How often do you run your dishwasher?

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uh I've never smelled wet dog from eggs either.. Mine just has a funk if theres too much yibble in it... Although the GEs and Maytag Jet Clean i had did fine
 
My peanut butter hate isn't dishwasher related: it's cleaning the jars out so they can go into recycling. I think plastic is much worse than glass, too, and, of course, most brands now use plastic jars. (Glass is still available, but I typically look more at price than jar material when buying. Being cheap, it's hard to cough up an extra $1 or $2 to make cleaning for recycling time easier.)
 
This household of 5 generally manages about every day, or every other day with the DishDrawer. Its usually packed pretty well too, and comes clean, provided one of the others don't block the wash arm (grrr).

I understand the frustration over pre-rinsers. Back home, my father just decided he would start doing it for whatever reason.
Obviously that annoyed me even more, given the usual mantra about "wasting electricity" if we want the A/C 0.5ºC, or "wasting water" when showering, doing laundry etc.

In an ideal world, I'd tell guests to piss off out of MY kitchen. They are there to be entertained, not clean up. The entertainer understands what they are "getting into" when planning an event. Its incredibly impolite, I think, to expect guests to help out when you're the host.
 
My favorite line from PreRinse Queens is: "We just use the dishwasher as a dish sanitizer ho ho he ha he haha ha ha". Makes me want to throw my shoe at them. Joke's on them, because common sense science and a little research and understanding of how dishwashers work would easily tell them that they're far from "sanitizing" their dishes in the machine, and rather are wreaking havoc on their dishwasher's components, along with foolishly wasting energy and water. And time. And effort.

Sometimes I have to just pretend we're in a perfect world where people use their machines as they were designed, they make the effort to learn about them, and they take gentle care of their belongings. It helps me sleep a little better at night, lol.
 
Guests in the kitchen

I, too, would just as soon have guests stay out of the kitchen.

Related to dishwashers: I remember talking to a neighbor, who doesn't like dishwashers, about them, and my plan to have one before I consider entertaining. Her response: "Oh, your guests will surely help clean up!" Not sure where she gets that idea from--although much of her entertaining seems to be large family gatherings, which, I guess, could have different rules...

From what I recall, there was no guest help when my family had people over. I don't even recall it happening with relatives. (Although I do recall my grandmother puttering about the kitchen baking, sometimes, and she might have washed the dishes used for baking.)

My mother once told me her philosophy was to aim for dinners that would have as much done early as possible. That way, the kitchen could be pretty much totally cleaned up long before dinner. She hated last minute prep work, but it seems like it also would help with the dishes situation.
 
Shock Horror!

"He put my cast iron skillet in the dishwasher. The one which had been seasoning since the 1880s. Then, he scrubbed it 'clean' with a wire brush and steel wool."

When I read this I went into reverse peristalsis. Had that been my cast iron skillet the individual in question would have yodeled in high C for the rest of his miserable, short life and continued on in hell.

Now, I still have my trusty F&P double dish drawers. Both get used at least once a day and often twice or thrice. They still do an outstanding job, however, the formula of Finish powder, that I used to source from Costco, has changed. Until recently it came from South East Asia and still had phosphates. The latest batch is from NZ and doesn't. The difference in cleaning became apparent when the two round stainless filter screens in the bottom of my dish drawers lost their shine. Suddenly they were covered in this very thin greasy film, which I could only remove by washing them in the sink with a sponge and hot, soapy water. Not happy.

The dishes are still coming out okay, but this dulling of the filter screens is causing me some psychological issues. I shouldn't have to periodically hand wash the filter screens to keep them shiny - never had to do that before. Oh, and I mostly use the longest, hottest cycle. I don't pre-rinse either and usually load my drawers to the gills. Eco (quick) cycles are for very light and smaller loads only, not for regular daily use.

If any of my Australian compat's could suggest another brand of dish powder, I'd be most appreciative - and, no, I don't use tablets, ever.
 
@rapunzel

No suggestions from me. Was equally bemused when that crap landed on the shelves of IGA back home. Performance decline wasn't noted with dishes, but certainly that "greasy film" you speak of on the filter plates.

