I worked in a commercial kitchen that had all 3 (wash, sterilize, rinse) of the fluids properly stocked. (In fact, they didn't own the dishwasher or fluids, bu

I worked in a commercial kitchen that had all 3 (wash, sterilize, rinse) of the fluids properly stocked. (In fact, they didn't own the dishwasher or fluids, but subscribed to a machine rental, maintenance, and refill contract, which was just "x loads for y dollars per month, rain or shine", to make costs predictable for the low margin small restaurant.) You still need to thoroughly clean the dishes before they go in, otherwise in 1-2 loads the filters are completely clogged. They are absolutely not designed for dishes to go in that have any residual food on them. In a residential setting if you're going to clean the dishes to that extent, you should just finish washing them, as it's basically the same amount of time for a household's amount of dishes. The only time a commercial dishwasher makes sense is if you need to do dozens of plates and cups and kilograms of silverware. Commercial dishwashers are a bad choice for residential use.