Dishwasher Pre Wash

[iiijohnnymaciii]

Thanks!

I appreciate it very much. I have been using the pots and pans cycle this entire time. I will try the Normal cycle with a heated wash. I thought for the life of me when I ran the heavy cycle it was a long prewash, but I wasn’t exactly timing it and left the kitchen a couple of times and it probably switched over when I was out. I didn’t even know that I could get a prewash out of the normal cycle. Thanks again for the advice!

 

[iiijohnnymaciii]

4 min Prewash!

I set it to normal and hi-temp and it did indeed have a 4 min prewash, 18 min main wash, 8 min rinse, and a 15 minute final rinse. That is absolutely enough to clean anything I can throw at it and no more stains!

 

[rolls_rapide]

Auto sensor programmes

The first generation of these were pretty hit and miss. My Bosch which always did a prerinse, recently decided not to do so on its 'auto normal' cycle. It also has a nasty habit of washing in lukewarm temperatures. Drying can be a tad spotty, leaving watermarks on cutlery. Not impressed.

I once ran a bottle of dishwasher cleaner through on this programme... the wash water was far too cool to melt the wax cap!

To get sensible temperatures, you have to select the 'Auto Super Wash' programme. Which I generally do, most of the time. Better drying too.

 

[Chetlaham]

Didn't they make a DW without a prewash once? And it had no door over the cup? Can someone post pics of these machines?

 

[murando531]

I’m not sure I’ve seen a full-size machine with no dispenser cup but I do think I remember the KitchenAid Briva In Sink dishwasher that had a sort of scoop on the lid that you measured detergent into, and when the lid closed down it would just dump down into the tank. I would love one of them just to try out.

@JohnnyMac No problem! The PowerCleans are a breed of dishwasher that really performed and still perform better with less. My aunt still has her original 2002 model from when their house was built, which is similar to mine but with the five cycle buttons. That thing is still going strong with a family of five, previously 7, living in the same house, with strictly Normal cycles on Air Dry being fully packed to the brim and they just scrape and never rinse. Sometimes there will be bits of food in the tub bottom and everything has always come out perfectly. Her machine still somehow is immaculate inside.

I’m not surprised about the staining if you were using PnP, because that’s a thermal hold prewash at 135 as well as thermal hold for the main wash. The soiled water was practically being boiled in lol

 

[combo52]

DWsWith No Covered Detergent Cups

There were many DWs without a detergent dispenser, mostly older earlier models, [ like Kitchenaid KD-10 ]

 

I think one of the latest machines were the basic WH DWs from the early 70s.

 

Manufactures quickly found DWs perform much better with either a pre-wash or at least a pre-rinse, I always use the double wash in our 1987 WP PC machines unless I am just washing dusty dishes that were in storage etc.

 

John L.

 

[Marky_Mark]

Red Stains

If you want to remove the red/orange stains from plastic items (such as cutting boards and plastic containers) and from plastic dishwasher tubs, typically caused by tomato, you used to be able to buy Cascade Plastic Booster which is now no longer available.  Fortunately its active ingredient, benzoyl peroxide, is widely available, sold as acne cream.  

 

You add 1 or 2 tablespoons to the prewash and add regular detergent for the main wash.  It works very well and is especially good if you can select a cycle with a longer prewash, such as “pots and pans” on the Whirlpool PowerClean.  Regular detergent and chlorine bleach will not remove the stains. 

 

Here is a photo I have just taken of a plastic tube that has gone red.  I will wash this over the next few days and will add some benzoyl peroxide to the prewash.  I’ll post the “after” photo.  I don’t currently have any other plastic items with orange/red stains as I’ve already recently washed them with benzoyl peroxide added to the prewash. 

See my previous thread:

Add THIS to dishwasher to remove red/orange stains from plastics!

Before being discontinued, Cascade Plastic Booster worked well at removing red/orange stains from plastic items in the dishwasher. Instructions were to add 3 tablespoons directly into the dishwasher for the prewash and add regular detergent into the dispenser for the main wash. Apparently the...

www.automaticwasher.org

 

[iiijohnnymaciii]

Update

So, after about one week of use on Normal with a heated wash selected, I have zero stains! Yesterday was Spaghetti night and everything came out immaculate, including the tub! I basically use the 4 minute prewash as a prerinse. I only use one Cascade Platinum tab in the main wash with no rinse agent or prewash detergent. Once again thank you Andrew for the insight! Less time on the wash and saves me money with detergent as well!

