Dishwasher Packs

[Kelemvor]

OK,

Probably a dumb question but here goes anyway...

Our dishwasher has two spots to put the dishwashing detergent. The prewash area and the main wash area that gets closed behind a door. Normally we put some in each, start it up and away it goes.

However, we got some of the detergent packs to try. You only use one pack per load and it goes in the main wash area. So the question is, do I just skip the prewash all together or do I still let it run normally and it just uses plain water for the prewash?

We've never used the packs before but got some for free so want to try them out.

What do you do?

 

[NetWareHead]

Personally I cant stand when people take filthy dishes/pots/silverware and throw it into the dishwasher without at least a rinse. I take a pot and fill it halfway with water, using a sponge I give everything a pre-wash in the sink. No soap, just enough to get rid of the food particles and rinse some of the grease off. Then these scrubbed dishes then get loaded in the dishwasher.

No pre-wash soap is needed this way, just some soap in the main wash area. I also use the quick wash/time saver wash cycle since most of the dirt has been scrubbed off already. Now that I think about it, the dishwasher doesn't really have to "wash", it more or less sanitizes and then dries the dishes.

 

[Kelemvor]

We don't put plates that are full of food in the dishwasher. We at least scrape them off into the garbage.

Our dishwasher has two settings. "Normal" and Light/Water Miser. I guess I'll try with the prewash and no soap and one skipping it and see what I get.

 

[DrPizza]

OP, you're not alone with that question. I thought of the same thing, so skipped those packs. The liquid detergent works great, so there's no point in changing it. NetWare would cringe at my dishes - I put them in there fairly dirty & only need to run it about once every 4 or 5 days. Everything comes out absolutely spotless though. (You would scald yourself if you put your hand in hot water straight from the tap.) Before running the dishwasher, I always run the tap water for 5 seconds to make sure that I'm not using cold water that's been sitting in the line between the dishwasher & hot water tank.

Oh, and to really bother NetWareHead - we had mac & cheese for dinner (real stuff, made out of a block of Cuba Cheese wicked sharp cheddar.) The dog took care of rinsing the dishes for us. (Plus he had his own little bowl of mac & cheese)

 

[BUTCH1]

Personally I cant stand when people take filthy dishes/pots/silverware and throw it into the dishwasher without at least a rinse. I take a pot and fill it halfway with water, using a sponge I give everything a pre-wash in the sink. No soap, just enough to get rid of the food particles and rinse some of the grease off. Then these scrubbed dishes then get loaded in the dishwasher.

No pre-wash soap is needed this way, just some soap in the main wash area. I also use the quick wash/time saver wash cycle since most of the dirt has been scrubbed off already. Now that I think about it, the dishwasher doesn't really have to "wash", it more or less sanitizes and then dries the dishes.

Dishwashers these days have built in disposers, my GE Triton features the "Piranha" disposer, the instructions are specific, you do not need to pre-rinse before loading the machine, of course use common sense, don't put a plate of chicken wings into it..

 

[sunzt]

packs go into same place liquid goes.

Usually you shouldn't pre-rinse since the packs works/gets activated from food particles. It actually can scratch glass if theres no food.

 

[NetWareHead]

OP, you're not alone with that question. I thought of the same thing, so skipped those packs. The liquid detergent works great, so there's no point in changing it. NetWare would cringe at my dishes - I put them in there fairly dirty & only need to run it about once every 4 or 5 days. Everything comes out absolutely spotless though. (You would scald yourself if you put your hand in hot water straight from the tap.) Before running the dishwasher, I always run the tap water for 5 seconds to make sure that I'm not using cold water that's been sitting in the line between the dishwasher & hot water tank.

Oh, and to really bother NetWareHead - we had mac & cheese for dinner (real stuff, made out of a block of Cuba Cheese wicked sharp cheddar.) The dog took care of rinsing the dishes for us. (Plus he had his own little bowl of mac & cheese)

I also run it every 4-5 days. When old food sits in the dishwasher it starts to stink and then dry like cement to the plates. If I left the food on the plates I would have to use the 1.5 hour normal cycle. Plus now you have to clean food particles out of the dishwasher filter. If I pre-rinse and then load the dishwasher, no stink and I can use the miser/time saver cycle, 28 minutes to save some energy.

 

[nageov3t]

I use the packets and just leave the pre-rinse hole empty.

I do typically try and rinse off any food particles before throwing stuff into the dishwasher, though (no scrubbing, and I'll run the dish under hot water in the sink)... my concern is bugs. I only do my dishes once/week typically (sometimes I'll even go 2 weeks without having to run the dishwasher). I don't want to let food sit in there and attract bugs.

 

[sjwaste]

Personally I cant stand when people take filthy dishes/pots/silverware and throw it into the dishwasher without at least a rinse. I take a pot and fill it halfway with water, using a sponge I give everything a pre-wash in the sink. No soap, just enough to get rid of the food particles and rinse some of the grease off. Then these scrubbed dishes then get loaded in the dishwasher.

No pre-wash soap is needed this way, just some soap in the main wash area. I also use the quick wash/time saver wash cycle since most of the dirt has been scrubbed off already. Now that I think about it, the dishwasher doesn't really have to "wash", it more or less sanitizes and then dries the dishes.

