The evolution of "Rinse and Hold", Rinse Only on dishwashers

[joe_in_philly]

I have noticed that many modern dishwashers don't have a rinse only cycle. I have a couple of theories as to why.

I think that a rinsed load may cause a dishwasher to miscalculate the soil of the load, so it may use a shorter or cooler wash, resulting in tougher soils not being properly removed. I also think it is probably not necessary with today's longer wash cycles.

We rarely pre-rinse, yet even baked on foods that have sat days are removed with the regular wash cycle. While my dishwasher does have a rinse cycle, I can't remember the last time I used it. Perhaps it would come in handy for things that will smell if left unwashed (plates used for uncooked fish/chicken comes to mind), but with such things, I prefer to either rinse those particular items off in the sink, or run a cycle even though the dishwasher is not completely full. The idea that the germs have been distributed all over the dishwasher and now will have a wet environment to fester grosses me out.

 

[joe_in_philly]

I have noticed that many modern dishwashers don't have a rinse only cycle. I have a couple of theories as to why.

I think that a rinsed load may cause a dishwasher to miscalculate the soil of the load, so it may use a shorter or cooler wash, resulting in tougher soils not being properly removed. I also think it is probably not necessary with today's longer wash cycles.

We rarely pre-rinse, yet even baked on foods that have sat days are removed with the regular wash cycle. While my dishwasher does have a rinse cycle, I can't remember the last time I used it. Perhaps it would come in handy for things that will smell if left unwashed (plates used for uncooked fish/chicken comes to mind), but with such things, I prefer to either rinse those particular items off in the sink, or run a cycle even though the dishwasher is not completely full. The idea that the germs have been distributed all over the dishwasher and now will have a wet environment to fester grosses me out.

 

[franksdad]

My very first dishwasher

was an avacado  1974 Whirlpool middle of the line built-in with the new fangled much talked about rinse and hold cycle they were advertising on the television!   I was 19 at the time, living at home with my parents,  and I wanted a dishwasher like all my friends Mamas had when I was in high school   Mama insisted she did not want or need a dishwasher but I told her it didn't matter she was getting one for Mother's Day - so she insisted she wanted one with the new rinse and hold cycle and the potscrubber cycle.   I honestly don't remember if we ever used this cycle or not.  Come to think of it, that 1974 Whirlpool did such a great job on regular cycle I think we only used the post and pans cycle one time just to check it out.  Years passed.  I moved out but I did not have a dishwasher for many years when I began housekeeping and when I married the first dishwasher my wife and I bought was a Kenmore Ultra Wash with R&H.  We've had several dishwashers with R&H since.  My wife can't stand anything on the cabinet so when the dishwasher ends it's cycle it is emptied and all dirty dishes from that point on are placed in the dishwasher.  After a few dirty cereal bowls, empty milk glasses, snack plates, etc. it gets kinda funky in the dishwasher.  That is when R&H comes to the rescue to rinse those foul odors and food residues away.  Could not imagine a dishwasher without R&H!   I have to say that the 2007 TOL Whirlpool Gold dishwasher we currently have can't hold a candle to that 1974 MOL Whirlpool.   

 

[washer111]

Use of Rinse/Hold

We are also the kind who very rarely (if at all) use rinse/hold or rinse only on our DishDrawer.

I've found that the Normal or Heavy cycle are more than capable of washing off the knurr from our plates, cups and bowls. Come to think of it, Heavy uses the same pressure as Regular but with 10 minutes extra wash time and at around 15º-20º hotter than the Regular cycle.

When have we used Rinse-only? On one or two occasions we've used it to get rid of extra soils or bad stuff to cycle the dishwasher the next morning.

The other, well, thats been when I've tried bob-loading or when demonstrating the machine with a heavy load here on AW.org. Why? Well, I thought I'd run hot water @ the Kithcen tap, then run the Prewash to heat up the D/W's tub so that we'd "save energy" for the main cycle.
Considering I used an extra 10L or so to accomplish this, we probably ending up wasting Softened water, and thus the water softener regenerated sooner than it probably would've needed to. (wasting water + salt!)

On a side note, the Aussie version of the DD doesn't prewash anyway, so you wash in "Dirty" water. Most particulate matter is filtered though. By no means is our Dishwasher "lacking" in the performance department (it can move everyday stains in the 50º, Low Pressure, 90 minute Delicate cycle, and probably in the Eco version too, so we may start using this to help save some electricity!)

 

[alr2903]

The new dishwashers use such a small amout of water, why bother with R&H?  We just add the detergent and wash what we have in the machine.  Leaving dirty dishes overnight "waiting" for a full load is a welcome mat for ants and roaches, especially in this awful summer heat. alr

 

[passatdoc]

My previous two dishwashers were:

1. A BOL Hotpoint in an apartment 1982-88.

2. A MOL GE Potscrubber in my current home, which was built new in 1988, and the DW was supplied by the builder. I had this DW 1988-2001.

Neither machine could do a good job on loads that were several days old (i.e. took several days to a week to fill the DW), though the GE did a decent job on "fresh loads" if the potscrubber cycle was used. The GE had energy saver dry, which didn't work well with a plastic tub (water needs to evaporate off the dishes to a steel liner). In this case, I think "energy saver" meant no heated drying. Generally I'd have to open the door and just let the dishes air dry for a few hours before putting them away, like a large two-tier dish drying rack.