 

[lakewebsterkid]

PowerClean

My aunt also has her Kenmore UltraWash from around 1998-2000. It was ran almost every day for about 18 years. She always uses Normal, Hi Temp, Sanitize, Air Dry. Zero issues. She does use a bleach based gel that has made the stainless look a little rough, but she really doesn't have any rusting racks either. Kind of shocking. I was always impressed with how quiet that machine was.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Dishwasher 'rinsing'

My mom's fiance has a rental house with a Samsung DW7933. The machine does a piss poor job of cleaning. I actually took the sump apart and tried to clean the entire thing apart to see if that helped. When using the Heavy cycle, I did notice that the machine will do a very prolonged fill and drain simultaneously (~1 minute). So I guess excessive pre-rinses can occur too! Lol.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Benzoyl Peroxide

I have used it with great success when using it in the detergent dispenser. I try to add a little whenever there is quite a bit of tupperware in the machine, especially on trash night. Not much else seems to do the trick.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

I wish

they would bring Cascade plastic booster back.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

pre-rinsing

I completely agree with Murando531 on this one. Some people are just too stupid to be doing dishes. It drives me insane when people do that. I put filthy dishes in my Kenmore (Bosch) dishwasher and the racks are still intact. Why? Because I don't pre-wash anything. I just put them directly in after scraping.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Well I tried hard to find a place for my long over-due exception that if you prewash and/or prerinse your dishes, flatware, drinkware or any other utensils, they might as well not go in your dishwasher...

 

And that is my brewing parts that go in my coffee pot, when my ground coffee beans become coffee grounds...

 

I mostly just rinse them, but once in a great while the brewing pot and the top which is the spreader becomes very gritty and sometimes might even carry over imparted flavor from a previous blend...

 

Or surprisingly the bottom rack is full before the top rack which is really the middle because the top rack here is a small thin tray...

 

So I'll just fill a remaining area with the pot part so including the base and stem and let 'er go...

 

 

 

-- Dave

[this post was last edited: 5/14/2025-17:33]

 

[pierreandreply4]

my kitchenaid dishwasher

If i do not let my dishwasher run the prewash part on the tough cycle water would be entering cold as it warms heat the water up and to give it a boost i also make sure hi temp wash is on as well as sani rinse

 

[agiflow]

My portable GE GPT2255GL2WW with the redesigned detergent dispenser will do 4 prerinses (there is no pre-wash option) on the "auto sense" cycle if it detects a dirty load.

Then after about 5 or so minutes into the 4th prerinse it pauses and opens the detergent dispenser and washes for at least half an hour, (forget how long exactly) then 3 post rinses.

I have to say though it cleans better than the Frigidaire I had in my last place.

If auto sense detects it doesn't need all that it will run 1 looong prerinse,then the main wash and only 1 heated final rinse.

I don't like that though. The light cycle will do two post rinses. I generally get by on that.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

Kenmore

My Kenmore does a pre-wash, followed by another, main wash, a purge, intermediate rinse, and then a final rinse with rinse aid on average.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Well, here, I added the parts for my coffee grinder and reconfigured everything so the pepto bismol pink mix which was a cherry pancake mix would be perfectly washed out of that mixing bowl...

And everything without any prerinsing came out exceptionally well, otherthan only needing to get rid of all that coffee grit on the grinding parts, and my brewing parts free from all those girunds!

-- Dave

 

[d-todd]

WDT970SAKZ3

With my WDT970SAKZ3, there is one prewash before the main wash, so I add a little powder onto the door when filling the cup. My feeling is that it will cut the grease a bit, and allow the main wash to be more effective.

And while we are on the subject of dishwashers, I noted in some posts that you know names of the platforms. I admire this knowledge, and I always wonder the source of it Anyhow, my buddy and I have our own code to denote each pump platform, mostly for Whirlpool. Going from most current backwards:

Square pump (like my WDT970SAKZ3)
Strainer style dishwasher
Blade style (with blade/strainer disk)
Spaceship (with the blade and seals that need a tool to press in)

Have I missed any?

 

[gelaundry4ever]

eco series square pump

It's interesting that the eco series square pump doesn't have any turbine sounds.