Scientists Conclude We Don't Load Dishwashers Correctly

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<h1>Scientists Conclude We Don't Load Dishwashers Correctly</h1>
<h2>It's all about the sprayer arms.</h2>

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Daniel Wroclawski
January 19, 2015

 

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We've got it all wrong folks. A new study in the Chemical Engineering Journal has discovered the best way to load a dishwasher, and we weren't even close.

Digital Trends reports that it's all about what's on the dirty dishes, specifically proteins and carbohydrates. Dishes covered in carbs like pasta should be placed in a circle in the center of your dishwasher, following the rotating sprayer arms of the machine.

As for protein-covered dishes, they should stay along the edges of the dishwasher, where they can spend more time getting sudsed up. And don't even think about overloading your dishwasher. This inhibits water flow in the machine, preventing dishes from getting clean.

It's all about what's on the dirty dishes, specifically proteins and carbohydrates.

The study was led by Dr. Raul Pérez-Mohedano of the University of Birmingham, but industry giants Whirlpool and Procter & Gamble also collaborated on the study, suggesting the research could ultimately benefit dishwasher design, as well as research into different kinds of detergent.

The study came to these conclusions using Positron Emission Particle Tracking, which sounds more like atom smashing, but it's really just a way of tracking the motion of water inside the dishwasher. It's a shame—atom smashing would be a much cooler way of cleaning dishes.

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Source: ScienceDirect

 

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TomTurbomatic

I agree with you, however, I remember a time when a dishwasher with plenty of hot water and good detergent could get things clean even if they weren't loaded correctly.

I had a Maytag Jet clean that if you could get the door closed it would clean it.
Same with the GE GSD 1200.

Now, you have to pay better attention to loading, but my Kitchenaid still does a pretty darn good job. Yes it take a little longer, but only time I noticed was during holiday baking and cooking that I found myself waiting for a load. Other than that I set it at night, and they are ready the next morning; so I don't worry about timing. Everything is always clean. Cascade Platinum, or the good stuff Cascade commercial if you ask.
 
I think these scientists must be using pretty sh!tty dishwashers. As long as the items are in my dishwasher, they will get cleaned. I certainly don't differentiate between protein soil and whatever when loading.
 
I'm not at all convinced the loading pattern needs to be soil-dependent. Dishes, glassware, flatware, and cookware soiled with either carbohydrates or protein---or, as is more often the case, both---have come clean in the Frigidaire, Maytag, LG, and GE dishwashers I've had over the past 13 years. Indeed, even heavily-soiled stainless steel cookware comes clean in the upper rack of the GE, which has a tiny pump and motor.

I certainly agree that vintage machines using three or four times the water do the job more quickly...but I wouldn't trade the nearly silent operation of my 2014 GE for anything. I use the Light cycle frequently for full loads and the clean light comes on a mere 49 minutes later using only 3.5 gallons of water. No complaints.

What I miss most about vintage dishwashers is that plastics were usually fully dried at the end of the cycle.
 
Loading correctly

Well, with single wash arm machines, you had to be careful not to block water to the upper rack and with the impeller machines, loading things like plates at the correct angle was important, but if you loaded them where the rack held them, you did not have to do artificial adjusting to the loading pattern to get things clean.

I did find that with my KA machines from the 14 thru the 18 that really heavily soiled broiler racks and cookie sheets actually got cleaned better if they were loaded over the first row of pins but facing the walls of the tank to get the heavy spray from the end of the wash arm focused on the slanting cooking surface of the item.
 
Single Arm Dishwashers

Again my MM has really only the one arm (the Shower Power is does more to keep yibbles off things from what one can tell), and it will blast top and lower racks clean. However as noted it uses plenty of water and has a huge spray arm and powerful motor that drives a pump that means business.

Today of course you barely have enough water and or power to for two spray arms to work in tandem.

