Use the dishwasher

[Dean Hoffman]

This might not be new to most but anyhow:

Machines do better than people.

[Sum Ting Wong]

My previous dishwasher and detergent with phosphates cleaned really well with a 1-hour cycle.

This new one you have to use the longest high-heat cycle (4hr 20min) to get the dishes to come out clean.

[Frank]

I think I've heard questions here about how someone might get all the crap accumulated in the dishwasher like chicken bones.

I can't imagine going this far without throwing such in the trash and minor rinsing. Somethings need a little mechanical help to start removing before putting in the dish washer. Also for those of us with septic systems which are not too fond of digesting fats, most of these should be removed first.

[Ed Pawlowski]

A few people think they are saving water doing dishes by hand. There are only two of us and we run the machine usually every other day. They come out perfectly clean and are sanitized. Makes a lot of sense to me. Use a good detergent though.

[croy]

Energy Star is a consortium of appliance manufacturers. Their goal is, no used appliances available. They want you to replace that old, inefficient beast--apparently, every week.

[gfretwell]

I don't have a dishwasher but when we rent houses on vacation they usually do. I suppose they are great if you don't mind dirty dishes but I still find myself hand washing them, either before or after they go through the dishwasher.

I do believe they save water but I am not sure what the tradeoff is in power usage. It certainly appears to me that the 1KW heating element is on for most of the cycle, even if you let them air dry. Otherwise you would be washing dishes in cold water most of that time. The water definitely seems hotter at the end of the cycle than at the start.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Why would they be dirty? In a rental, chances are it is a cheap machine and crappy detergent. We have a KitchenAid DW and use Cascade Platinum detergent pods. If a dish is really dirty, the most it gets is a pssst under the faucet to get the big chunks off. Dishes and glassware comes out sparkling clean like it is brand new. I have glasses that were my grandmother's and are at least 80 years old and still look great.

You do use hot water for the connection and there is one cycle that does boost the temperature to sanitize. I can't imagine not having a machine.

[gfretwell]

Dunno, Maybe they were cheap machines but it was unlikely since we usually rent a pretty high end house. This is the one we had in Badrock Montana

I guess I just never saw the need. We don't usually have that many dishes to wash and the idea of saving up dirty ones for a few days is not attractive to me.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I would think a place like that would have a decent machine.

We run ours roughly every other day. The dishes are in a box and we don't see them except when adding a few more. I've washed plenty of dishes but prefer automation and superior quality.

[Vic Smith]

Funny how that works. My son put one of those slow-drop toilet seats on our toilet a couple years ago. Don't know how I ever lived without it. But somehow I did. Same thing happened when they came out with geared blade can openers. I thought, "Man, why didn't I think of that?" Never looked back on can openers. We don't have a dishwasher, only because our kitchen is old. I'll put one in when I remodel the kitchen. My wife - she was a professional chef - used to bitch at me about not having a dishwasher. When she was working as a chef she had guy dishwashers. But now when cooking daily meals for 5 people at her "job" babysitting grandkids at our daughter's house, she's not bitching about it anymore. I asked her how she likes the dishwasher there. She said she seldom uses it, because it's only efficient if it's near full. Too many cooking implements, eg spatulas, strainers, pots, are needed for the next meal, so must be washed immediately. She still wants one here, because we have a lot of family meals, and there's plenty of dishes to justify one then. But it's not a big deal, because usually the girls chip in.

[trader_4]

+1

Been there, done that. Add old machine and half shot to the mix too. Went snowboarding one time and rented a condo. It had an old piece of crap machine, probably 20 years old and it was broken. We reported it right away, were there for 3 days and they never fixed it, nor apologized, offered any compensation, nada. Made sure to leave them the appropriate review and never used them again.

We have a KitchenAid DW and use Cascade Platinum

I use the cheaper detergent, was using Finish Advanced, just trying Walmart's right now. Works for me, same as the Finish from what I can tell. Very high percent, everything comes out clean. Once in a while, a really cooked on pot will have something left that needs hand work, but not often.

IDK what they actually do with heating. For sure, at least sometimes I will hear it pause for about 5 mins after filling for the last cycle. So, it must be heating at that point. Whether it heats for other cycles, if the water isn't hot enough, IDK. You would think it would, if the water isn't hot enough. But whatever it's doing, I doubt it uses much energy, there isn't all that much water to heat. I can run a 1500W heater full on for an hour for 20 cents.