Dishwashers are rubbish aren't they

[Davidc]

Bought my first one in 1984, Now on third one.

Zanussi, Indesit, Whirlpool.

Only things they haven't done is crystal glass and aluminium, both of which are attacked by the detergent.

There's only one thing it won't get off - that's scrambled egg done in a glass bowl in the microwave. Done in a dsaucepan - fine. Porridge - fine unless it's burnt on. Salad leaves (mentioned above) tend to block the filters a bit but never get left on the dishes.

Immaculate cleaning of everything else, provided it's stacked correctly. The present one is almost silent and uses rougly 1/3 less energy than heating water for hand washing. Costs slightly more though as it uses electricity instead of gas.

Wouldn't be without one!

Edit: If you live in a soft water area or have a water softener don't bother with the salt, it's only for softening hard water.

 

[Rezillo]

Edit: If you live in a soft water area or have a water softener don't bother with the salt, it's only for softening hard water.

although if you have a water softener and if it has been installed correctly, it is likely that the kitchen cold water supply is the drinking water section and therefore unsoftened.

John

 

[Davidc]

although if you have a water softener and if it has been installed correctly, it is likely that the kitchen cold water supply is the drinking water section and therefore unsoftened.

John

The unsoftened water should be on a separate tap marked as drinking water, with the sink and any appliances fed with softened water.

 

[Rezillo]

The unsoftened water should be on a separate tap marked as drinking water, with the sink and any appliances fed with softened water.

That's a good solution but it is often not the one used and it's not a direct requirement to have a third tap - just a recommendation to have an untreated drinking water tap.

http://www.wras.co.uk./PDF_Files/IGN9-07-01.pdf

My dishwasher installation requires a single cold water feed and the instructions recommend using a non-softened supply where a household softener is used and to rely on the one used in the machine (which I suspect might be slightly more aggressive than the household one).

John

 

[Globalti]

I prefer to hand wash as the dishwasher always misses something, dried on cereal is the worst. After a big meal is okay but for a small family we only end up washing every 2-3 days, by which tine we are running out of utensils and the dishes inside are beginning to get really rank and smelly, especially the breakfast stuff with milk on it.

They are good for washing disc brake pads that have been contaminated with oil, as nothing gets hotter or more caustic. Don't wash expensive aluminium parts though because the causticity will pit the finish.

 

[wafflycat]

I prefer to hand wash as the dishwasher always misses something, dried on cereal is the worst. After a big meal is okay but for a small family we only end up washing every 2-3 days, by which tine we are running out of utensils and the dishes inside are beginning to get really rank and smelly, especially the breakfast stuff with milk on it.

Does the machine not have a "rinse & hold" function?

 

[Crackle]

Well mine's a whirlpool one, bought last year when we installed the kitchen in the house. Before that we had one but it was unused as stacking it and emptying it took as much time as hand washing but I've made an effort to use this one. Between remembering to clean the filter, fill it with salt and rinse aid, clean off the heavier dirt, not even think about putting certain stuff in it (good glasses, big pots, anything ali, anything with funny curves), dragging rinsed stuff back out to wash because I need it now, I've come around to thinking it's not all it's cracked up to be.

 

[Fab Foodie]

How do you manage once a day for 5 ... it annoys me how many times its on twice

.

Most days it's only once per day, weekend days can be on twice and when we have people round/entertaining it can be as many as 3 times/day. Daily it's only the brekkie and sarnie making stuff and then the evening meal and late night cereal stuff.
Mostly it's down to really expert loading (Mrs FF) and washing the pots, pans etc by hand.