[HN Gopher] There are two types of dishwasher people
___________________________________________________________________
There are two types of dishwasher people
Author : JumpCrisscross
Score : 64 points
Date : 2025-04-14 23:43 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theatlantic.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theatlantic.com)
| WarOnPrivacy wrote:
| https://archive.is/ZkQJA
| juped wrote:
| I'm not a fan of dishwashers. You have to handwash the dish, then
| put it through the dishwasher, then handwash it when it comes
| out. It seems a lot easier to just handwash it once at full
| effort.
|
| Now, this article suggests that the first handwashing can be
| skipped with contemporary detergents, which is useful information
| if true, though I think it wouldn't help in the social situations
| the article talks about since it makes it look as though you're
| cutting corners.
| throw310822 wrote:
| > You have to handwash the dish, then put it through the
| dishwasher, then handwash it when it comes out.
|
| What?
| x0xrx wrote:
| I think a lot of dishwasher opinions are based on how your
| mom told you to wash the dishes 35 years ago.
| Bukhmanizer wrote:
| To be fair some people rent places with really old
| dishwashers.
| Rebelgecko wrote:
| I think older dishwashers are more likely to have built
| in garbage disposals which is actually a huge win. On
| newer dishwashers one of the biggest problems is that
| people don't clean the filter regularly
| gs17 wrote:
| That's my case. My old place had a brand new one and it
| did everything perfectly. My new place has one that's
| pretty old and not only does it need a pre-rinse, it
| doesn't even dry things (and unlike my old one, it needs
| a rinse aid)! And if it breaks, I'm sure the landlord
| will replace it with an empty area under the counter.
| juped wrote:
| "What?" Great rebuttal, you sure convinced me!
|
| Oh, I forgot to mention that if your local water is hard,
| then no amount of handwashing will save you from your dish
| being made worse. Not an issue for me at the moment, though,
| but I've lived in places where the water seems to be about
| 70% calcium.
| maxerickson wrote:
| Most people don't wash the dishes coming out of the
| dishwasher.
|
| I guess you might legitimately be confused about that.
|
| Anyway, the other poster wasn't trying to rebut you, they
| were prompting to explain why you do those things.
| throw310822 wrote:
| Ok. I quickly rinse the dishes before putting them in the
| dishwasher, and put them straight back to the cupboard once
| it's done. I've been washing dishes by hand for 15 years
| and now I have my first dishwasher. So I know the
| difference, and I'm loving it.
| tgaj wrote:
| I don't even rinse - I just throw bigger chunks of food
| to the garbage can and that's it. I event let the sauce
| to flow to the bottom of the dishwasher.
| Doxin wrote:
| re: hard water: your dishwasher has a setting for that. Set
| it correctly and make the dishwasher salt compartment isn't
| empty and your dishwasher will deal _fine_ with hard water.
| wtallis wrote:
| Water softeners aren't actually standard issue in all
| dishwashers, but if you're replacing your dishwasher it
| isn't hard to find one with that feature.
| kps wrote:
| This is a geographical difference. North American market
| dishwashers don't typically have that; people use whole-
| dwelling water softeners that feed all washers (including
| human).
| ackfoobar wrote:
| I don't think I've seen salt compartments in dishwashers
| in North America.
| weaksauce wrote:
| I have one in mine. though it's a bosch which is german
| owned.
| 1123581321 wrote:
| Only Bosch and Miele have them, that I've seen.
| apercu wrote:
| I have a well so I have a water softener?
| Rebelgecko wrote:
| I have hard water and my dishes are not made worse by the
| dishwasher. They actually come out better. Maybe depends on
| your detergent?
| HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
| We are on a well (rural area). The water is so hard here
| that when the house was built, they needed both a water
| softener and an iron filter to treat it.
|
| I had an issue this winter with my septic system freezing
| up and in order to prevent an overflow before the tank
| could be pumped, I was told to put the treatment system on
| bypass (water softener cycles dump a _lot_ of waste water
| down the drain). Even with the hard well water going
| through the dishwasher, it never failed to clean the dishes
| properly. This dishwasher is 22 years old.
| awkward wrote:
| If you stuff something covered in egg yolk in there it's
| coming out with egg yolk on it. If you don't scrape whole
| chunks of potato off the plate, you're rolling the dice with
| whether you pull it out of a filter or out of the thin hose
| between the dishwasher and the drain. The dishwasher's not
| magic - if it takes a scrub to get it off, you need to scrub
| it.
|
| I don't know about handwashing after it comes out though,
| that's crazy.
| mvdtnz wrote:
| Egg yolk is no problem whatsoever for a modern dishwasher
| and detergent. And obviously you don't put whole potato
| chunks in the machine. Don't be stupid.
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| GE machines come with a garbage disposal built-in. Be as
| stupid as you want, things are still coming out clean.
|
| https://www.geappliances.com/appliances/dishwashers-with-
| pir...
| Cerium wrote:
| Modern dishwashers are great. I was firmly of your opinion for
| years, stubbornly a hand washer. Now I rinse dishes until there
| are no chunks left, sauce, grease, etc is all OK. Put them into
| the washer, and most evenings decide it's full enough and click
| start. The next day clean dry dishes are loaded directly into
| the cabinets.
| barbarr wrote:
| I wasn't sold on dishwashers until I learned that they use
| less water than handwashing
| ncr100 wrote:
| You have to clean the filter more frequently, is the trade off.
| Not a bad one IMO.
| mschoch wrote:
| > You have to handwash the dish, then put it through the
| dishwasher, then handwash it when it comes out.
|
| You have never actually used a dishwasher have you.
| barbarr wrote:
| Not the OP, but this is how my parents use the dishwasher - I
| think a lot of people don't realize that you don't need to
| pre-handwash for modern dishwashers.
| thecosmicfrog wrote:
| Especially if you use a small amount of detergent in the
| pre-wash compartment. Most people (at least in Europe) just
| use a single tablet in the main wash section. I've seen a
| massive improvement by putting a teaspoon amount of
| detergent in with the pre-wash. The ever-wonderful
| Technology Connections sent me down this path.[1]
|
| Without detergent in the pre-wash compartment, only water
| is used to pre-soak the dishes.
