Serious Q - do you use your dishwasher?

[GodisanAtheist]

Yes, god almighty yes.

4 person household, home cooked meals daily, no one wants to hand wash that much crap.

Pots and pans get a hand scrubbing, but all plateware and cups and utensils go into the dishwasher.

Rule for the house is once a rack gets full, or two days pass, we run it no matter what.

And like everything else, dishwashers need some basic upkeep. Our Bosch uses a filter system instead of that god forsakes blade a lot of washers use to keep food crap from clogging the exhaust tube.

Gotta take it out every couple weeks and give it a once over with some soap and water otherwise it don't wash so good no mo'.

If your DW is putting out gross plates and it smells and food bits are stuck on your plate you need to either clean the filter or repair the blade motor (or make sure the water jets aren't clogged to hell and back due to the prior two issues).

 

[dullard]

Over time your dishwasher will die/fail because of all the crap on your dishes. It gets stuck in the innards of the dishwasher and blocks the drain.

That depends on the dishwasher. Cheaper and newer models usually do not come with a food grinder. They have a filter that will clog over time. The food scraps build up in the filter at the drain. If you don't clear the filter then you will not clean well, could smell, and could possibly damage the dishwasher.

But, many dishwashers come with an automatic food grinder. Basically it is a garbage disposer at the bottom that mostly solves any issue of food buildup. Cheaper and newer models often do not have this feature (newer models are trending towards being whisper quiet and thus eliminate the grinder). Look for the term "Self-Cleaning Filter" or similar when buying a dishwasher. https://www.lowes.com/pl/Self-clean...s-Appliances/4294857925?refinement=3225913909

Of course, use common sense too. Don't just dump a turkey carcass into the dishwasher because we recommend you skip the pre-rinse.

 

[Hans Gruber]

That depends on the dishwasher. Cheaper and newer models usually do not come with a food grinder. They have a filter that will clog over time. The food scraps build up in the filter at the drain. If you don't clear the filter then you will not clean well, could smell, and could possibly damage the dishwasher.

But, many dishwashers come with an automatic food grinder. Basically it is a garbage disposer at the bottom that mostly solves any issue of food buildup. Cheaper and newer models often do not have this feature (newer models are trending towards being whisper quiet and thus eliminate the grinder). Look for the term "Self-Cleaning Filter" or similar when buying a dishwasher. https://www.lowes.com/pl/Self-clean...s-Appliances/4294857925?refinement=3225913909

Of course, use common sense too. Don't just dump a turkey carcass into the dishwasher because we recommend you skip the pre-rinse.

I know about the food grinder, I have one myself. I bought a Maytag from Costco two months ago. Not for the food grinder but because it was stainless steel, free installation, free dishwasher parts kit, free haul away of my old dishwasher. All for $399 plus tax.

 

[manly]

I'm pretty sure most dishwashers use a lot less water than I do.

 

[bbhaag]

We use it every freaking day. Seriously everyday the dishwasher is started sometimes it gets used twice a day. Family of four and my wife it a partial stay at home mom by that I mean she works five months of the year and has the rest off.

She loves to cook so a lot of our meals are prepared at home. We also have a massive garden which requires a lot of canning to help store the food over the winter. All this means that washing the dishes by hand is a no go. The new LG dishwasher we purchased a few years ago only uses 4.6 gallons of water which is way less then doing it by hand.

 

[snoopy7548]

I load it up throughout the week and run it on Sunday night when it's full. I'm weird about eating (I have to eat every tiny morsel of food), so my plates are always clean when they go in the washer.

I put in plates, bowls, silverware, and Tupperware. Everything else is hand-washed. People who put pots/pans and knives in dishwashers are just... whatever.

I've had it for almost 11 years and I've only cleaned the filter twice, and both times it has been clear. Still runs perfectly and looks brand new.

 

[amdhunter]

Serious Q.

 

[mugs]

Yes. My kids use too many damn dishes. I have to run it daily to keep up. I don't have to prescrub unless something like melted cheese is sticking to a plate, and my dishwasher is energy-efficient. I do hand-wash pots, but I probably don't need to.

 

[Zorba]

You can actually run each one independently? That's actually really cool.

My Friend's lake house has a DW like that. I've looked into it, it is more feel good than actually better. Each drawer uses like a little bit less water and soap that a normal full size DW, but in total both drawers hold a lot less that a full size DW.

As for the OP my Dish Washer just finished, it's so quiet I didn't even know my wife had started it. I can't convience my wish to stop the pre-rinsing though.

 

[olds]

Only two of us. We usually wash by hand. But we try to use it every 2 weeks so it doesn't get nasty.

 

[biostud]

Off topic, but every evening I have to do 7 lunch boxes, two for each kid and one for my wife. So if I had to the dishes manually as well, I would have a long and boring evening in the kitchen.

 

[jmagg]

Rinsing, loading, unloading and putting away seems as much work as just cleaning as I go.

