The use of the Rinse and Hold cycle and the vintage dishwasher....

[turquoisedude]

It's an odd coincidence but the last slew of vintage dishwashers that found their way into the kitchen (and garage...) in St-Liboire have a Rinse and Hold cycle.    I do have 4 other machines in storage that also have the cycle selection, but to be honest, I never really used the cycle all that much.  Well, until now, that is!

 

The current dishwashing load is divided between the '62 Kitchen Aid KDS54 and the '89 or '90 Maytag WU401 and both machines have the Rinse and Hold option.   Now, I'd used the Rinse and Hold in the 'Tag a few times (just before I knew I was going to vanish down to Ogden and before our trip to Turkey in October).  But when we got back, I had a partial load of casserole dishes that I decided to try washing in the KA so I decided to do a power rinse while the goop was still soft and hadn't dried on.   The results were impressive - most of the food residue had been removed and when the Full Cycle was run a few days later, the casseroles came out nice and clean.  

 

However, I have reservations about using the cycle and I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid...  My dishwashing habit is to fill the machine and then run it (beatings as a child for running a partial load and 'wasting all that money on electricity' still haunt me, what can I say...) so I can wind up with some pretty heavy dried on soils. BUT, I wonder if running a limited quantity of water, enriched with rinsed-off food soils, could be bad for a vintage dishwasher.   One thing I do sans faute is to open the dishwasher door to allow steam and excess moisture to escape from the dishwasher after an R&H cycle has been run.   Could the tub or pump mechanisms be harmed?   I haven't used the machine seriously yet, but I wonder how the Plastisol tub of a GE Mobile Maid might react to being wet and not subjected to a full dry cycle...   

 

I'm curious, what can I say?? 

 

  

 

[moparwash]

 

If I have a small load of not too caked on food...I run the cycle twice...once as a 'wash'...then as a 'rinse'..then let the dishes air dry with the door open....it cleans well and is alot faster than a full cycle...wish my KA 23 series had the option to run 'dry' manually or had a plate warmer button!

 

 

[launderess]

Am here to tell you have never used R&H

Nor felt any need bothering with such cycle. Even my old portable Frigidaire was able to cope with several day old dishes (it can take two, three or more days for us to fill a DW).

With the Mobile Maid again have never bothered. Run the thing perhaps once every seven or so days (see above reason) and even on the "Normal" cycle everything comes out clean. All one does is what the owner's manual states, scrape the dishes well. If a load is badly soiled will get to the machine just as main wash cycle ends, unplug, reset the timer for another wash cycle, put the plug back in and that is that.

Today's modern enzyme detergents cope remarkably well with set on foods. I'm talking about three or four day old bowls used for breakfast porridge.

 

[toploader55]

Rinse and Hold.

Just keep repeating to yourself Paul... "I Love hearing my machines run on Full Cycle" and your fears from years ago will go away.  LOL

 

Seriously,  I used Rinse and Hold a few times. What I did find was the machine would get real stinky. The "Festering" temperature that gets created by the Hot Water against the Cold Chamber and dishes makes the chamber "Petri Dish Comparable".  I used it a few times and when I unlatched the door 6-7 hours later the smell almost made me sick.

From that point on, I'd rather have dried crud and run Soak and Scrub (insert grin) rather than have festering science projects in the racks and bowels of the machine.  I would think in a larger family when the machine was going to be run 2-3-4 hours later might have a better chance. But for me to Rinse and Hold, and then open the machine 10 hours later just didn't work out.

 

Just my 25 cents worth. (Inflation ya know as opposed to 2 cents)

 

[DADoES]

 
^^ What he said.  Rinse/Hold was used for a while on the KDI-17a but the result was often a disagreeable odor developing by end of the day ... or worse the next day if the delay extended that long to wash the load.  I've never used it on any dishwasher since then.

 

[jetcone]

Oh deer gawd

 Am an avid R&H'er from way back ! Its a godsend for singe handsome gay men who cook for themselves!

 

But that said I am not making cheese with my machine, at the end of everyday right before TELE-TIME , on the machine goes for a FULL cycle. Never have had a problem.

 

 

 

 

[joeypete]

I can honestly say growing up we never used Rinse and Hold. Probably because we ran the dishwasher nearly everyday, and I do now most times. I've used it with my Frigidaire, but with my current diet and cooking routine I run a Normal load everyday so haven't used it in a while. It does come in handy though!

 

[kb0nes]

Isn't a R&H like a mechanized method of pre-rinsing the dishes?

Hope you all dose the detergent accordingly when a cycle is run.