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBO8neWw04
| sidewndr46 wrote:
| It works even better if you add trisodium phosphate to
| the compartment.
| thecosmicfrog wrote:
| I'm using the Miele dishwasher powder myself, mainly
| because it's the only one I could find at a reasonable
| price that wasn't tablets:
|
| https://shop.miele.com.au/en/cleaning-and-
| accessories/miele-...
| floren wrote:
| Then there's the way my mother-in-law uses the dishwasher:
| turn on the faucet as high as it goes, then rinse each dish
| so much it could just go straight in the rack, then load
| the dishwasher, then FINALLY turn the water back off.
| jmholla wrote:
| Why bother with the dishwasher if you're already washing the
| dishes? I don't do any of those manual steps and my dishes come
| out clean. Modern dishwashers and soap are very good at the
| entire process.
| mingus88 wrote:
| 1) you don't need to wash the dishes before loading the
| machine. There is a filter you can clear food out of but most
| people don't know about it. Scrape off the solids beforehand
| leads to less gunk in the filter.
|
| 2) a cycle will typically be much hotter for much longer than
| whatever you do manually. So the dishwasher is what I trust
| to fully disinfect my dishes
|
| 3) a family of four cooking at home will need a full load
| every day so it's a lot more efficient than manually washing
| and drying everything, especially when both parents work
| rascul wrote:
| > So the dishwasher is what I trust to fully disinfect my
| dishes
|
| The water probably doesn't get hot enough, unless the
| dishwasher has a sanitize cycle.
| nozzlegear wrote:
| My wife is convinced that you need to hand wash dishes before
| putting them in the dishwasher, so she doesn't use the
| dishwasher (it came with the house). I actually thought the
| two types of people in this article were going to be A)
| people who hand wash dishes before putting them in the
| dishwasher; and B) people who just put them in the dishwasher
| and trust it will do its job to clean them.
| donnachangstein wrote:
| It's worth mentioning that pre-washing the dishes too clean
| is actually worse, because the enzymes in dishwasher soap
| are activated with the organic matter in the food debris.
| barbarr wrote:
| You absolutely don't need to handwash the dish first when using
| a modern dishwasher. You just need to scrape off large scraps
| into the trash.
| vel0city wrote:
| I lightly rinse the worst dishes while loading until the
| water gets really hot at the sink next to the dishwasher.
| Having that prewash be very hot does a lot to make sure it
| gets it good in my experience.
|
| US dishwashers tend to assume the incoming water is from the
| hot water line and is pretty hot. It takes a bit for the tub
| to actually get the water very hot, so you'll end up spending
| most of the pre-wash step with only mildly warm water if you
| don't get the hot water there first.
| rascul wrote:
| Run the hot water at the sink until it's hot then the
| dishwasher should have hot water from the start.
| j45 wrote:
| Depends on the dishwasher.
|
| A quick rinse only decreases chances of issues.
|
| Also, waiting 3 years to load the dishwasher until full to run
| it will make food hard on it.
|
| Have to choose the poison.
| bryanlarsen wrote:
| Modern dishwasher soap contains enzymes that are activated by
| proteins. Pre-rinsing prevents those enzymes from activating.
| The dishwasher might do a better job if you don't pre-rinse.
| RandallBrown wrote:
| Don't most dishwashers pre-rinse anyway?
| tokai wrote:
| They do. Most also have 5 min cold water rinse programs.
| apercu wrote:
| Not at all my experience. I rinse the dishes before they go in
| as they will likely sit for days and days before I fill up the
| dishwasher.
|
| Likely that's because if there's just a couple dishes I just
| hand wash them. But when we have company the dishwasher is a
| massive time saver. That said, I bet the average American has
| way more electronic "stuff" and possessions than I do (with the
| exception of instruments and music gear) as I try to live
| pretty simply.
| justinrubek wrote:
| Of course, there may be a tipping point where that
| "simplicity" is just shipping the complexity out to somewhere
| else. In this case, perhaps this would arise as extra water
| treatment plants due to the extra water used by hand washing.
| Obviously not just from you, but if a large amount of us did
| it this way.
| giraffe_lady wrote:
| There Are Three Types of Dishwasher People.
| moogly wrote:
| There Are Two Types of Dishwasher People, and Then There Are
| Animals
| random3 wrote:
| made my day
| CommieBobDole wrote:
| Because everybody is replying obliquely to this: You should not
| have to do either of those things. If your dishwasher is
| working properly, you should be able to put fully-dirty dishes
| in it and remove fully-clean, dry dishes from it. This is how
| my dishwasher works and how all dishwashers I have ever owned
| work.
|
| If your dishwasher does not generally work in this way, it is
| not working correctly.
| stevenAthompson wrote:
| My mother had a dishwasher in the late 70's that didn't work
| properly. I think it was very expensive at the time.
|
| She used it's crumminess as justification both to wash all of
| the dishes manually, and to never buy another dishwasher
| again, since she would obviously have to wash all of the
| dishes by hand anyhow. The thought that technology might
| improve over time never seemed to occur to her.
|
| I get the idea that she was not alone in that.
| bdamm wrote:
| The pre-washing is silly, but the post-washing is totally
| mental. Why on earth would you post-wash a dish? Your
| dishwasher must be very dirty. Clean the filter, and also, run
| a few cycles with a couple of bowls facing up in the bottom,
| then discard the giant globs of dirt that will collect in them
| when the cycles are done. This is how to rehabilitate an old
| dishwasher, assuming it is mechanically working ok.
| donnachangstein wrote:
| Not to mention if your dishwasher has a sanitize cycle, you
| are very likely making the dishes _dirtier_ and spreading new
| bacteria onto them by post-washing them.
| happytoexplain wrote:
| Wow, I've never seen the _two_ -handwashings version of this
| complaint! Also, that remark about how people perceive you is
| worrying. Who are you hanging out with?
|
| Seriously though, your opinion is common (maybe not majority,
| just weirdly not as rare as you would think).
|
| I sometimes wonder about it, and I generally land on these
| explanations, in decreasing order of how common I think they
| are ("you" below refers to the representative of all people,
| not you personally):
|
| 1. You experienced a partial failure a number of times in
| specific cases (e.g. a fluke of loading/shapes where a spot
| just doesn't get clean, or maybe you were expecting it to
| accomplish the impossible task of cleaning a left-out bowl of
| mini-wheats). This soured you and caused you to over-compensate
| forever after.
|
| 2. You have very high standards for "clean" (e.g. faint streaks
| on glass is unacceptable).
|
| 3. You over-load it or never clean the filter.
|
| 4. Washers and/or detergent were indeed crappy, and are now
| better (maybe true, but I'm not sure I buy this as a
| significant reason).
|
| 5. You use detergent packs or you don't call for hot water
| before turning it on (even I'm guilty of these, and don't have
| issues).
| ctoth wrote:
| Funny how easy it is to s/dishwasher/llm in this subthread.
|
| > > The entire concept is flawed and can't possibly work and
| wastes more time than it will ever save.
