abrade many plastics but so will a fingernail.  In a semi-liquid slurry it will not.

When I was still doing engraving in glass and gemstone carving, I often used bicarb in a tumbler to clean carved amber (same hardness as bicarb), and the plexiglass (3.5 on Mohs scale) mounts in which I displayed the engraved glass panels. 
Dental laboratories use it to polish false teeth AFTER the use of abrasives. 

Regular tooth paste IS abrasive (calcium phosphate 4.5 to 5.0 on Mohs scale.)

[Frozzie]

as far as i can remember andie its the same bicarb soda we have here in france and i didnt think it would be abbrasive either...but couldnt comment as i didnt know for sure as i never use it in cleaning but know it is an old ingredient like vinegar in homemade household cleaning etc..thanks for posting 

[timfulford]

when I put things in the dishwasher I worry about it being akin to sandblasting - mindmapper am I being pedantic?
(Usually if I am in doubt anyway, I just handwash)

In a dish washer the powder is blasted around the chamber under high pressure with hot water. To use it to clean a TM bowl the dishwasher tablet dissolves in warm water and is not mechanical moved around the bowl, therefore it cannot have any abrasive effects.

[timfulford]

I don't know what kind of bicarb soda you have in OZ but the stuff we have here in the US is certainly not "abrasive" per se., and does not have a Mohs hardness to affect stainless steel (SS is 5.5 to 6.0, soda is 2.5) and I know from personal experience that it will not damage chrome plating because I have used it for many years to polish my vintage chromed appliances. 
If used fairly dry, it will abrade many plastics but so will a fingernail.  In a semi-liquid slurry it will not.

When I was still doing engraving in glass and gemstone carving, I often used bicarb in a tumbler to clean carved amber (same hardness as bicarb), and the plexiglass (3.5 on Mohs scale) mounts in which I displayed the engraved glass panels. 
Dental laboratories use it to polish false teeth AFTER the use of abrasives. 

Regular tooth paste IS abrasive (calcium phosphate 4.5 to 5.0 on Mohs scale.)

BiCarb does abrade polycarbonate much harder than plexiglass (which is an acrylic) very easily and as you have pointed out is a polish, is used commercially as a polish and will if used enough wear the material, as will egg shells spun at high speed for over an hour.

It is best not to get anything burn on to the jug ,but this will happen, scraping, abrading and rubbing with anything could wear or damage the surface of the jug so its best not done.

The process of polishing is rubbing a surface with finer and finer abrasive until the surface reflects the light/gets clean, it is wearing the surface which is why items such as jewellery eventually wear away, loose any engraving or patterns.

[Frozzie]

ok if your going to be that specific, everything gets worn, used but here it would be at incredibly slow rates...i dont think what we are talking about here is going to affect the bowl and like andie said she has been using it for years with no affects so its got to be minimal?  In this case we are talking about the SS bowl.

If you do anything repetitively over and over its going to wear any material and even though you mentioned bicarb was in toothpaste there are also other ingredients so why are you mentioning toothpaste..youve lost me a bit on that as andie was talking about regular powder form bicarb soda..as far as i have read nobody mentioned cleaning the bowl with toothpaste???

take it easy mindmapper, i get the impression your being a bit defensive..everyone posts and has their opinion, generally from their own experiences which is what makes this forum great...doesnt mean they are attacking you or your views...just calm down a bit and understand that nobody knows everything and wisdom is about always taking in what others say and agreeing to disagree at times..dont you think??

[andiesenji]

as far as i can remember andie its the same bicarb soda we have here in france and i didnt think it would be abbrasive either...but couldnt comment as i didnt know for sure as i never use it in cleaning but know it is an old ingredient like vinegar in homemade household cleaning etc..thanks for posting 

I was pretty sure it was the same thing as we have here. 
"Soda blasting" was developed in the 1980s specifically for cleaning the Statue of Liberty during its renovation, without affecting the patina (green color) that had developed on the thin copper sheathing over the many decades. 

I do know a little about working with abrasives and polishes.  I started out working with various types of stones and gem material forty-some years ago and I have a lot of gem polishing equipment, including a mini "sandblast" unit for carving glass and gemstones.  And the hand engravings I did were often "frosted" to produce a dimensional effect. 

Like this one:
 
And this one:

I have cut and polished just about every type of gem stone, from amber - the softest, to diamonds. 

[johnro]

Andie your skills continue to amaze our family - thank you for sharing yet another on this forum!    Cheers