Which dishwasher cycle do you use most often & why?

[polkanut]

I'm curious to know which cycles on our daily drivers we use the most often & why.  On my 8 year old Whirlpool Gold I use "Normal Wash" with the "Hi Temp Scour" option and heated drying.  I like the added temp boost to the wash and rinse waters.  I feel it helps the detergent do a better job while not having to raise my water heater temp.  I also use the delay start option quite often to take advantage of the lower electric rates during "off peak" demand times. 
​
​P.S., While not a certified "Bobloader" yet, I'm getting there! lol 

 

[iheartmaytag]

With my Maytag TT I use the Auto Clean with High Temp Wash and Sani Rinse. With Auto Clean it adjusts the cycle according to the load, High Temp wash heats the wash so the detergent works better (I at least feel it does), and Sani Rinse not only heats the final rinse sanitazing the dishes, but by heating the water in the final rinse you get better drying results. I don't use the heated dry, however, because I depend on the hot dishes to dry themselves.

I know, I Know--as soon as you touch the dishes they are no longer sanitized. BUT for that short time I have the satisfaction of knowing I killed the little buggers.

 

[DADoES]

 
1) Normal Eco -- prewash (1 tsp detergent), 125°F main wash (3 tsp detergent), rinse, 125°F final rinse, no-heat dry.

2) Normal - prewash (1 tsp), prerinse, 140°F main wash (3 tsp), rinse, 150°F final rinse, no-heat dry.

 

[re563]

I use "regular wash" on my bosch. On my dishwasher, it automatically sanitizes in every full cycle. I think i've used "Power scrub" twice, "delicate/Eco" once a year when I use the china for holiday meal--never use "rinse/hold". All of the full cycles adjust time, temp, and water usage by dirtiness of the load.

 

[frigilux]

Since most of my loads have pots/pans with cooked-on grime, my go-to cycle is Power Scrub (one up from Normal and one down from Soak). I choose the steam option and the 160-degree rinse.

If pots/pans in the load are relatively lightly soiled, the I choose the Normal cycle with steam and 160 degree rinse options.

 

[foraloysius]

With 99% of the loads I use the regular cycle on my AEG dishwasher. Temperature both in the main wash and in the last rinse is 65*C (150*F). No heat dry.

 

[whirlcool]

 I use the same settings as Harley does on our Maytag, except we use heated dry. Sometimes we have plastics on the upper rack and want to make sure they dry and are not dripping on the dry dishes below.

 

[roto204]

KitchenAid Superba 21

"Light wash" for daily loads; "Normal wash" if I have some casseroles and/or baking dishes. "Pots/Pans-Soak/Scrub" if I set fire to food in a dish, coated the residue in epoxy, sent it through a blast furnace, shot it into outer space, and painted it with peanut butter.

Dispensers 3/4 full, but we have softish water here.

 

[petek]

We just use the reg cycle, no heat dry on the KA. I've tried the heavier duty a couple of times and it didn't make any difference other than it took nearly twice as long. For detergent we use either Cascade complete tabs, all in one tabs, or Finish tabs. Whatevers on sale

 

[westie2]

Kenmore Elite TT

We use the Sensor wash the most and when needed add the hotter wash temp and sometimes the Sani rinse. We always use the heated dry. With lots of loaded pans use the high temp wash on pots and pans and also the turbo wash for the back of the bottom rack. Works good. Ours is like Bob's (Apnut)

 

[jeffg]

Normal with no drying cycle, usually. We keep our water heater at 160F for laundry and it really makes the difference in DW performance.

 

[rp2813]

1985 Thermador THD 3600

Soon to be replaced by the ISE Classic Supreme.  YAY!

I use "Regular Wash" most often with the Thermador.  I've tried the steam cycles but they don't seem to make any difference.   It's a beautiful looking machine, but too often it produces results that aren't.  Main wash cup gets a full dose of detergent.  Pre-wash cup remains empty or gets a tablespoon or so, depending on soiling.