|
| > List of tips for proper usage
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| Buy a new dishwasher. I had an insidious dishwasher that went
| through its entire cycle, but _sometimes_ refused to make
| things clean. After weeks of trial and error and a few new
| parts, I finally determined the control board was popping all
| the detergent into the tub after just a few minutes in the
| first cycle and then draining and restarting the main cycle
| with just water. Everything mechanical was working perfectly,
| but it was literally being stupid at its job. I just couldn 't
| trust it to not do that again, and decided to scrap it and
| upgrade on a Black Friday sale.
| pryelluw wrote:
| I'm in the process of adding a second dishwasher in the house.
| One for clean plates and one for dirty plates.
| dalmo3 wrote:
| You joke, but I use my dishwasher exclusively as a dish rack.
| It's just so much faster to do the washing by hand.
| HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
| Even if the washing happens when you're sleeping?
| saltcured wrote:
| Hah, we have a habit of using them as a drying rack after
| handwashing too. With the lower rack pulled out and resting
| on the open door, so air circulates well and things dry
| pretty fast.
|
| Eventually, you think about running the washer just to clean
| itself. But, you wonder if the thing will surprise you with
| leaks if you do run it, because it has been months or more
| and who knows if the seals are working...
| cpursley wrote:
| This makes zero sense. Are you considering the machine time
| or just loading? Also, machines wash 1000 times better than
| hand ever could, uses less water, and doesn't dry out your
| hands.
| pazimzadeh wrote:
| > machines wash 1000 times better than hand ever could
|
| No way. Not if you're washing with a scrub sponge and
| scraping the corners of everything. The argument for the
| dishwasher is that you're not using an old sponge. If your
| sponge is not nasty, washing by hand should be as good or
| better.
| Night_Thastus wrote:
| Dishwashers, with rare exception, are much better at
| washing dishes than people are. They can use water
| temperatures that would burn skin, pressures that would
| bruise, and can keep going at it for HOURS without
| getting tired.
|
| People are lazy. They only look for dirty spots and go
| for those. They intentionally or intentionally avoid
| cleaning some areas. Dishwashers don't care what 'looks'
| dirty - they just keep washing.
|
| Even if you _think_ it 's clean by hand, chances are
| there's far more residual residue and bacteria you can't
| see that a dishwasher wouldn't have any trouble with.
|
| 99% of the problem with dishwashers are that people use
| them wrong:
|
| * They don't clean the filter and spray arms regularly
|
| * They use the shitty pods instead of powder, which is
| the most effective since it can have bleach
|
| * They don't put some detergent in the pre-wash
|
| * They have a unit that doesn't pre-heat the water and
| need to just run the faucet for a bit to get the water
| hot
|
| * They don't use a rinse aid
|
| If you can avoid those 5 mistakes, a dishwasher will
| always way out-perform hand-washing. Even dirt cheap
| basic units you see in low end apartments will do an
| amazing job if actually used correctly.
| pazimzadeh wrote:
| You're missing the point. I'm not talking about people
| lazily washing their dishes by hand. I'm talking about
| focused hand-washing of dishes with many corners, vs.
| sticking them in the dish-washer.
|
| Like the article mentioned, to get the best result you
| need to have your dirty dishes line up with where the
| water is coming out. So if you need to wash something on
| multiple sides (including top), handwashing will be
| better.
|
| Hot water is not what cleans your dishes, it's the
| pressure from the water _washing_ things out (helped by
| soap). Heat just softens the gunk and oil. Plus you can
| wear gloves and /or let dishes soak in hot water so
| that's not even a factor.
|
| By the way, many microbes can survive heat (in spore
| form), even boiling hot water. Nothing can survive being
| washed away by soap though. Well, they could survive, but
| they won't be on your dish.
|
| As a microbiologist I'm aware that what looks clean can
| have leftover residue. How are you measuring cleanliness
| out of a dishwasher? I'm guessing by eye, the same way
| you're measuring hand-washed dish cleanliness.
|
| The way you talk about dishwashers is like you think
| they're autoclaves, which can actually break spores down
| using a high heat only achievable in a high-pressure tank
| (higher than boiling temperature, around 120 celsius).
| Your dishwasher is only getting about 50 to 60 degrees
| celsius.
|
| So no, a dishwasher will not _always_ out-perform hand-
| washing. And if you 're using a new sponge, I bet you the
| result is comparable or better if your hand-washing
| technique doesn't suck and you should get about the same
| result with cold water if you use enough soap.
| robocat wrote:
| Glassware looks shiny from a dishwasher.
|
| Glassware looks yuck when washed by hand - even with a
| lot of care. A dishtowel will get glassware mostly shiny
| but it takes way more work and dishtowels are just icky
| (past trauma of smelling a rank dishtowel, or watching
| someone wipe their mank hands or face on a dishtowel,
| plus you know most people wash them with underwear,
| fabric can't be hygienic).
| nonethewiser wrote:
| It makes perfect sense. It takes about 20 seconds to wash 1
| dish.
| ac29 wrote:
| I'm usually getting ~40 dishes and ~40 utensils into the
| dishwasher per load, which at 20 seconds each is like
| half an hour. I can load the dishwasher a lot quicker
| than that.
| tombert wrote:
| If you're only using one dish, then sure it's probably
| better to wash by hand. No one I know has ever suggested
| running a dishwasher for one dish.
|
| Dishwashers can handle a lot of dishes and loading them
| takes like five minutes. Yes, it might take between 2 and
| 3 hours to finish washing, but it's asynchronous, you're
| not involved with the process. I usually load and start
| the dishwasher right before I go to bed.
|
| This is not even to mention the fact that many
| dishwashers can sanitize dishes better than you can by
| hand since they can get very hot and maintain that heat,
| and the fact that they use considerably less water.
| f4c39012 wrote:
| and you can put on a podcast
| spiffyk wrote:
| The time the dishwasher takes to wash the dishes is time you
| yourself can use for literally anything else. Not to mention
| the savings on the water bill and the much higher quality of
| the wash. The only objection I can think of is if you do not
| have enough dishes, which means the dishwasher "locks in" the
| dishes for some time, but the real solution to that is to
| simply get extra dishes so that you have some to use while
| the dishwasher is running - seriously, it will pay for itself
| in no time.
| dalmo3 wrote:
| Sure. I'm in a household of 2 and wash after every meal. It
| takes 5-10 minutes, and I'm thorough. Then unload it once a
| day.
|
| Unloading is the most annoying part, and needs to be done
| anyway however you wash it. So, not a huge chore.
|
| Most importantly, I live in a small apartment and I hate
| the noise it makes.
| pryelluw wrote:
| I'm not joking. I am indeed in the process of doing so.
| Working on the placement at the moment. Requires extending
| the counter.
|
| Also, I've worked as a dishwasher and don't want to do more
| of that ever.