The house we bought came with an 80's dishwasher that can pretty much clean anything, no matter how dirty. We rinse, but for a while, I wasn't just to see what would get clean. I put it on high temp and only half way fill the main detergent cup with the cheapo powdered stuff. Never fails.

At this point, I rinse because I'm "supposed" to. Also, it definitely keeps the trap clean. That will add up over time.

 

[sjwaste]

Every 5 days? I do at least one load of baby bottles every day!

 

[edro]

Don't they have heating elements in the bottom to heat the water more than your water tank?

 

[Kelemvor]

Don't they have heating elements in the bottom to heat the water more than your water tank?

Mine does. Makes it take longer that way though. The hotter the water starts with, the less it has to heat it up.

I always run the sink water until it gets hot before I start the dishwasher up as well.

 

[sdifox]

Every 5 days? I do at least one load of baby bottles every day!

I wouldn't use dish washer for baby bottles. hand wash them.

 

[nageov3t]

Every 5 days? I do at least one load of baby bottles every day!

5 days would probably be a lot for me, but I live alone.

unless I end up cooking a meal that involves multiple large dishes (let's say, a soup that requires a dutch oven, frying pan, colander, and mixing bowls), I probably average about a week and a half between running my dishwasher.

 

[dullard]

OP, you're not alone with that question. I thought of the same thing, so skipped those packs. The liquid detergent works great, so there's no point in changing it. NetWare would cringe at my dishes - I put them in there fairly dirty & only need to run it about once every 4 or 5 days. Everything comes out absolutely spotless though.

I've been using the packs for years and they work pretty well. They have enzymes that break down food that the liquids generally don't have. Plus the move to no phosphorous in liquids during the last year really made liquids go downhill (I made the mistake of trying a new liquid and was very disappointed).

I run the washer every 4-5 days with little to no rinsing. The only time a rinse/soak is useful is if you really bake cheese on a dish for hours. But then, I don't think ANY detergent works well for that situation and a steel scrubby is best (not steel wool, but acutal thick steel strings with sharp edges).

I too have never known how to best place the packs. I always run my dishwasher on delay (since I'm never home long enough to wait for it to wash, I just have it wash just before I get home in case there is a leak it won't have gone on for hours). With my dishwasher, a delay means it has to run through all of the cycles. I usually put the pack in the main wash location since then the detergent is in effect during the bulk of the wash. The rest of the wash is just with water. But I've sometimes just tossed in the pack and it worked just as well.

 

[OutHouse]

OP you ask about the prewash cup in your dishwasher and people talk about prewashing the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.... here are my two cents

my bosch washer does not have a cup to hold prewash dish-washing soap. we use the dish-washing packs and the seem to work just as well as the gel/liquid/powder stuff. but that being said my wife practically prewashes the dishes before they go into the dishwasher anyway.

 

[OutHouse]

Don't they have heating elements in the bottom to heat the water more than your water tank?

the element is to heat up the waser to dry the dishes not the water.

the new washers have a device that heats up the water way hotter than what it is coming out from your water heater before it enters inside the washer. the dishes dry from the heat they give off inside the washer after the wash is complete. but if you have a lot of plastic stuff you dishes will come out wet.

 

[Baked]

I have a brand new GE Profile dishwasher in the kitchen that came with the place when I bought it a year ago. I've never used the dishwasher once. I like to watch my dishes with my hands. /shrug.

 

[NetWareHead]

OP you ask about the prewash cup in your dishwasher and people talk about prewashing the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher

I was the one who took this thread off on a tangent. IMO it really all depends on how you use the dishwasher and how soiled the dishes are. I would imagine that if you put heavily soiled dishes in the dishwasher with no rinsing, then pre-wash soap would be needed. If you load it my way, then I don't use pre-wash soap. Just some soap in the main wash area and a light cycle.

 

[shortylickens]

Dishwasher packs are a poor deal compared to loose powder.

 

[BUTCH1]

I wouldn't use dish washer for baby bottles. hand wash them.

Why, my machine has a "sanitary cycle" heats the water up super hot, way hotter than you could ever do by hand..

 

[olds]

Personally I cant stand when people take filthy dishes/pots/silverware and throw it into the dishwasher without at least a rinse. I take a pot and fill it halfway with water, using a sponge I give everything a pre-wash in the sink. No soap, just enough to get rid of the food particles and rinse some of the grease off. Then these scrubbed dishes then get loaded in the dishwasher.

No pre-wash soap is needed this way, just some soap in the main wash area. I also use the quick wash/time saver wash cycle since most of the dirt has been scrubbed off already. Now that I think about it, the dishwasher doesn't really have to "wash", it more or less sanitizes and then dries the dishes.

Do you clean the house before the maid comes over too?

 

[edro]

Simple question threads always end up in a huge "my method is better because..." argument.

 

[LumbergTech]

Do you clean the house before the maid comes over too?

Doesn't make any sense anyways...because dishwashers are DESIGNED to clean the crud off. Only a small number of situations that actually require you to pre-wash a dish and it usually involves specific foods.

 

[OutHouse]

Doesn't make any sense anyways...because dishwashers are DESIGNED to clean the crud off. Only a small number of situations that actually require you to pre-wash a dish and it usually involves specific foods.

preaching to the chior! first my mom would bitch at me for putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher now my wife does the same thing to me. you know when you open the dishwasher and dont know if they are clean or dirty??? then you look hard at the forks looking for a speck of anything to proclaim DIRTY!!