The whole thing is a bunch of palaver. Housework is supposed to be made easier with mod cons, not more difficult. So now not only do we have washing machines that don't wash, but dishwashers one has to load via a careful seating chart. Not going to happen in our kitchen. Some nights it is all one can do to get the table cleared and sink emptied. If had to stand there thinking about which soiled dish goes where would end up probably doing the lot by hand and be done.
 
"We"? Who do they consider "we" to be? I load my dishwasher just fine scientist. Whirlpiddle and Proctologist collaborated on the study. Maybe they don't make anything worth bringing home.
 
I think this was more an acaemic exercise ...

... to test their measuring tech than anything to do with dishwashers. I skimmed the article and a few things jumped out at me. I'll let you dishwasher mavens advise if something on this list is wrong or irrelevant.

1. It said the testing was done with a water temp between 18 and 20C. That's like 70F. Does detergent even dissolve at those low temps?

2. Only the lower arm of the dishwasher was in operation during the testing.

3. A customized version of one particular dishwasher was used.

4. The heaters were turned off.

I noticed a few more things, but the point is that the results are irrelevant because nothing like this would ever happen in the real world.

In the real world:
1. Washing occurs at closer to 60C at which I'm pretty sure carb stains, protein stains, and water viscosity (due to detergent) all behave rather differently.
2. All wash arms would be in operation.
3. Hundreds (if not thousands) of different dishwashers are used.

I'd think that each particular dishwasher model would have its own individual areas as the 'right' place for protein and carb stains to get the 'proper' treatment as each washer would have its own spray patterns.

4. Heaters are on if there's any question about incoming water temperature.

Also, the size and shape of what you're washing often dictate where you put the items, thereby dicating how the rest of the items are loaded. Further, the material you are washing has a strong influence on how well or poorly stains and food particles come off.

In short, the results have no bearing on the real world, even though they are true.

Or is this a parody and I didn't get it?

Jim
 
To tell you the truth

I'm not surprised we see articles like this from time to time. Most people have no idea how to load a DW, plus they have never read their owners manual either.

We here at aw.org know how because we have an interest in DW,'s washing machines, dryers, etc. Most people don't. They couldn't give two you know what's about how their machines operate. They just want to drop things into it, press a button and magically the world becomes a better place when the machine is done.

I have seen people stack dishes in a dishwasher like they are storing them in a cupboard, that's right, stacked vertically. I have seem people put large plates, pans, etc. up against the detergent door of the DW and this prevents the DW detergent from being dispensed. I have seen people literally try to do a load of dishes with two drops, yes two drops of generic gel type of DW detergent on top of a large load of misloaded dishes. And they expect the load to come out spotless.

The only people I personally know who drains the hot water line before running the dishwasher is us. Most everyone else just turns the DW on and hopes for the best. So what if the DW doesn't even get warm water before the first rinse after the wash cycle. A lot of these people have their hot water tanks set to the "VAC" setting, yup the vacation setting. If they even get 100F at the tap they are very lucky. And even worse, some people will load up a load of very dirty dishes and then select "light wash". They have no idea what each cycle does. All they want is a switch that says "off" and "on". Anything else is too confusing for them to deal with. And as for those user guides? Well "The installer threw them away", or "they are just junk, I threw them away", and even "why do I need to read those things, I have better things to do with my time or even I wasn't born yesterday, I know how to use a DW".

I have found that a lot of this behavior comes from people trying to be just too cheap. They penny pinch their way into poor performance. Sometimes I just want to scream when I see or hear of this stuff.
 
I don't think this was an academic exercise. I think this research is about how to make a dishwasher that can work on the lowest possible temperature with the most effective detergent. If a redesigned interior can help achieve that, Whirlpool is going to work on that. Sometime in the future we will see a new Whirlpool design based on this research.
 
Research material

And make sure you do those formula's listed in the article before you load your DW!

That's the impression I got too Louis, that this was a research paper that was published. But it was an opportune time for me to get that off my chest about how most people don't know how to properly use an appliance. We do know how here, but what about the rest of the world?
 

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