| h4x0rr wrote:
| Ah yes, the genius lazy method You just need to keep in mind
| that there's much less space in a dishwasher than in a closet
| xnx wrote:
| My favorite dishwasher hack: one bowl, one spoon, one fork. Use
| them for everything.
| GuinansEyebrows wrote:
| My desire to share a meal in my home is not fully dead but I
| admire the efficiency.
| xnx wrote:
| Ha! To clarify, one set per person. Each person only uses and
| is responsible for their own set.
| Marsymars wrote:
| When I was in university with three roommates we had one
| roommate who would leave all the dishes dirty in the
| kitchen, so when he left for Christmas break, the three of
| us made the executive decision to go down to one set of
| dishes per person.
| lnwlebjel wrote:
| Seriously! Family of 5? Five bowls, five spoons ... Maybe have
| some extras in a hard to find place on the rare occasion of
| entertaining.
| AndrewKemendo wrote:
| The author evaluated their position, measured the situation,
| sought more information, adjusted their position, independently
| tested it and updated their position
|
| Scientific method 101
|
| They did it with intentional vulnerability, and took
| responsibility for themselves at the outset.
|
| We need more of this and it's rare to actually see someone
| document it. It requires the ability to be wrong, something that
| seems to be going extinct ...curiously despite it being almost
| universally accepted as a virtue.
|
| > Last week, I purposefully subjected myself to the real-life
| version of an anxiety dream. I stood in front of my boyfriend and
| my parents--three of the people who mean the most to me, and who
| have offered the most, uh, feedback on my dishwasher-loading
| abilities--and tried to do the thing. Plates on the bottom, don't
| cram too much in there, think about the spray: Honestly, it
| wasn't that bad. I thought about the hard work, and the help,
| required to keep a home. The dishes came out clean.
| TehShrike wrote:
| My mental model for diswashers got a lot better after watching
| some Technology Connections: https://youtu.be/jHP942Livy0
| cush wrote:
| I feel like the two types of dishwasher people are clearly
| delineated by those who have and have not watched the
| Technology Connections videos on dishwashers.
|
| 1. Powdered detergent people who sprinkle some soap in for the
| prewash
|
| 2. Tab people who attest that they need to pre-rinse their
| dishes before they put them in the dishwasher
| conradludgate wrote:
| How about a third :)
|
| I've seen the technology connections video, continue to use
| pods, and continue not to pre-rinse the dishes
| code_biologist wrote:
| Many types... I've seen the Technology Connections video
| and use whatever, mostly liquid detergent. After running a
| few experiments and coming away unimpressed, I've kept on
| pre-rinsing.
| from-nibly wrote:
| There are two types of PEOPLE, there's lots of different
| animals /jk
| rainsford wrote:
| I've seen the video and tried switching from pods (which I
| assume is the same thing as a tab, just never heard that name
| before) to powder with some power in the prewash compartment
| without prerinsing the dishes.
|
| Other's results may vary, but I found my dishwasher would
| eventually get clogged with the TC approach, even though I
| clean the filter regularly and wasn't putting in dishes with
| absurd amounts of food still on them. Since I switched back
| to pods and prerinsing, the clogging went away. Maybe my
| dishwasher or the install has something goofy about it, but
| it was definitely a failed experiment for me. Although I
| still think the TC argument is a solid one in theory.
| mystified5016 wrote:
| Some brands like Cascade produce solid compressed powder
| tablets. Same general concept as the pods, just no fluid
| load or pouch
| bradfa wrote:
| I'm a Bosch dishwasher powder soap with some in the bottom
| for presoak but still pre-rinse type person. Clean the filter
| once a month (takes 2 minutes literally) use jet dry (or
| equivalent) and I have zero complaints about how my 20 year
| old dishwasher performs!
| vondur wrote:
| I too have a Bosch dishwasher and use powdered soap. I also
| add in some citric acid to help with the really hard water
| we have in my area. I pre-rinse everything though.
| relwin wrote:
| Best advice from TC: verify the water is hot before starting
| the dishwasher. Especially if your water heater is located a
| ways from your kitchen and the pipes aren't well insulated.
| spiffyk wrote:
| Not sure why you were downvoted. This sounds like absolutely
| crucial advice for people in countries where dishwashers
| don't heat the water on their own. I've never seen one like
| that in my life, but yeah, sounds important.
| gwbas1c wrote:
| When the dishwasher has to heat the water, it's slower than
| from the water heater.
|
| That's because heating water from the 120 volt circuit that
| the dishwasher runs on is slow. (At least in North America,
| 240 volt countries might not have this issue.)
| reaperducer wrote:
| _(At least in North America, 240 volt countries might not
| have this issue.)_
|
| Central America, parts of South America, Japan, and
| Taiwan are also ~110 volt.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_countr
| y#/...
| ac29 wrote:
| I wonder how much this really matters. For me my dishwasher
| is far enough from the hot water heater that it generally
| takes several gallons for the water to run hot. But the wash
| cycle is 2+ hours long and uses very minimal water (~3
| gallons/cycle). Even if I preheated the lines using the tap
| near the washer, it wouldnt even be lukewarm by the end of
| the wash cycle.
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| My dishes have gotten a lot cleaner since I started running
| the tap.
| moshegramovsky wrote:
| Trying this tonight.
| rainsford wrote:
| I think the most crucial factor is that the initial pre-
| rinse cycle is usually relatively short, so pre-heating the
| water means that cycle is done with hot water. My
| dishwasher at least starts out rinsing for maybe 15-20
| minutes before draining and refilling the tub. I also think
| there is likely some effect in that the main cleaning cycle
| will at least start out with hot tap water.
| lolinder wrote:
| I recently moved into a home where the previous tenants
| told us they didn't use the dishwasher because it didn't
| actually clean the dishes. Having seen TC, I checked the
| kitchen tap and sure enough it behaved like yours: it took
| a good 60 seconds to get hot.
|
| We started using the dishwasher on day 1 with TC's pre-
| heated water tip and have yet to have a single problem with
| the dishwasher.
| DiggyJohnson wrote:
| The first cycle in the wash is where the hot water makes
| the biggest difference.
| milesrout wrote:
| 2+ hours long??? Surely you're exaggerating
| bombela wrote:
| My generic GE dishwasher defaults to a few hours, it
| feels closer to 4h than 2h. There is also an overnight
| mode that seems to take almost 8h. And then a quick wash
| mode that takes 1h.
| gwbas1c wrote:
| The best way to do that... Pre-rinse!!!
| lolinder wrote:
| Pre-rinsing uses _way_ more water than is typically
| necessary just to get the water hot, especially given that
| to be an effective pre-rinse you 're going to want the
| water to be hot already before you even start.
