Credit: Jake Likes Onions
this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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It's always interesting to see random activities highlight how different people's lives can be. As of the time I'm posting this, half of the comments mention a dishwasher.
I've never been in a house with a dishwasher, and literally just realized I couldn't tell you if I've ever seen one, outside of a screen. To my perception, they're like a magical tool that supposedly exists... somewhere. Maybe.
That's not a complaint, and not really noteworthy. I'm pretty sure most of humanity doesn't have one, after all. I just think it's funny when you stumble into another bubble, inside your bubble.
I know that I, too, enjoy things that don't seem real to someone else. Even being able to read this post is a privilege. Now, that's funny.
My mom taught me to always wash dishes by hand. She hated dishwashers, because they would leave spots, and that wasn't acceptable. For the longest tine, every dish I washed had to pass her inspection. If they looked anything less than perfect, she would point it out and/or rewash then herself. Eventually she trusted me enough to not double-check, and honestly my eyesight was better anyway.
I have to this day never used a dishwasher.
Correctly used dishwashers are generally better at cleaning dishes than cleaning by hand, plus they are way more energy/water efficient than cleaning by hand.
Yeah honestly I never used them cause I thought they sucked and wasted water. After being educated about modern dishwashers I started to use them more often. Now I pretty much only use dishwashers for all my dishes (except non dishwasher safe stuff). Looking back, it's a game changer. The time saved is amazing and the dishes look amazing.
Can you tell me how to correctly use mine? It doesn't actually clean my dishes properly unless I pre scrape, scrub, and rinse most things...and then at that point it seems almost pointless to be using the dishwasher.
Check out Technology Connection's video on dishwashers: https://youtu.be/_rBO8neWw04
FYI, rinse aid is a thing these days.
Yeah, but studies have shown it's not great for us https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36464527/
This is a very useful link, thanks. I may have even experienced this effect in 2021 (hard to be sure though)
If you have hard water, look in to citric acid. Rinse aid alone still left my dishes cloudy no matter the quantity of detergent I tried. A bit of powdered citric acid leaves them shiny.
I'd call that more sad than funny, but you're absolutely right. And it's a good thing to sometimes have a fresh look at what seems a given
Also, dishwashers don't really work. You have to wash the dishes before they go in - best it can do is a glorified rinse and then a dry.
That isn't true for modern dishwashers. You shouldn't even rinse your plates before putting them in, as the detergent needs stuff to grab on.
Everytime I leave food/sauce particles on utensils and dishes, the dishwasher doesn't get it all off because it hardens after a day or two while it sits in there waiting for the next run. So I rinse everything off by hand and then use the dishwater to get every last molecule of food and idk, kill germs I guess. Plus it then drys everything for me.
Whenever I try this, it does not work at all. Granted, I don't have a super new model or anything, but still. The food will harden and sometimes get permanently get stuck to the dishes as a sort of white soap-crust looking entity.
Maybe I should add that I'm vegetarian. Perhaps animal fat and proteins are harder to clean in a dishwasher.
Pro tip: Peanut butter and egg yolks become immune to water when they dry. They don't go in the dishwasher.
Have you ever... tried this?
Yep, I have kids though, so the dishwasher runs every day or 2. I sometimes "rinse" the dishes just to get them a little wetter before I put them in.
That's not true at all.
It is in my experience. If I just throw shit in unrinsed, the food particles harden and then don’t all come off in the wash. Nasty.
Are you using detergent for both the two cycles the machine runs? Are you softening your water using salt (if applicable to your machine)? Is your machine decently clean?
All of the above will contribute to cleaner dishes, in approximate order of importance.
Happened a couple of times with my dishes, but to be fair it was a couple of times out of a few years of usage, so your mileage may vary
It’s possible some people just have better dishwashers, and that because the one that came with my apartment is not high end it can’t do what other washers can.