Both machines had Rinse/Hold, and I assume it was better to at least wet/rinse the dishes if you didn't have a full load, vs. letting the soil cake on.

With my current Bosch (2001) the two entry level Integra models had three cycles: one had Quick Wash, the other had Rinse/Hold. Because I placed an order only a few weeks after the models were introduced, the dealer made an error and delivered the model with Quick Wash rather than with Rinse/Hold. I called the dealer and they said to try the model I got, if I wasn't happy they would replace it with a Rinse/Hold model. What they knew, and I did not, was that the Bosch could get caked on soiled dishes clean, and no Rinse/Hold needed. Instead, the Quick Wash is way more useful for lightly soiled loads. I use it occasionally. In retrospect I realize I would have had no use for Rinse/Hold on this DW, though Rinse/Hold did play a useful role on the Hotpoint and GE.

Oddly enough, I stayed in NYC in May in a hotel that is leased condos, that is, owners of the apartments lease them as hotel space when they are not using their unit. I don't remember the model of DW but there was no R/H. I basically prepared breakfast only there, would have one or two plates and cups in the DW, and the housekeeper would run a full cycle anyway, every day. I think it was part of their cleaning protocol. It would have made more sense to just let the DW fill over 4-5 days and then run the DW, or at least use R/H if available.

 

[washer111]

@passatdoc

Do you recall what model # your GE dishwasher was?

I'm pretty sure they were supposed to have worked really well, judging by comments made by various other members of this forum. Even the BOL Canadian "rip-offs" were still pretty good (probably due to the fact they had 3 prewash/rinses then a heated wash, then 3 rinses....)

 

[kenmoreguy64]

My parents had a 1987 GE Potscrubber 900 that did stellar service from 1987 to 2004. When the door spring broke, the machine was replaced. It was used daily to about four times per week for all 17 years. When my sister and I lived at home it may have even been more than once daily. I'd consider this machine a MOL GE. Similar traits to my two Potscrubber 1200s in some ways, different in others. We never had any complaints but dishwasher performance in some ways depends on water quality. A water softener has been in place since the late 1980s, so the 900 had soft water for most of its life.

Gordon

 

[passatdoc]

@washer 111 and kenmoreguy111

The house was completed in January 1988, so my guess is that the DW was a 1987 model. The model number was either in the 500 or 600 range. I remember seeing GE models with higher numbers and more features in appliance stores. I don't have any surviving photos of it. There were several buttons, I think to select heating drying vs. energy saver drying. I believe there was a cycle dial and you set it for either Normal, Potscrubber, or Rinse/Hold. (Not sure here: I can't remember if the selection between Normal and Potscrubber cycles was made by buttons or by dial placement--I think it was by button and that there may have been four buttons altogether: Normal, Potscrubber, Heated Drying, Energy Saver dry). After setting the dial to the desired cycle, you moved the latch arm to locked position and it would start. If you could point me to a list of model numbers, I could probably identify it for you.

The DW had a power tower in lieu of a wash arm between the upper and lower racks, and there was no third wash arm on top of the tub. I know some GE's had the third arm because I saw them on display in stores.

The main issue for me was not cleaning ability, but the tendency of the pump to stick in our hard water. If the DW had not been used for several weeks, the pump would stick. I had to remove the kick plate and manually loosen/rotate the pump to free it so it would run. This problem began within two years of purchase. Then the pump began to leak and had to be replaced. The second pump to my knowledge did not stick, and there were no more leaks. However, it seems that perhaps the original pump was defective from the start, but I did not recognize the problem until two years, after warranty had expired. It was replaced in 2001 by a Bosch Integra which has never been serviced and gives excellent results. The racks are not very flexible in terms of loading, and the tines are spaced perhaps too widely apart, so as to limit capacity, but it does an excellent job of cleaning.

To save energy, I nearly always selected Energy Saver, but with the plastic tub, I'd have to open the DW and let everything air dry for a few hours before putting things away. Even then, I'd have to take a dish towel and blot dry the tops of mugs and glasses if there was an indent on the bottom. With the Bosch's steel interior and higher final rinse temps, the water condenses on the sides of the tub (evaporating off the plates/glasses), usually making it unnecessary to blot off any mugs or glasses.

 

[passatdoc]

review re: Miele Quick Wash cycle

Yesterday I ran the DW on Quick Wash cycle. Due to a bizarre string of evening meetings/social events/jaunts out of town, I'd only eaten supper at home once in a week (very unusual for me). The result was I was running out of coffee mugs/glasses/breakfast plates, and the machine was 2/3 full. To fill the load, I tossed in the grates from my range (porcelain-coated and DW-safe per the manufacturer) and ran it on Quick Wash, since nothing was heavily soiled. Mostly toast crumbs and coffee stains. There were two bowls with dried-on oatmeal. I would never expect a thirty-minute Quick cycle to get those bowls clean, so I soaked in hot soapy water for ten minutes and scrubbed off most of the residue.

Load was ready in 33 minutes, at which point I opened the door to allow air drying. The final rinse on Quick cycle is down around 120 F, not 150-165 F as on the heavier cycles, and the hotter the rinse, the better the evaporation from utensils onto the walls (i.e. better drying)...and the drying is worst on Quick Wash, though most of the items were dry to touch (plastic was not). I'd never use it for a daily driver cycle, but Quick Wash was adequate for a lightly soiled load.

Bear in mind, my model is from 2001, I don't know how well (or poorly) the Quick cycle works on today's models.