| BeetleB wrote:
| Don't. I used to do it till I read an article telling me
| not to do that.
|
| Remove solid gunk. Load dishwasher. _Make sure you have
| Rinse-aid in the dishwasher_. Run. Done. Comes out clean.
| OutOfHere wrote:
| Rinse aids are toxic substances that will harm your
| stomach.
| dole wrote:
| previous hn article and discussion: "Gut epithelial
| barrier damage caused by dishwasher detergents and rinse
| aids (sciencedirect.com)"
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38275060
| AStonesThrow wrote:
| [delayed]
| nonchalantsui wrote:
| There is no research that states such. Most online
| articles are referencing a study done on professional
| dishwashers, in which they complete their task within 2
| minutes and some rinse aid was still found on the dishes.
|
| Home dishwashers, the ones that take 4 hours on average,
| are not going to result in the same thing. Claiming such
| would be like claiming you won't use dish soap since
| technically it can still be left on your dishes when
| quickly washed.
| robocat wrote:
| Cold water only connection for all dishwashers I've seen in
| New Zealand. Dishwashers have an internal heating element.
|
| Are modern US dishwashers plumbed into hot water?
|
| NZ has 240 Volts (10 Amp 2400 Watt appliances are normal -
| anything above that needs special wiring). And NZ
| environmental regulations might be involved too (modern
| washing machines can be crappy because they try to skimp on
| water usage - our regulations can be overkill).
| BeetleB wrote:
| Yes - over the last decade or so they removed the heating
| element in most US dishwashers. So they either are
| connected to the hot water line, or have a mechanism to
| heat the water (or both).
| enragedcacti wrote:
| I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that even today
| almost all US dishwashers have some mechanism to heat the
| water, just maybe not the giant exposed element in the
| bottom like older ones. Water out of the tap is going to
| be on the low end of usable dish-washing temps at the
| very beginning of a cycle, let alone 45+ minutes later.
| netsharc wrote:
| Is it still possible to plumb hot water into such
| dishwashers? Then the heating element have less work...
| ludicrousdispla wrote:
| I can't recall ever using a dishwasher that had a connection
| to the hot water line.
| crazygringo wrote:
| I've never had one that _wasn 't_ connected to the hot
| water line.
|
| If you've got both available, I can't see any reason why
| you'd choose to hook it up to cold. That just means it
| takes longer for your dishwasher to heat up.
| neilfrndes wrote:
| For me, moving away from pods to a dishwasher liquid (cascade
| 3x from Costco) made the most difference. I add some liquid
| in the prewash and some in the main compartment. I had to
| figure out the right amount to add in each via trial and
| error. I don't pre rinse or run the hot water beforehand, my
| dishes come out clean.
| Loughla wrote:
| We had to switch from pods to liquid because the pods make
| way too many suds, so the emergency float shut off was
| getting stuck.
|
| Source; that time I replaced my fucking dishwasher because
| I couldn't figure out why it kept leaking so much
| everywhere.
| hinkley wrote:
| I can't decide if it would be cool to live next door to him or
| if I'd never get anything done ever again.
| mjamesaustin wrote:
| Welp, thank you for that. About to use my dishwasher for the
| first time since childhood.
| chewbacha wrote:
| You know, the hot water tip is great, but cleaning the filter
| is really the best thing I've found to keeping it working well.
| Residue always seems to indicate a dirty filter.
| lolinder wrote:
| I think it depends on the kind of residue. If we're just
| talking about caked-on stuff that you recognize that didn't
| wash off, I'd start with hot water and adding the pre-wash
| powder. But if you get stuff on your dishes that you _don 't_
| recognize... yeah, that's a filter.
|
| I once stayed with family at a vacation rental where the
| dishwasher left things worse than we put them in--a thick
| gray residue plastered over everything. We were going to be
| there for a week with 30 people, which meant we had a _lot_
| of dishwashing to do, but by the time I became aware of it
| the rest of the family had already given up on it and had
| started washing dishes by hand.
|
| I took one look at the output and knew immediately what was
| wrong thanks to TC. An hour later (it was that bad) the
| dishwasher was working flawlessly and we saved hours in
| dishwashing time over the week.
|
| (We also told the rental owners that their cleaners weren't
| taking care of the dishwasher. I didn't ask for them to pay
| me for the time, but I probably should have!)
| chewbacha wrote:
| I'm mostly referring to my own dishwasher which I use all
| the time and understand. But for a long time I never
| cleaned the filter and then one day I did and suddenly
| everything made sense.
|
| The filter can also clog up and a layer of water will form
| above it which can impede the rotation of the sprayers and
| then it really doesn't work well.
| dfxm12 wrote:
| I used to be uptight about how to load the dishwater until I put
| away a load that was packed by my partner, "like a raccoon on
| meth", and noticed there wasn't a difference in the cleanliness.
|
| Now I just worry about buying new bowls. Will the bowls fit
| nicely given pitch and angle of the of the dealies on the rack?
| The bowls I inherited from my grandmother fit so nicely in any
| dishwasher I've loaded them into, but now they're starting to
| crack...
| danielparks wrote:
| Similarly, I used to stress about loading the dishwasher when I
| was a teen. I would spend so much time loading it that I have
| myself a neck ache from leaning over and I could have saved
| time by washing the dishes by hand.
|
| I still try to be somewhat efficient about loading the
| dishwasher, but... if I notice myself stressing I just say
| "screw it", run it, and wash the rest by hand.
|
| The other thing I've realized is that sometimes things don't
| get clean if you load them properly. For example, tall glasses
| that had smoothies in them. It's a little gross if you don't
| notice it until you're about to use it, but... you can just
| look at them and wash them by hand when you unload the
| dishwasher.
|
| I guess this is all to say that sometimes the best optimization
| is to not think about it too much.
| taeric wrote:
| I view it as an area where diminishing returns are almost as
| soon as you get started. Using a dish washer is already getting
| a TON of work done for me that I would otherwise have to do.
| Trying to squeeze any extra from it is kind of silly. I'll
| always have to run it some more tomorrow.
| spiffytech wrote:
| Some things won't matter, some will. I think it's changed over
| time as dishwashers and detergents got better.
|
| The article mentions that newer detergents do better with
| unrinsed dishes. And I remember a commercial about a dishwasher
| that could eat a cake. My old model sure couldn't do that! If I
| wasn't careful I'd find hunks of food sitting inside after it
| ran. It also used to be that putting thin tupperware on the
| bottom rack was a sure way to melt it. Now I can't remember the
| last time that happened to me.
|
| Things that used to provably matter... now don't.