This home's DD's gets a steady diet of Finish tablets. Expensive? Well, more than tabs. On-special it isn't dreadful. But they at least have the phosphates, for now, at least.

The only other tabs with Phosphates would be those awesome "Fairy" ones you see. Reasonably priced, but work better than Finish tablets, plus a nice scent - IMHO, of course.

Unless you find some old stock, I think we're now out of luck. Only option is to find STPP, when I last checked in 2012, there was a cleaning supplies place in Melbourne or Sydney that carried it. A quick search of Google would reveal the result.
 
Thank you w111,

However, I think the tablets are too strong for the drawers; I prefer powdered detergent, which allows me to control the dosage. My drawers don't have a tablet dispenser either. I will scour the Asian shops instead. They source detergents from all over the place, perhaps they've got what I need. If this fails I might follow up your other suggestion.

Some time ago and in another thread, Mielerod or someone else mentioned that they get some supa dupa dishwasher detergent from Germany. I don't recall if it was in tablet form or not. I'd like to know more.
 
Thank you Henrick,

I was under the impression that European countries were spearheading the omission of phosphates from detergents and that they had done this eons ago. Of, course, we Australians follow these trends like the sheep we are - baaah.
 
Eggs

@ Andrew - I do not seem to have that problem with Miracle Whip or peanut butter (don't use real mayo), although there have been times I've noticed mayo on knives don't come completely clean, but other times they do. I've recently started leaving peanut butter and miracle whip on knives and they have been coming clean.

But EGGS, let me tell you about EGGS. I can actually put straight up egg covered dishes in, or a spatulas, etc, and although everything comes spotless, when you go to get a glass to drink out of, even though the glass itself feels squeaky clean, there is this hint of a smell as you're drinking. I can't believe some of you don't notice this. It doesn't matter about how hot the cycle is, how long the cycle is, what kind of detergent you use or rinse aid, 99% of the time, you will have that smell in the glasses. Maybe some of our noses are more sensitive than others? I dunno.

If I beat an egg in a bowl, I rinse the bowl out but I don't scrub it. If there is egg on a spatula, I use a dirty knife and just scrap the big pieces off quickly. I don't wash those dishes before putting them in, I just try to get most of the egg funk off - even though I know they will come clean if I don't, I just don't want that hint of a smell in glasses.
 
Sensitive Noses

 

Maybe some of our noses are more sensitive than others? I dunno. 

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I don't have a sensitive nose so I don't have the same experience, however I can attest to the fact that some people do.  My partner has an unbelievably sensitive nose.  He smells things I never smell especially food related.  He also has many allergies to airborne things so I don't know if that's related or not.  His sensitive sense of smell has gotten worse since he started using a Neti Pot a recommendation I made to him based on some of my family members who swear by them.  I feel really lucky that I don't suffer with these kinds of airborne allergies like so many do especially early spring here in the south when everything is literally yellow with all the pollen dust.</span>
 
Another notable offender:

 

[Me:] "Are you gonna drink that?"

 

[Brother-In-Law:] "No..."

 

[Me:] "Then why are you watering my dishes?!"

 

Yes, my wife's brother, Elliot...  --After he drinks just about a little of everything in the house, then gets too full to finish that last ___(Juice, GatorAde, Soda Pop)___, in which case, his glass is emptied down the drain, and the glass is rinsed with NO soap and allowed to stand in the basin... --And really, I think even HE can be allowed to have his used stuff in our dishwasher, as we have other guests' stuff often with ours...  It gets washed, rinsed, sanitized and no one has yet ever died...!

 

Then, there's rinsing stuff that is going in the recycling, which my dad does--and even with a bottle of chocolate milk from McDonald's my daughter brought home, lost the lid to, it got left on my wife's dresser, or maybe it was the kitchen counter, and made damn sure it would not spill in the fridge when I put it there, so after grandpa baby-sat I begged him to drink it before he left as I got home from work...  

 

Then I wondered why he had to rinse it with water we pay for coming in and going out and probably creating a bubble in the ecological process--he does that with cans and bottles that have our MI Deposit & Return--which is another rant of mine, why we still have to bother with that system--, and I tell him it's pretty pointless if the containers are going to get washed, rinsed, and NOT re-filled with product, but likely to be crushed, hence just made into new containers or rather something else made from plastic, metal, glass or steel...