 

[launderess]

Isn't a R&H like a mechanized method of pre-rinsing the

That is exactly what it is and thus why never understood the purpose.

Why "rinse" down dishes inside the machine that will then sit in that moist and dark environment. Not to mention the bio-soup now fermenting in the sump as the food laden water sits. Worse to one is that unless the dishwasher does a major purge/cleanout prior to the first wash you are cleaning dishes in that mucky water.

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Yes Phil:

That is right. R&H is designed to remove most of the gross soil from a partial load of dishes and hold them in an environment that won't dry remaining food on. IIRC the theory was if you ran it and then added dishes and did a full wash after the NEXT meal you wouldn't be dealing with dried on food. Of course if you have a good DW and use good detergent some food dried onto a plate is no problem anyway. This is why I see the cycle as somewhat useless unless something is spilled in the dishwasher and it will not be run soon or a soil would become too hardened before full cycle time. Of course I would just soak something that dirty in the sink.
WK78

 

[DADoES]

 
I've seen some machines that run two rinses for the R/H cycle.

Once in a while back in the day I'd use detergent for R/H on the KDI-17a to help deal with the resultant odor ... maybe not a good idea for causing etching?

 

[joeypete]

My Frigidaire 2445 does 2 rinses. It's 17 minutes, which I think is a bit long..most have been half that!

 

[toploader55]

I remember our 1966 MobileMaid with the 4 cycles, the Rinse and Hold was 2 Rinses.

 

That's an awful lot of water to hold dishes for the next "Daily Loads".

 

Even living by myself I generally manage to accumulate enough wares to run my machine daily. Between the leftover containers, Breakfast, Pots and Pans for making dinner there always seems to be enough to warrant a full run either at night or right after breakfast the next day.

 

I do NOT prerinse anything. This may sound strange but I let the load sit over night with the door latched, then run it the next morning and everything comes out spotless. I use Cascade Complete with Dawn Powder. Both Cups. For me, nothing cleans better than powder.

 

[launderess]

Using detergent for R&H

Here is the thing; automatic dishwashing detergents are pretty caustic things on average. That is countered by the supposed grease, soils, oils and muck found on dishes. Where that is absent and or detergent is dosed to levels in excess of requirements it will find something else to work upon; namely your dishes and glassware. Indeed one of the chief causes of etching is using too much detergent.

This is the reason why we are advised not to pre-rinse dishes except in extreme cases, burnt on foods for example.

Perhaps can see "why" for R&H back in the days before enzyme dishwasher detergents. You wanted to remove protein based soils (eggs, milk, that sort of thing) from breakfast dishes. This because when one ran the main wash later that day the hot (140F or above from taps) could and likely did "cook" such soils onto dishes. However modern detergents especially those with enzymes have largely solved that problem.

 

[appnut]

There's a reason Toggles called it Rinse & Mold.  I'm the mirrored image to Jon Charles--but I have probably used R&H a total of 20 times in 35 years of living on my own.  And when I did execute the usage of the cycle, the smell arrives eventually.  The GSD1200 was the only one of my dishwashers that had two water exchanges in the R&H.  I may not run my dishwasher for anywhere from 4-7 days and it all just sits there until it runs full.  I wasn't beaten, but was nicely yelled at for running not full washer or dishwasher loads.  Hence my BobLoads. 

 

[maytagbear]

Most of my dishwashers

have been portable/convertibles, and running rinse and hold has just been nonsensical, wheeling a heavy machine across the length of the kitchen.

If I were to run only tableware loads, it would take longer than a week, but I include cookware/bakeware, and the bowl to my K45...

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[kimball455]

The only time I use rinse/hold is if I am baking and have several batter covered bowls etc. It is easier to use the dishwasher for the rinse that by hand in the sink. Other than that, no. I just scrape the the dishes under running water and everything does down the disposal and the dishes in to the dishwasher. Most of the time I use autowash with excellent results.
Harry

 

[neptunebob]

I would think that rather than rinse-and-hold (never used by the way) it would have been better to have a short wash cycle for smaller loads that did not dry on. That way, all the cr*p would be out of there and still less energy used than a long cycle.

 

[askolover]

Mother used to use it once in a blue moon if something was particularly smelly in there, like cheese dip...but in general we always ran full cycle every single day.  I've used it a time or two myself, but have the same logic about detergents...especially the tablet variety...I personally think they are too strong for softened water anyway, and then add to that a load of already rinsed dishes...etching galore!  I just can't seem to get Tony to understand that...and he puts his Princess House crystal in there!  Oh well...if it gets etched I won't be blamed!