does Auto 45-65 on BSH dishwashers choose between two fixed degrees, or is it variable?

[wholelottared]

basically the question in the title.

my model is Bosch SMS8YDI82T with PowerControl.

might be a weird question, but i'm trying to understand it's logic & how it works since i'm curious about these things.

today, it added almost 50-60 mins before going into the last rinse which never happened before. it made me think, does this actually only choose between two washing modes or something?

like does it either wash on 45(eco) or 65(heavy), or is it varying according to the dirt etc and can work in 55, 60 etc. too? how does the program flow gets affected and is the dirt in the water the only thing that affects things?

will be waiting for the replies thank you so much!!

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Auto

From what I understand, it is variable based on energy consumption. Though, don’t quote me as I am not 100% certain.
As far as I am aware, Eco works the same way in reverse, where the final rinse temp is variable to limit energy consumption and meet a more specific desired value. So when the machine hits its target consumption value, heating in final rinse should stop as long as it meets minimum temp. Though, Auto should have more flexibility with consumption based off of soil level.

 

[logixx]

In Europe, the BSH Eco cycles have a fixed temp; 35C (95F) on the most efficient Zeolite dishwashers. I think only the wash temp on Auto is variable, all other temps on other cycles are fixed (disregarding cycle options).

 

[henene4]

What lakewebsterkid describes is "guided energy usage" by Miele.
There, both on washers with the W1 generation and DWs with the G7000/G5000, the target energy usage is a thing.
As far as I am aware, BSH does not use such a system.

Bosch has had a few Auto cycle versions.
There was an Auto 55-65 version from the early 2000s that was just 2 cycles.
No prewash 65, or prewash and 55.

The new Auto cycle is definitely more varied than that.
I am almost certain to have witnessed such a machine do partial drains on an Auto cycle with no options between pre-rinse and main wash.

Things that do get affected however are pretty easy to discern.
There is a max wash cycle. That would be (without options):
- warm prewash (Zeolite regeneration)
- main wash 65C (full duration)
- 2 interim rinses (not heated)
- final rinse (heated)
That would result in the full usage and time (2:40h, 1.3kWh, 15.5l), pretty close to what the intensive cycle would use and take.
The opposite would be the minimal cycle: wash, rinse, heated rinse, dry. (1:40h, 0.68kWh, 7l).

The second interim rinse is barely ever triggered in my experience.
The pre-wash can either be done or not.
Main wash temp and time will be adapted on some parameters and probably won't be 100% fluently adapted, but I'd guess anywhere from 3 to 10 different main wash versions.

Now what you say happened triggered a few thoughts as to what might have happened.

On machines with the water reuse tank, a tank sanitisation could be triggered. That would add quite some time. But your's dosen't have one.
On machines with automatic door opening, that might get delayed if temps exceed a certain threshold to reduce any steam coming out once the door is automatically opened. But your's dosen't have that feature from what I can find.

There could be some kind of automatic sanitisation cycle that they've added through some update.
Some DWs had that where if a certain temp wasn't reached in a certain number of cycles, the final rinse temp would automatically be elevated to reduce any chance of DWs getting smelly.

BSH DWs can do pretty extensive time jumps.
Basically, when ever they transition from one cycle stage to another, they update the cycle timer.
That means if the main wash runs longer than expected (large load on a partial load cycle, very cold incoming water etc.) it would jump up. Same with rinses etc.

But 50-60min really seems out of the ordinary.

 

[lakewebsterkid]

Henene4

Thanks for clarifying! Might have been confused with Miele!

 

[wholelottared]

replying to henene4

thank you so much for the detailed reply wow.

yes my device has automatic door opening function and i turned it on by default for all programs, "intensive dry" is also turned on from machine settings for all programs. it's a latest zeolith machine and i hope my settings doesn't affect zeolith and it still uses it.

the sensor setting on the app is set to "sensitive" (out of standard/sensitive/very sensitive). extra clean zone is also turned on.

the time jump up happened before it went to drying stage. the drying always takes 40 minutes on mine on the Auto cycle (with the two settings i talked about turned on). what it did was it was still saying "washing" and the timer was showing 35 minutes left which was really unusual (since last 40 minutes are normally drying) then it added like 40 minutes and finally the display started showing rinse.

by the way i think the display only shows "rinse" during the final heated rinse that has rinse aid. it does some other rinses too that i can notice from the sound, but it still says washing at those stages. i guess they did this so people doesn't open the door until it's on final and last rinse stage or something.

when this happened i think my dishwasher had the dirtiest load i've ever loaded since i bought it, so it kinda doesn't surprise me that it added time, looks like sensors are working well, but i was just wondering what it did.

about the temps, from what i understood from your reply it's not either 45 or 65 but it's varying in between, right?

also i have an another question, do you know does it still use zeolith drying at the end with both "auto door opening + intensive dry" turned on? american dishwashers have the option to turn on or off the zeolith system but we don't, that's why i'm wondering and hoping it still uses it. auto door opening affects the time by like 5-6 minutes for example, why?

thanks again

 

[henene4]

You should be pretty abled to hear the Zeolite fan.
You hear it during the early stages of the Auto cycle and during the drying. A consistent hum at a higher pitch than the wash pump.
A friend once described it as an constant note E.

It should still use it regardless of options on Auto.
Drying sequence should be a small pause, than a drain, then the Zeolite fan comes on for the majority of the cycle. Then it stops, fills the water pocket drains.
Then the cycle usually ends without AutoOpen. I guess the few minutes AutoOpen adds are to cool down the interior before it opens the door.
But I actually never used an Zeolite and AutoOpen BSH DW, so that's just guessing from what makes sense design wise.

 

[wholelottared]

happened again

42 minutes added after going to the "rinse" section, it was a semi-dirty load.

 

[logixx]

I wonder if it could be due to the sensitivity setting of the sensor - although you've changed that a while ago.

 

[henene4]

Unfortunately, I can't see what the actual total time remaining is.

The Auto cycle typically needs something between 1h and 1:20h for interim rinse, final rinse and dry, with the drying taking something like 30-40min on the Zeolite models.

Now, if the main wash ends at like 30min left and it jumps up then, the main wash is extended.
If it jumps from 1h to something like 1:40 or so, the actual rinsing stage would be extended.

Very cold water intake can add a bit, so could very large loads or items flipping over.

Still don't really think adjusting the sensor is necessary in typical household use.
But changing that setting might be a first step to "troubleshooting" the issue regardless.