dishwasher: tablets/liquid v rinse aid and salt

oxfordmark

Hi

Whats the best and cheapest way to run a dishwasher?

We find that if we use a tablet we have to run the dishwasher on a 2.50 hour. wash. But a standard eco is 1.30 hours.

What's the best way to run it?

Thanks

yangptangkipperbang

Running a dishwasher on these so-called "eco" programmes is false economy. The "best" is never the "cheapest" !

They often don't get the contents clean and the waste, when the machine pumps out, is not hot enough to shift the gunge that tends to collect in the machine's plumbing.

Lidl's tablets are best.........

oxfordmark

yangptangkipperbang wrote: »

Running a dishwasher on these so-called "eco" programmes is false economy. The "best" is never the "cheapest" !

They often don't get the contents clean and the waste, when the machine pumps out, is not hot enough to shift the gunge that tends to collect in the machine's plumbing.

Lidl's tablets are best.........

Thanks

Are they powder? I heard liquid is best.

Should salt still be added to the dishwasher with the Lidl tablets?

flashg67

From reading up up on this, it seems the salt is used to soften the water? I live in a soft water area and have never used salt and stick to the budget tablets with good results.

The eco wash on my machine is 50 degrees which is hotter than some of the delicate and glass programmes, so not sure the comments above are necessarily correct and should be taken with a pinch of salt (sorry)!

trailingspouse

I use the cheap powder most of the time, or a tablet if the load is particularly greasy.

My quickest program takes 27 minutes, and I've never actually used any of the other programs!! The dishwasher was new in September, and has been used at least once a day, every day, since then. Very occasionally a bit of burnt on food gets left behind, but not so often that I feel I need to use a more powerful detergent or a longer program. The secret is to soak the worst offenders before putting them in (particularly anything that's had mashed potato on it!), just as you would if you were washing by hand. A two second job, and saves a lot of time and energy.

PheoUK

Lidl & Aldiss tablets rated highly by Which?

yangptangkipperbang

flashg67 wrote: »

The eco wash on my machine is 50 degrees which is hotter than some of the delicate and glass programmes, so not sure the comments above are necessarily correct and should be taken with a pinch of salt (sorry)!

"Eco" programmes employ one of several methods to claim to be green.
1. They miss the prewash cycle. This means that the first water to hit the contents of the machine is the hot main wash water. This can "cook" the food residue onto the plates, etc. This is why there is a cooler prewash cycle, usually around 20 degs, to rinse the contents
2. The complete wash is done at a lower temperature. The Royal Society of Chemists state that for optimum performance of dish washer detergent 55 - 75 degs is needed.

oxfordmark wrote: »

Are they powder? I heard liquid is best.

Should salt still be added to the dishwasher with the Lidl tablets?

There is no difference between liquid and powder tablets, Lidl's is powder.

The salt is for the softener in the dishwasher - if you are in a hard water area, add the salt.