Water here is fairly hard. 

I think that once the Supreme has been deployed, I can use the same cycles as with Nate's Superba 21.  I'll not use the "Energy Saver Wash" option since the water heater is situated some distance away from the machine.

 

[neptunebob]

For the new KitchenAid we have, we use ProWash because it "senses" how dirty the load is. If there is a dirty baking pan in there, add ProScrub for the jets toward the back. Always heated dry. This time of the year the heat is welcome.

This sounds OCD but I do try to use other cycles because on the Maytag we had, we had pushed "normal wash' so much that the touch pad wore out and a new one is NLA.

 

[joe_in_philly]

I use the Regular cycle on my Bosch most of the time. I believe the wash temperature is 140F and the rinse is 156F. Once in a while I will use the Power Wash cycle just for kicks. If the load isn't very dirty and has been sitting less than a day, then the quick wash cycle works fine, although it doesn't sanitize. There are no options on my machine except a programmable setting that will increase the final rinse temperature in order to increase drying effectiveness. I have that feature turned off.

 

[neptuneguy27]

In the Miele....

I normally always use "Sensor Wash". I find for the majority of my day to day dishwashing this cycle works best. The main wash temperature range is anywhere from about 115F to 153F depending on soil level and the final rinse I believe is 153F for sanitizing. This cycle includes a 10 mins. cold pre-rinse, the main wash and 2 cold interim rinses before the final rinse.

The other cycle that gets used quite a bit is "Starch/Cheese". Especially handy for when you have mashed potatoes or rice as there are none of the pesky starch rings around on the pots when they come out.

Chris

 

[hunter]

'auto wash'

I use auto wash on my Bosch almost exclusively. I also always turn on sanitize.

 

[jerrod6]

Miele - similar to Chris

I normally use sensor wash like Chris however my machine will only do three after rinses if the soil load is heavy...if not it will do a cold rinse followed by a heated final rinse.

Two other cycles I use are water save which consists of a wash, two rinses, and dry or energy save which consists of a wash two rinses or three if the load is very dirty and dry. The difference between water and energy save is that the load size sensor is not active for energy save which causes the machine to always take a maxium fill regardless of the number of dishes but it is a slightly quicker cycle. Also water save uses a hotter final rinse.

Quick(express). I use this to wash glasses only, when I am going to follow up with high heat cycles like starch or cheese. Quick turnaround in about 30 minutes

Starch/cheese - use these for cleaning baking caserols.

Rinse hold - never use it.

Normal - never use it because the load size and soil sensors are not active in this cycle. You can wash one clean plate and the machine will do an entire normal cycle with maximum water fills......forget about it.

I also use tall items cycle to wash only in the bottom rack.

 

[norgeway]

On my sorry Whirlpool!

Pot and pan cycle,it wont clean pots and pans, but does an ok job on dishes, im going to install a REAL dishwasher soon...KDS 15!

 

[appnut]

I generally use SmartWash 97% of the time. I have also determined by trial and error (sitting next to the machine) that if I use any options, other than heated dry, on SmartWash, it essentially cnacels out any of the flexibility that's supposed to be built into that cycle. The flexibility being main wash temperature set points as well as whether there are two post wash rinses or a purge and a rinse. So I pretty much just let the machine do its thing and 99.99% of the time am not disappointed. If I use any of the options (high-temp wash, sani-rinse, or turbozone), I will just go ahead and select Pots/Pans. I've also discovereed that using the normal wash and there's heavy soil, it will more easily add the full 2nd rinse than with SmartWash and the main wash cycle can run for up to 78 minutes, but the water temp doesn't get as high during the main wash as if heavy soil is sensed while using Smartwash. I've probably used TurboZone about 10 times the whole time I've had this dishwasher. (Yes, I need to get a life and a mate. Hey put the two together and ya get life mate).