Dragging myself into the 21st Century

Mr_Proctalgia

After much debate with myself I have decided that "Things have to Change" so after a long hard bidding war on eBay I have bought a Dishwasher (AEG Favorit Slimline thingie (£26 and two bids :j)) Now not having owned one before what else will I need? Someone said I needed salt (Got a bag of sea salt already) tablets (for what - headaches) and rinse aid (Huh) A guy down the pub said I should get a basket for my eating irons too? I know how to do the washing up in a sink and have washing up liquid and all the usual paraphernalia but what will change for me now and what should I buy before I tootle off in the Proctster to collect it? ....Oh will it be expensive to run and should I stick with my old pot sink and use it as a cupboard?.

Added.. I have just been told that my pans (le Creuset) shouldn't be put in a dishwasher and that Aluminium "Goes all funny" Tell me this isn't true! :eek:

tanith

Lots of dishwasher tablets now have salt and rinse aid included so just read the packs when you shop for ones with it included....
Some of my saucepans are not dishwasher safe as it takes the surface off the outside , but I now only buy dishwasher safe cutlery, pans and crockery...

Would of been an idea to check out your crockery before buying the dishwasher...

elona

I use white vinegar instead of rinse aid and snap a tablet in half and then only use half a tablet of dish washer stuff instead of a whole tablet.

jobbingmusician

Cheapest and best dw stuff is from Lidl. This useful information is verified by my DH, who used to be a domestic appliance engineer! Tablets are more expensive than powder, so as a good OSer you should buy powder, which is just as good

DH says it's fine to put Le Creuset stuff in, unless it has wooden handles. Many pans are designed so that you can take the handle off before washing. You should never put aluminium in a dw, however - you will get holes in the pan!

You don't need sea salt - FAR too expensive! Buy dw salt which is on sale with other dw stuff. You should be aiming to spend under £1 for 2 or 3 kg of the stuff.

There is normally a basket inside the dw to put eating irons in. If your dw has lost its basket you should be able to get one really cheaply by returning to Ebay - or even direct from AEG!

HTH - JM

Badgergal

Agreed that Lidl is the best for the powder etc, also use vinegar instead of rinse aid. Lidl's massive container of powder lasts me forever. They also do cheap DW salt, do not use sea salt!

Well my one and only treasured Le Creuset goes in the DW (am sure it had something with it to say it was DW safe or I would not have risked it - I love that pot!!) and it is fine.

Lucie_2

Another vote for Le Creuset in the DW! Have been doing it for nearly 10 years & it's fine (Yes, even the ones with wooden handles go in, but that's personal choice).
Is there an instruction book with it? As my Dad always says, if all else fails, read the instructions

Mr_Proctalgia

Thanks for that so far, the crockery seems OK - IKEA 365+ porcelain stuff, my day to day noshing rods are just stainless steel, the le Creuset have either no handles (all cast iron and the lids are also frying pans??) or hard black plastic knobs which I use in the oven anyway. What about glassware and stuff is that OK too?

I mentioned the Sea Salt only because I have some already and use it for cooking etc and merely wondered if it would do instead of buying even more stuff, also have vinegar so I'm getting there slowly.

Thanks for the advice so far.

jobbingmusician

Sea salt will probably do the job but is like putting liquid gold into the dw - it uses more than 1kg on each fill so you'll have to buy some dw salt!

thriftmonster

Check how hard your water is first - the water co can give you a reading - and then in the instructions it should tell you whether you need salt - we don't here as the water is so soft

Addiscomber

You may prefer to handwash glasses, as they can go cloudy with time.

jobbingmusician

thriftmonster wrote:

Check how hard your water is first - the water co can give you a reading - and then in the instructions it should tell you whether you need salt - we don't here as the water is so soft

Have checked this with DH, and he agrees. But you have to live in a VERY VERY soft water area not to need it (West Country).