 

Pointless, there, too...  --We need more clean water we dirty up just cleaning our selves, as well as what we wear... --And what we use to cook, drink out of & eat off of...  --Properly, in a perfect world...

 

 

 

-- Dave
 
Maybe some one mentioned this already, but when I went to my Dad's house and they're prewashing everything as they load it into the Dishwasher I said one time... "Do you prewash your clothes before putting them in the Clothes Washer ?"

Imagine the stare I got after saying that.

And of course they use the Economy Cycle with Cheap Detergent and wonder why WHEN they throw something dirty in the machine it comes out like crap.

I close my eyes and look the other way.
 
I'm a rinser of anything to be recycled--glass, plastic, aluminum. Labels get removed from cans, too. It used to be a requirement of our recycling program; force of habit, I guess.

Recycling is picked up once every two weeks and the bin is located in a tuck-under garage. I don't want smells wafting up through the garage ceiling, so everything gets rinsed---and I try to use as little water as possible for that process.

I've been using front-load washers, low-flow shower heads (which get turned off completely during soap-up), restrictive flow aerators on all faucets and low water-use toilets since the mid 1980's, so I don't worry about using an extra gallon to rinse recyclables.

Having said that, rinsing recyclables would probably be the first thing to go if water became scarce here on the prairie.
 
Recyclables go in the Trash Compactor

 

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">In my house we rinse the recyclables only because they go in the trash compactor.  It only gets emptied every couple of weeks so if stuff isn't rinsed out I'm afraid it will start to smell.  Nothing worse than a smelling waste bin or trash compactor.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">So while we may use a little water to rinse them out I feel like I am still doing some good by recycling.  Wet trash goes into the kitchen waste can that gets emptied just about every day or the stuff goes in the disposal depending on what it is.  All the recyclables like plastic, paper, etc. all go in the trash compactor but since there are only two of us it could take two weeks to fill it up.  Nothing that will spoil goes into the compactor.  But I can't imagine how a plastic milk jug that hasn't been rinsed might smell like after two weeks in the compactor.</span>
 
murando531/Andrew

Love your postings on usage of a dishwasher!  You are so right.    That's great the way you explain.

 

And, Dave, your BIL needs to be popped into sense.

--Steve
 
Do you wash your clothes before you put them in the washer?

 

<span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">ROFL!!  I love that!!!  I have to steal that one if you don't mind.  I'll see what my 92 mother says to that one.  She has been prerinsing since her first dishwasher which was a Youngstown top load spin tube way back when.  I've never been able to break her of the habit.  When I visit I rinse nothing and I show her how well things come out but she doesn't care.  I guess old habits are hard to break.</span>
 
Now we're talkin' RECYCLE-IN'...!!!!

We keep our recycling trough outside...  And somehow I don't think it ever gives out any offending odor...

 

Now back when I lived at home w/ my parents and we had all this cats: We had to wash out the cat food cans, until we realized there was so many & not worth all that work, we'd resigned them not washing them, or they went into the regular trash! (And that was before we had curb-side pick-up; the recyclables went to the recycling center, going from a "voluntary operation" in a small shed, to probably a still-optional element "for those who care about our earth, still reflected in how FEW of those bins go out, to these huge dumpsters and depositories in this vast parking lot, where the small substation used to be, then eliminated to be sub-planted by home-pick-up)...

 

My dad, really, did the dirty, arduous, and disgusting task of cleaning out cat food cans as he does before taking cans & bottles to the grocery market--and all points in-between, though  as a "doing dishes-by-hand man", really just recycles his dish pan's old water and soap...

 

Gee, in the newspaper cartoon strip, Pogo, when the animals there did Recyco-bobbles, Miggles the Stork collected all the trash, offered to pay Albert the Alligator for it, then had to charge him nearly all of--taking most of it back, for all these numerous fees--including: "We have to feed the HORSE!"--as in, the equine pulling the junk wagon...

 

 

-- Dave
 

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