My husband rinses dishes so thoroughly that I struggle to work out if the dishwasher contents are clean or dirty so it is with glee that I see that rinsed dishes may not be the way to go. Apparently detergents need grime to cling to and if dishes are clean already then the detergent just rinses off without being able to stick to anything.

May be a lot of hogwash but it has made me laugh (and think). Rinsing Dishes

My husband is the same - whereas I put dishes in the dishwasher covered in food bits and bobs. They are then removed from the dishwasher and washed accordingly. The dishwasher acts more like a drying rack!

I always rinse my dishes first, especially the ones that have had things like muesli or porridge in them because once dried onto the dish, the bits left stick like concrete. As I live alone, I only use the dishwasher every other day.

Helen, as soon as I've emptied the dishwasher of clean dishes, I put a fat ballpoint pen on the ledge of the dish drawer. This serves two purposes: (1) it allows a little bit of air to flow through and helps avoid the interior smelling horrible and
(2) I know if the dishes in there are dirty or clean. Pen in: dirty. No pen: clean.

I think it depends what make of dishwasher you have to leave food on and put straight into the dishwasher.One of my daughters puts hers in with bits of food on and it comes out spotless, the other daughter does the same and hers come out with dried on bits still.

....How to keep a dishwasher technician in business......

[www.nzherald.co.nz]

I think I will continue to at least lightly rinse.

If they are really bad, ie lasagne or roast dishes, I will soak in water. Plates only get scraped. But the type of dishwasher definitely does make a difference.

What I used to do with the dishwasher was place a magnet on the door when I started it, and put the magnet on the fridge when it was emptied. Not necessary now with just the two of us.

I prefer to lightly rinse the dishes before they go into the dish washer. But my husband appears to be very disillusioned as to the capabilities of a dish washer. I think he thinks there's a little man in there who wears stainless steel pot scraper mitts who attacks the pots and oven dishes which have those 'cooked-on' crusty rings and splashes that require elbow grease to clean! However, he thinks he's doing me a favour (or earning brownie points) by packing the dish-washer I guess, so nothing said, I remove those pots and oven dishes and turn myself into the pot scraper when he's not looking.
Regards,
Dawn.
Edited: BTW Hubby doesn't pack the dish washer very often!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2017 06:42AM by Dawn.

Many years ago we had a dishwasher with an attached waste disposal unit, so you could put in food covered dishes (it did a great job of cleaning too). My husband still laments that machine. We mostly scrape but do light rinsing. We have a septic tank so no waste disposal and we can't put a lot of food down the sink. The general rule is "no chunky bits in the dishwasher".

I rented a place once with a very old dish washer.

I rinsed things but not pedantically like your hubby. Anyway when I left, the owner told me that it was clogged up with stuff and it was actually a sterilizer and not designed to wash the dishes. Who has a dishwasher in their home that doesnt wash dishes?

I know at school/work we have a sterilizer for glasses and cups but it looks very different to a classic dishwasher.

Vanessa

Earlier this year we had very wealthy relatives to stay and I had to completely restack the dishwasher because she put in everything straight from the table. It transpired that she thought it was normal that her dishwashers only lasted about a year - they got replaced without question when they clogged up because the expense was so insignificant.

I very rarely rinse and don't seem to have any problems. I have a Miele and it's been working flawlessly for more than ten years.

Time for a 'fess up from me. We have a little terrier, we call him "Rinse Cycle" Actually our big dog will lick the plates too, but the terrier has learned to put his front paws on the door and lick the plates, nosing the "rinsed" ones out of the way to get at the dirty ones behind. We figure as they're being washed afterwards it doesn't make much difference.

I simply scrape the main food scraps off and put the dishes straight in the dishwasher, no need for rinsing under the tap. As others have mentioned the detergents need something to act upon. If I'm not going to run a full wash cycle straight away, then I will run them through a quick rinse cycle - that way any remaining particles stay damp.

Regards,

Barbara Anne