Dishwasher or washing up???

johnjp

Do I hear more support for dishwasher machines than hand dishwashing?
Another thought, go back 30 to 40 years,
Q: Would you wash your clothes by hand to save water?
Would YOU, of course not, it`s a thankless task, just as washing dishes by hand is.
In a few short years just about everyone will use dishwasher machines and will be happier for it!

Sheel

I do rinse dishes before I put them in the dishwasher , but only with cold water.

tawnyowls

RedOnRed wrote:

Yes I do rinse the stuff, otherwise it would be absolutely filthy inside and i'd only be making work for myself having to clean filters out. Besides, the manufacturers say you should rinse everything first - so what does Anthea know? Do you think she watches her domestic helpers do it anyway? She's probably never been near a dishwasher in her life.

As for stuff you shouldn't put in...how about wooden things and perishable rubber?

If you scrape all the loose stuff off, it shouldn't be at all filthy. Have you actually ever tried it? You should clean the filters regularly anyway, and it's a great deal easier and quicker than rinsing a pile of plates. Putting aside the question of whether Anthea's correct or not, the earlier thread on this board with so many people putting their experiences forward should convince anyone that rinsing is pointless, no matter what the manufacturers say (besides, who always obeys the manufacturers? - if we did, we'd all be dry-cleaning polyester and throwing food out if it's an hour past its use-by date).

I always wash wooden spatulas, spoons etc in the DW - no problems there. Perishable rubber? The mind boggles.:eek: Seriously, how many things do you have with perishable rubber? A vaccum flask seal, the seal on the liquidiser - nope, can't think of anything else. Can't possibly be more than a very small percentage of the washing-up. I also wash glass vases, plasticware, chopping boards, all pans including Le Creuset - in fact, the only thing I've had a problem with was one plastic container that ended up an interesting abstract shape:rolleyes: (it was an ex-icecream tub or something, so not a disaster), and the only things I won't put in it is some particularly delicate glassware that was a present, and which I wash with exaggerated care.

As I said, like most of the people on the other thread, I'll rinse if there's very starchy food like mashed potato, which can leave a deposit on dishes, and rinse off ketchup and other tomato-based sauces, but only if there's plasticware in the dishwasher because that can be dyed orange (Milton gets that out very well). For the rest, the deposits get scraped into the bin (I use a flexible mixing spatula, which really does remove practically everything) and the stuff gets shoved into the DW. I do usually check the filter after every wash, which takes seconds to do, and clean it if necessary, but there's usually very little on it. My dishes come out squeaky clean, so it clearly doesn't cause a problem with the cleaning (I am totally converted to Lidl Adritt DW tabs, BTW - cheap and excellent). Occasionally, if it's a really dirty pan with baked-on food that has been sitting in the DW for a couple of days, not everything will come off it, but scrubbing a couple of stubborn deposits is a lot easier than rinsing the whole pan and then having to scrub off said deposits anyway. Running it through the DW doesn't seem to make them any more difficult to remove, so I reckon I might as well save at least some of the work.

johnjp wrote:

Do I hear more support for dishwasher machines than hand dishwashing?
Another thought, go back 30 to 40 years,
Q: Would you wash your clothes by hand to save water?
Would YOU, of course not, it`s a thankless task, just as washing dishes by hand is.
In a few short years just about everyone will use dishwasher machines and will be happier for it!

Yes!

Absolutely. I don't think many people could imagine themselves living in a house without a WM, but a DW still seems to be seen as a luxury. As you say, fast-forward a few years, when it becomes as accepted as a WM or a freezer, and people will wonder what all the fuss was about.

hb1444

Absolutely. I don't think many people could imagine themselves living in a house without a WM, but a DW still seems to be seen as a luxury. As you say, fast-forward a few years, when it becomes as accepted as a WM or a freezer, and people will wonder what all the fuss was about.

I thought they were regarded as essential as WMs. Anyway, they certainly have been looked at differently overtime, you could say a DW was like a DVD recorder when it first came out. They were expensive when they first came out, the worst were out first, and over time the price depreciated but the quality strengthened. You could say a washer dryer went through this too, in the 80's when they first came out, they were expensive and many had fires or bad problems, but now they are cheap and work good.

tawnyowls

hb1444 wrote:

You could say a washer dryer went through this too, in the 80's when they first came out, they were expensive and many had fires or bad problems, but now they are cheap and work good.

Going a bit OT here, but latest Which? report is still pretty damning on WDs - basically concludes that washing bit is OK, drying still rubbish, and very expensive because it can only dry half what it washes in one load and they're much slower even at that. Bears out the experience of members here, I'm afraid.

hb1444

tawnyowls wrote:

Going a bit OT here, but latest Which? report is still pretty damning on WDs - basically concludes that washing bit is OK, drying still rubbish, and very expensive because it can only dry half what it washes in one load and they're much slower even at that. Bears out the experience of members here, I'm afraid.

Sorry, didn't know that!

johnjp

Baad_!!! wrote:

I notice that a few people on here have made a big thing about having their DW plumbed into the hot water, as if that is somehow a good thing. It actually uses more water that way as the water in the supply pipe will be cold until the hot water from the tank flows through. Therefore, depending on how their machine works, it either discards the cold water until it gets warm enough to use or it fills up on the cold and then has to heat it. If it's the latter then you now have hot water in your pipes which is not needed and will simply go cold and hence be wasted.
For that reason, the models that use only a cold fill are more efficient. They take just enough water for their purpose, and heat only that amount of water, saving both water and energy.

Something to think about.....

Hmmm, I found out about hot filling my DW from Oz Womens Weekly, surely they can`t be wrong!
The same argument could be used in regard to sink washing and WM hot filling!
I live in a new house with thick plastic pipes (designed to insulate) so am happy to stick with hot filling; it, at least, saves approximately 10 minutes on the cycle, so that must be saving energy as well.

roswell

surely the time taken to fill up a washing machine and the extra plates etc you need plus costs of the tablets means hand washingis cheaper ?? is it that hard to use a cup more than once and just wash it at the end of the day ?

I think ill stick to hand washing .. well drying my other half does the washing bit.

moonrakerz

Don't forget that dishwashers DRY things as well, you don't have to rub them with that dirty, germ-infested tea towel any more !

apples1

When I was pregnant I was advised that if you can only afford a dishwasher OR a pram, buy the dishwasher! I would stand by this advice to anyone!!!;)