|
| On the other hand, I have a family member who loads the spoons
| in a big pile, and they stick together and don't get clean. Or,
| I had roommates who kept putting my good knives in the
| dishwasher, and the finish got ruined. That stuff still
| matters.
|
| I like the article's conclusion: we can just get the answers,
| and update our knowledge. We don't have to treat this like a
| pre-internet argument, where we just went in circles repeating
| heresay.
| hbsbsbsndk wrote:
| When I was cleaning my dishwasher I realized there are two
| ways to configure it: with a in-sink garbage disposal, and
| without. If you don't have the garbage disposal part hooked
| up there is simply nowhere for the chunks to go and they
| accumulate at the bottom of the washer beneath a filter.
| anon7000 wrote:
| Another example is plates tall enough to block the top
| spinner. Or plates pressed together so much that water can't
| get in between.
| hinkley wrote:
| What I notice is that the dishes and glasses don't chip when I
| put them in and I do when anyone else does. Don't matter if
| there are more clean dishes per load if they're broken, people.
| stevenAthompson wrote:
| You are thinking like someone who buys the dishes, rather
| than someone who wants the person who buys the dishes to get
| off their case about it so they can do something more
| interesting.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| The only trick is to not block anything from the water, or a
| direct reflection of it. Other than that, it's a free-for-all.
| Swizec wrote:
| > I used to be uptight about how to load the dishwater until I
| put away a load that was packed by my partner, "like a raccoon
| on meth", and noticed there wasn't a difference in the
| cleanliness.
|
| My partner loads the dishwasher like a raccoon on meth. I do it
| like a software engineer who's been thinking about The One True
| Way To Organize Things for decades.
|
| Cleanliness is fine either way. But I really hate that she
| can't fit a full day's worth of dishes in there so I have to do
| an extra load later.
| raffraffraff wrote:
| That's the real difference. I'm playing Tetris, and getting
| an amazing score. She's leaving a bunch of stuff on the side
| for the next cycle, or hand washing them.
| jeffrallen wrote:
| Crushing the high score here too. Just recently got an
| entire line of colored kids plastic glasses on the top
| rack, I swear it made a do-do-do tone when I stopped that
| last cup in there. :)
| grepLeigh wrote:
| On the other side of this argument, I've seen "just run the
| dishwasher twice" used as shorthand for giving yourself
| permission to do whatever is needed to get the job done and
| not letting perfectionism paralyze you from making progress.
|
| This blog excerpt explains the idea [1]:
|
| > Knowing this week was going to be a lot, I've been living
| by "run the dishwasher twice". What the hell does that even
| mean?! Essentially it means to do whatever is the path of
| least resistance to get shit done. The advice came from a
| therapist to a woman who was feeling very low & was
| struggling with everyday tasks such as doing the dishes. She
| didn't have the mental capacity to scrub dishes before
| putting them in her crappy dishwasher so she wasn't doing
| them & they were building up & causing her more anxiety. Her
| therapist said not to rinse the dishes & just run the
| dishwasher twice, even three times if that's what it took to
| get them clean. It was a game-changer for her, one that
| enabled her to do a small task in an imperfect way just to
| get it done.
|
| I wish the OP article had dug a little bit deeper into the
| psychology behind daily task conflict in relationships. The
| dishwasher is one of many microcosms (laundry, car, pets,
| etc) that I wish I'd paid more attention to in my
| relationships, because these conversations really do reveal
| relationship dynamics around HUGE issues like compromise,
| empathy, perfectionism, and judgmental behavior.
|
| [1] https://thebackfenceblog.wordpress.com/2021/08/27/run-
| the-di...
| milesrout wrote:
| This is lazy and wasteful. The last thing people today need
| is to "give themselves permission" (what does that even
| mean?) to be even lazier and more wasteful than they
| already are.
|
| And of course it comes from someone's "therapist". Living
| in America really does sound like living in a horrible
| hollywood movie.
| xvokcarts wrote:
| One shouldn't ever be anxious about such things as being
| wasteful. Mindful, sure, but not anxious - being anxious
| about such things is actually a pretty good reason for
| therapy.
| Swizec wrote:
| > On the other side of this argument, I've seen "just run
| the dishwasher twice" used as shorthand for giving yourself
| permission to do whatever is needed to get the job done and
| not letting perfectionism paralyze you from making
| progress.
|
| We've found that if we can't do a 10min tasks once, we
| won't do it twice either. We'll do dishes tomorrow. It's
| fine.
|
| I used to try the do-a-little-whenever method when I was
| single and the only outcome was that I spent all day every
| day dealing with dishes _and_ had a constantly dirty
| kitchen.
| mystified5016 wrote:
| For some reason my husband insists on using the "1 hour speed
| wash" setting and can't figure out why dishes are coming out
| still dirty...
| harrall wrote:
| I like to re-try everything a new way occasionally even if I've
| been doing it one way for 20 years.
| airstrike wrote:
| IMHO the main advantage of neatly loading dishes neatly is that
| unloading becomes a 60 second exercise as opposed to a 5 minute
| one. It's not so much that I don't have 5 minutes to spare, but
| my back appreciates it if I can get it done quicker. I get 4
| plates with each hand, silverware is already sorted neatly...
| it's just overall a better experience.
|
| In other words, even if you believe the time taken to sort is
| identical whether you do it loading or unloading, the
| difference is if you do it while loading you divide that task
| into many smaller tasks instead of doing one big sorting task
| on unloading.
| DiggyJohnson wrote:
| > dealies
|
| Not often so I learn a new 5 letter word. I have the same issue
| with trying to get rid of the fiestaware from my childhood home
| my mom gave me when I graduated college. It just fits right.
| mutagen wrote:
| An elderly friend of mine who lives alone keeps his most used
| dishes in the dishwasher. Need a clean dish? Find one in there.
| Have a dirty dish? Put it in the dishwasher? Can't find a clean
| dish? Run the dishwasher.
|
| Maybe not quite efficient from a water/energy/soap perspective.
| But efficient for his time and attention.
| amelius wrote:
| Convenience is the root of all evil.
