9 ms·

My mental model for diswashers got a lot better after watching some Technology Connections: https://youtu.be/jHP942Livy0 https://youtu.be/jHP942Livy0

cush 1y ago
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 1y ago
  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 1y ago
    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 1y ago
    There are two types of PEOPLE, there's lots of different animals /jk
- rainsford 1y ago
  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 1y ago
    Some brands like Cascade produce solid compressed powder tablets. Same general concept as the pods, just no fluid load or pouch
  - BrandoElFollito 1y ago
    Pod is with liquid, tab is with compresse powder.
- bradfa 1y ago
  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 1y ago
    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.
    - morsch 1y ago
      If it's a Bosch, it's probably got a salt compartment and a way to configure it for the water hardness.
- nly 1y ago
  Pods work fine without prerinsing
- al_borland 1y ago
  Dishwasher companies have tried for a long time to get people to stop pre-washing their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I remember ads from the 80s or 90s with people putting full cakes, or a baked on lasagna pan into the dishwasher and it coming out clean. Almost everyone I know still does excessive rinsing in the sink first. I have never done this and it’s always been fine. I learned some things from the TC videos, but it was more about refining things, it didn’t drastically change what I was already doing.
  - touristtam 1y ago
    And you have no residual food in the filter to clean out on a very short and regular basis? You do clean the filter out, don't you?
    - yesco 1y ago
      For most of the article I felt like the author's learnings were pretty obvious, particularly in regards to the water jet direction and the minimum necessary dish arrangement. They didn't even get into detail about the heat and steam. Then they mentioned the part about dishwashers having a "filter", and in that moment, my heart was instantly filled with shock, horror, anxiety, and finally, resignation. I apparently live in a world where dishwashers have filters. I'm afraid to look, but I'm pretty sure mine probably does as well, in fact I think I've seen it with my own eyes, yet somehow it never registered. Oh no.
    - kiwijamo 1y ago
      I clean out our dishwasher filter every few months and I've never seen any residual food get caught by the filter. As long as you scape off the food bits it's fine. It'd getting to the point where I'm checking the filter less and less often.
    - vel0city 1y ago
      I had a GE Profile dishwasher from the 2000's when I moved into my current home. It was abused by the previous owner and sold as not working. I completely rebuilt it and it worked great for a while until it's logic board died and replacements were hard or expensive to source. But that thing had a powerful masticator. It would slurry up almost any foods. There was a very coarse filter about half the diameter of the drain hose but outside of that there was never anything left in the pan. It would also monitor the turbidity to determine if it needed to flush the current pan water and add fresh water. It had a soap dispenser so it could re-add soap if needed. That thing was an incredible dishwasher. I still miss it.
relwin 1y ago
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 1y ago
  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 1y ago
    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 1y ago
      (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_country#/media/File:World_Map_of_Mains_Voltages_and_Frequencies,_Detailed.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country#/...
    - jchw 1y ago
      I know this is common knowledge now, but just for people who might not realize it: a typical North American NEMA 5-15R receptacle will indeed deliver 120V 15A electricity, but the electrical grid is split-phase 240V. Right across from my dish washer is an electric range; most of these require 240V 30A or 50A receptacles (I think mine is 30A, but I could be mis-remembering.) So it's not like we couldn't have higher power dishwasher, but if you already have central water heating it's kind of senseless to heat the water at the dishwasher.
hinkley 1y ago
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 1y ago
Welp, thank you for that. About to use my dishwasher for the first time since childhood.
chewbacha 1y ago
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 1y ago
  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 1y ago
    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.
shellfishgene 1y ago
Note that European dishwashers are quite different in a few aspects.

cush 1y ago

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 1y ago
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 1y ago
  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 1y ago
  There are two types of PEOPLE, there's lots of different animals /jk
rainsford 1y ago
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 1y ago
  Some brands like Cascade produce solid compressed powder tablets. Same general concept as the pods, just no fluid load or pouch
- BrandoElFollito 1y ago
  Pod is with liquid, tab is with compresse powder.
bradfa 1y ago
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 1y ago
  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.
  - morsch 1y ago
    If it's a Bosch, it's probably got a salt compartment and a way to configure it for the water hardness.
nly 1y ago
Pods work fine without prerinsing
al_borland 1y ago
Dishwasher companies have tried for a long time to get people to stop pre-washing their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I remember ads from the 80s or 90s with people putting full cakes, or a baked on lasagna pan into the dishwasher and it coming out clean. Almost everyone I know still does excessive rinsing in the sink first. I have never done this and it’s always been fine. I learned some things from the TC videos, but it was more about refining things, it didn’t drastically change what I was already doing.
- touristtam 1y ago
  And you have no residual food in the filter to clean out on a very short and regular basis? You do clean the filter out, don't you?
  - yesco 1y ago
    For most of the article I felt like the author's learnings were pretty obvious, particularly in regards to the water jet direction and the minimum necessary dish arrangement. They didn't even get into detail about the heat and steam. Then they mentioned the part about dishwashers having a "filter", and in that moment, my heart was instantly filled with shock, horror, anxiety, and finally, resignation. I apparently live in a world where dishwashers have filters. I'm afraid to look, but I'm pretty sure mine probably does as well, in fact I think I've seen it with my own eyes, yet somehow it never registered. Oh no.
  - kiwijamo 1y ago
    I clean out our dishwasher filter every few months and I've never seen any residual food get caught by the filter. As long as you scape off the food bits it's fine. It'd getting to the point where I'm checking the filter less and less often.
  - vel0city 1y ago
    I had a GE Profile dishwasher from the 2000's when I moved into my current home. It was abused by the previous owner and sold as not working. I completely rebuilt it and it worked great for a while until it's logic board died and replacements were hard or expensive to source. But that thing had a powerful masticator. It would slurry up almost any foods. There was a very coarse filter about half the diameter of the drain hose but outside of that there was never anything left in the pan. It would also monitor the turbidity to determine if it needed to flush the current pan water and add fresh water. It had a soap dispenser so it could re-add soap if needed. That thing was an incredible dishwasher. I still miss it.

relwin 1y ago

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 1y ago
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 1y ago
  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 1y ago
    (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_country#/media/File:World_Map_of_Mains_Voltages_and_Frequencies,_Detailed.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country#/...
  - jchw 1y ago
    I know this is common knowledge now, but just for people who might not realize it: a typical North American NEMA 5-15R receptacle will indeed deliver 120V 15A electricity, but the electrical grid is split-phase 240V. Right across from my dish washer is an electric range; most of these require 240V 30A or 50A receptacles (I think mine is 30A, but I could be mis-remembering.) So it's not like we couldn't have higher power dishwasher, but if you already have central water heating it's kind of senseless to heat the water at the dishwasher.

hinkley 1y ago

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 1y ago

Welp, thank you for that. About to use my dishwasher for the first time since childhood.

chewbacha 1y ago

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 1y ago
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 1y ago
  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.

shellfishgene 1y ago

Note that European dishwashers are quite different in a few aspects.