 

[pmv]

Very expensive (on electricity) to run. Hence don't have one. When I was a child my parents got given one for free, but never used it because of the cost of running it. It just sat there for years.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Very expensive (on electricity) to run. Hence don't have one. When I was a child my parents got given one for free, but never used it because of the cost of running it. It just sat there for years.

Huh? It's just a pump. It's more expensive to run the hot water heater for the extra hot water you use hand washing.

Heated dry is a different story but even that's only like 50c worth of electricity to save you the half hour of drying everything.

 

[DigDog]

single man, takes less to wash than to load the machine.

 

[lxskllr]

to save you the half hour of drying everything.

Who dries dishes? They go in the rack, and air works it's magic.

 

[Brainonska511]

Heated dry is a different story but even that's only like 50c worth of electricity to save you the half hour of drying everything.

I have never bothered with the heated dry on my dishwashers. I always found it useless since dishes still came out wet - maybe it was the apartment grade dishwashers used. Anyway, they dry fast enough from being warm from the rinse cycle and just popping the door open when it's finished washing.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Who dries dishes? They go in the rack, and air works it's magic.

Either you've got gobs of rack space for cookware + dishware from every meal, or you're putting it in the dishwasher and leaving the door open... I can have wet dishes that sit inside the dishwasher for like 12 hours and still not be dry. Open dishwasher sucks if you're limited with space, or have other limiting factors (cats climbing over dishes, blind person tripping over the dishwasher).

I have never bothered with the heated dry on my dishwashers. I always found it useless since dishes still came out wet - maybe it was the apartment grade dishwashers used. Anyway, they dry fast enough from being warm from the rinse cycle and just popping the door open when it's finished washing.

Yeah, they shouldn't. Good chance something isn't working right (heating element failed/failing, fan not working, dishwasher installed incorrectly). I've tried popping the door open, they still stay wet for hours. I need that shit unloaded so I can move on with the next meal without having dirty shit stacked up in the sink waiting for some other random shit to dry correctly. I'll take the $.50 hit.

 

[biostud]

Either you've got gobs of rack space for cookware + dishware from every meal, or you're putting it in the dishwasher and leaving the door open... I can have wet dishes that sit inside the dishwasher for like 12 hours and still not be dry. Open dishwasher sucks if you're limited with space, or have other limiting factors (cats climbing over dishes, blind person tripping over the dishwasher).

Yeah, they shouldn't. Good chance something isn't working right (heating element failed/failing, fan not working, dishwasher installed incorrectly). I've tried popping the door open, they still stay wet for hours. I need that shit unloaded so I can move on with the next meal without having dirty shit stacked up in the sink waiting for some other random shit to dry correctly. I'll take the $.50 hit.

That is why you want a zeolite dishwasher. I have one and everything is dry when I empty ours.

What Is A Zeolith Dishwasher? - (And Is It Any Good?)

I'll explain what a zeolith dishwasher is, how it works, its pros and cons as well as answer some frequently asked questions on the topic.

kitchinsider.com

 

[Red Squirrel]

I usually open the door after cycle is done, that helps the dishes dry further. Sometimes I'll just put them away right away anyway though. The plates and stuff are always dry, the stuff that's not dry is things like pots and pans or containers that have any nooks in the bottom (when upside down) where water can sit.

While a dishwasher does take more time, it's also time that I can be doing something else, it's set and forget. I don't really feel like sitting there and having to hand wash dishes. I was lucky in that we always had a dishwasher at home growing up so pretty much never had to do dishes by hand. When I moved into my house there was no dishwasher but I was planing on redoing the entire kitchen before I move in, and I didn't waste time running a dedicated electrical circuit for one.

I find any appliance that can save time basically pays for itself after the first few times it's used and after that it's a bonus. IKind of like a snow blower. Yeah I can shovel the driveway by hand, but a snowblower just saves so much work and effort.

 

[RLGL]

We use a Bosch unit. No pre-rinse, dry when the cycle is finished. Now on the 2nd one in 20 years.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

That is why you want a zeolite dishwasher. I have one and everything is dry when I empty ours.

What Is A Zeolith Dishwasher? - (And Is It Any Good?)

I'll explain what a zeolith dishwasher is, how it works, its pros and cons as well as answer some frequently asked questions on the topic.

kitchinsider.com

Now that is pretty fascinating, I've never heard of those before. Definitely going to be on my radar for our next purchase, whenever that will be.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I never heard of this before, that's a really interesting material.

I wonder if this has any application for power generation, imagine being able to create steam without having to actually raise water up and then cool it down again. There has to be a catch though... it almost feels like it's creating energy out of nothing. Does it need to be "recharged" somehow?

 

[olds]

We don't use the heated dry function.
We open the door and hang a dish towel on the inside of the door then partially close the door.

 

[Captante]

Shockingly (apparently to most folks?) "automatic" dishwashers ARE NOT "maintenance-free" devices.

They ALL have filters that require regular cleaning (some have several) and many now have what essentially is a garbage-disposal level grinder built into the drain. (which also requires cleaning)

If you properly maintain your appliance it will last you FAR longer and work FAR better.

All I can say is RTFM.