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| What we really need is the double-wide or triple-wide dishwasher.
| If everything fits in one load, you're always all clean in the
| morning and all dirty in the evening. Now it's just a daily habit
| of putting things away in the morning and popping things in after
| you're done eating each meal.
| 331c8c71 wrote:
| You're American right?;)
| dan353hehe wrote:
| We would probably call it a "freedom"washer though.
| stevenAthompson wrote:
| Why don't we just build the dishwasher into the cabinets? Then
| putting them away and washing them is the same chore.
| tomatocracy wrote:
| How about just keeping two dishwashers? One starts full of
| clean stuff and you use it like a cupboard, taking stuff out of
| it as you use it. The other starts empty and you add stuff to
| it after using it until you have transferred everything from
| one to the other. Then you run the full one and start again.
| RandallBrown wrote:
| I saw this "hack" on instagram or something and if I ever get
| a kitchen big enough for two dishwashers I fully plan on
| doing this.
| masto wrote:
| Ours is a Fisher & Paykel dual dishdrawer, which does exactly
| that, in the space of a single unit.
| folmar wrote:
| Doesn't really need two dishwashers, just two set of racks
| and a cupboard that can accommodate the other set.
| ghaff wrote:
| Please. It's welcome that compared to fridges dishwashers are
| pretty standardized.
|
| But I am a bit surprised that more people who entertain a lot
| don't have two dishwashers. But they probably have staff for
| that in many cases.
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| >Bringing any kind of technology into these sacred spaces saves
| time, but it can also alienate us from the labor of caring for
| those we love. Maybe this is why so many people don't trust,
| don't use, or want to command their dishwashers. "The strong
| opinions associated with how to do it could be people trying to
| retain some semblance of control in a world where technological
| devices are doing things so much for us," Janning said of the
| dishwasher. "I do wonder if there's a little bit of fear of
| losing the humanity associated with our domestic lives."
|
| If you want to observe the world as a pro-dishwasher person does,
| replace the word 'dishwasher' above with 'toilet'. We see
| dishwashers as objects that serve us so well, that the
| alternative choice is fairly disgusting by modern standards.
| teamonkey wrote:
| Or a bidet...
| ReptileMan wrote:
| Okay - here is the deal. If it not water soluble or emulusifiable
| - it goes in the bin. No wood or knives, aluminium only the
| pieces you don't care. Order them so any piece has at least some
| waterflow and arms spin. Small stuff - top basket. Throw some
| detergent in the container and a dash outside for the pre rinse
| cycle. Here is the most important part - ignore the auto/eco and
| other planet saving or smart programs. Put it on big pots and
| pans heavily soiled - instead of 60C those programs operate on 75
| to 80C degrees. If you can't fit everything in one go - the sink
| makes good temporary storage area.
|
| You have to special kind of person to obsess over dishwasher.
| Marsymars wrote:
| > Here is the most important part - ignore the auto/eco and
| other planet saving or smart programs.
|
| I've never had any problems with cleanliness with either the
| "normal" or "energy saver" modes on my dishwasher. (For that
| matter "energy saver" on mine trades more water for less energy
| - which given the cost for the energy/water is a good deal for
| me.)
| cpursley wrote:
| There's actually a 3rd type that I discovered while house
| sitting: people who load their knives pointy side up. Absolutely
| insanity.
| lupusreal wrote:
| I've had so many fights about this. _" They wash better, just
| be careful!"_ Absolute insanity is right.
| omnibrain wrote:
| Buying a dishwasher with a third rack right at the top for
| cutlery fixes that.
| cubefox wrote:
| I do this, but I'm also against pointy knives. There is no
| reason for a knife to be pointy unless you are a professional
| knife thrower.
| vt240 wrote:
| This is a mistake you only make once. Lesson learned when I put
| a boning knife through my arm in the dish rack one day. Cost me
| a trip in the ambulance. Absolute insanity- correct! I don't
| even know how it got in there with the rest of the utensils.
| But I triple check the sink now.
| saxelsen wrote:
| I don't understand what's wrong with this.
|
| The handle is typically loaded so that it weighs a lot more
| than the blade, which means they're likely fall out of the
| basket if they're blade down.
|
| Also: blade down, you can't tell which ones are the knives
| unless you _only_ do knives blade down (but forks and spoons
| handle down), which seems even more insanity to me..!!
| crazygringo wrote:
| Dishwasher utensil baskets have compartments tall and narrow
| enough that the knife is not going to fall out. I haven't had
| that happen _ever_ in my life. Even with heavy handles. (If
| it 's as large as a chef's knife, however, that lies down
| flat in the upper rack.)
|
| And yes, you do only knives down. If you did spoons and forks
| down it would be too crowded at the bottom. I don't know why
| only knives down seems like insanity to you?
|
| I mean, I'm glad you've never sliced your hand on a thin
| paring knife sticking up at an angle that makes the blade
| virtually invisible. But hey, it's your hand you're risking,
| not mine...
| philsnow wrote:
| Why are pointy knives going in the dishwasher, though?
| wesleyd wrote:
| Hell is other people's dishwasher organization strategies.
| antisthenes wrote:
| I just wash dishes by hand while I wait fo the kettle to boil for
| my after-food cup of tea.
|
| It's therapeutic, takes a few minutes, and makes me conscious of
| how many dishes I should be using (e.g. as few as possible). If I
| have to pre-rinse dishes for the dishwasher, I might as well just
| rinse it fully then and there.
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| You don't need to pre-rinse.
| 1024core wrote:
| I have heard that there are "commercial" dishwashers which can
| clean a load of dishes in under 20 minutes. Is that true? Has
| anyone tried one of them?
| pesus wrote:
| I worked at a Pizza Hut in college that had one that washed a
| full load of dishes in just a few minutes. I'm blanking on the
| exact time, but I'm almost certain it was under 10 minutes. It
| got extremely hot, so it probably wouldn't work for a lot of
| dishes people have at home, but it was very efficient! We saved
| at least a few hours of labor a day from it, and an
| unquantifiable amount of sanity.
|
| It wasn't designed like a normal home dishwasher, it was open
| on all sides and you would slide a rack of dishes under the top
| part of it, pull a lever, and the dishwasher walls would come
| down around it and start the washing.
| parliament32 wrote:
| More like 90-120s. There's the type that close from the top
| (expensive) and the conveyor type (more expensive), but they're
| incredibly fast, mostly because they blast near-boiling water
| at pressure-washer velocities. They also don't typically have a
| "drying" cycle -- because the dishes are so superheated they
| dry themselves in another half minute. Downside is no plastics
| or anything else meltable. See
| https://www.cafemutfak.com/en/blog/content/industrial-dishwa...
| morsch wrote:
| I used a commercial dishwasher in an Airbnb that had the
| fittings for a catering operation. It had an initial heat up
| time of like twenty minutes, after that each cycle of dishes
| took like... two minutes? Maybe five.
|
| But it was much worse at actually cleaning dishes than a
| regular home dishwasher. I never prerinse at home, but you
| really had to with this thing. Maybe it was just crap, but some
| searching around it seems like that's just how they're designed
| to operate.
|
| Anyway they use a shit-ton of power and energy (wired for 5 KW,
| 2-3 kWh per cycle), they're loud, it's not something you'd want
| in your home kitchen.
| buildbot wrote:
| Yep, I've only volunteered in commercial kitchens for events
| and stuff before, and the ones I've been in have essentially an
| assembly line for dishes from sinks to a dishwasher box that
| took 2-3 plastic cubes of dishes, and washed them in like, 5
| minutes. No drying though.
| Symbiote wrote:
| I've used the type that are common in bars/pubs/nightclubs in
| the UK and Denmark. They take 20 minutes or so to heat the
| water, then each cycle is just 2 minutes or so. The glasses are
| loaded on trays, so it's best to have a place to load up a tray
| and another for them to cool down.
|
| This kind of thing:
| https://www.buzzcateringsupplies.com/classeq-c500-gw-glasswa...
|
| I've also used one three times as wide in a small food factory
| for cleaning equipment, mixing bowls and so on. This was even
| more powerful, and could clean greasy pots and bowls quickly.
| It was hot and steamy while unloading it.
|
| Like this: https://www.buzzcateringsupplies.com/mach-utensil-
| washer-130...
|
| There's probably something in between for restaurants
|
| Presumably this: https://www.buzzcateringsupplies.com/classeq-
| pass-through-di...
|
| And something like this for somewhere huge, maybe a large
| school or office:
| https://www.buzzcateringsupplies.com/warewashing/commercial-...
| Someone1234 wrote:
| Sure, but you'd need to be quite dedicated to install one in a
| home:
|
| - They're 3-phase, 220-volt.
|
| - They cannot use PVC or other plastics for drainage lines
| because the water is too hot.
|
| - The high temperature steam can damage surroundings unless
| designed for it.
|
| - They're very loud.
|
| They'll wash in e.g. 90-seconds, but the dishes are too hot to
| handle for a bit. Plus some residential kitchenware cannot
| handle the high heat of a commercial dishwasher.
|
| You'll likely never see a commercial dishwasher in a
| residential home.
| adammarples wrote:
| Yes they're in every restaurant
| masto wrote:
| I'm surprised this Jon Richardson bit hasn't been posted already.
| It's an incredible piece of comedy, even moreso given that it's
| about loading the dishwasher.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ymh8o6GI_g
| AcerbicZero wrote:
| If I don't like how the dishwasher did, I just run it again.
| Either the plates are coming out clean, or I'm buying new plates.
| satisfice wrote:
| I refuse to use a dishwasher. I don't think it makes anything
| faster or better. When I was a child in the seventies my
| household chore was loading the dishwasher, but my mom always
| said I did it wrong.
|
| It doesn't matter, Mom. It's fine as it is. But you know what?
| How about I never use a dishwasher again for my entire life?
| Deal? Deal!
|
| My wife likes them, though. It looks to me that she is washing
| the dishes before "using the dishwasher," so I don't understand
| what she thinks she is gaining by it.
|
| Dishwashers promote delusions.
| tombert wrote:
| Everyone always says that they can "wash dishes faster than the
| washer", and maybe that's true, but loading the dishwasher
| takes like five minutes of active effort, then you're done. It
| might take three hours to finish washing them but you're not
| involved.
|
| If you only have a few dishes, then sure washing by hands is
| fast enough, but if you let it pile up on the sink for several
| days, it can be a fairly long process, on the order of 30-45
| minutes if things are really stuck on there.
|
| When I bought my house in 2018, it didn't have a dishwasher. We
| had to wash dishes by hand, and it changed our entire
| psychology. I was hesitant to cook anything in the kitchen
| because it would generate dishes and I don't like washing
| dishes, so we ended up mostly surviving on low-effort frozen
| food.
|
| In 2021, we had the kitchen remodeled, and in the process we
| installed a dishwasher, and it made it fun to cook again. I
| could use a lot more dishes and utensils in the process, and
| the effort to clean up doesn't change significantly.
|
| At this point I don't think I will live in a place that doesn't
| have a dishwasher ever again.
| cjohnson318 wrote:
| I'm the sloppy person at home, but I hate seeing dirty dishes, so
| I do the dishes. I squeeze every bit of space out of the
| dishwasher. There is One Right Way to do it. That said, if
| someone throws dishes in there willy nilly, I couldn't care less,
| as long as it gets done. It's basically Postel's Law: be liberal
| in what you accept, and conservative in what you send/do.
| ggm wrote:
| Dishwasher testing needs material analogues to:
|
| 1) gritty pulse material dried on, with potato starch
|
| 2) egg white, egg yolk, and cooked mixed egg, dried on
|
| 3) dried on avocado
|
| 4) finely chopped leaf herb, which floats in soapy water.
| renewiltord wrote:
| In my family, this is my primary responsibility (it just so
| landed that way) and to be honest, it's not really that hard. I
| didn't even grow up with one and found it trivial to identify the
| things that the article says:
|
| - find the spray arms and make sure they can hit the dirty
| surface
|
| - ensure no bowl is concave up against gravity (water will
| collect)
|
| - ensure everything is stable
|
| - nothing that can block meshes should be on the dish when it
| goes in
|
| None of this requires intelligence. It just requires looking at
| the machine and figuring it out. Once a little bit of plastic
| broke on one of the trays and it blocked the drain and it was
| trivial to figure out: see that water is stagnant, google the
| error code, attempt force drain, then reach for the drain filter
| and remove the clog. Ultimately, it's just a machine. The intake
| comes from the same water as the sink and the egress is above the
| garbage disposal.
|
| Apart from that I just make sure all the things are active when
| it's ready to go: pod in the tray, rinse-aid in that section.
|
| We have one of the quiet ones, which is nice, but also is a bit
| annoying since the only way to know if it is active is if it is
| displaying a red light on the floor. I'd prefer a front LED
| display. And I prefer just turning it off to run it.
|
| My wife loads it haphazardly, and I load it a certain way but
| neither she nor I have any trouble with outcomes because while it
| may be complex functioning, the user awareness is restricted to
| those few levers.
|
| The one annoyance is that we have these bowl dishes and they
| don't stand up like flat dishes. I'm sure there is an alternative
| tray holder that can do those but I haven't gotten around to
| replacing.
| spelunker wrote:
| We recently had someone at our house to repair our dishwasher,
| because we suddenly started hearing a horrible grinding sound
| when closing the door.
|
| Apparently we had bent one of the hinges! How? By overloading the
| bottom rack too many times. His advice was to load it ~50% LESS
| than we were. And don't pull the bottom rack out all the way when
| it's fully-loaded.
|
| I can't tell if this is like general dishwasher advice, or our GE
| is a POS.
| bruckie wrote:
| I think probably the latter. Either that, or your dishes are
| made out of tungsten or something. (If so, I'd love to see your
| dish collection. That would be rad.)
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