Make your dishwasher work better

Tom Scott sent me here and I wanted to keep this note instead of watching a 30 min video about it!

ACGoff
2 min readJun 17, 2024

I knew from reading How bad are banana’s that dishwashers are actually more energy efficient than even washing up manually (ignoring manufacturing) and that over a dishwashers life time they are better than the equivalent of washes manually too.

But I didn’t know why really.

It uses less water

Well put simply, it sprays water all about, that water drops back down, is filtered and then sprayed back up again. It will dump the water a few times over a use, but it means it uses much less water.

It uses hotter water

Hot water cleans better, and the hotter it is the quicker and less water you need. You hands would be too sensitive to how hot the water goes!

The chemicals are better

Compared to washing up liquid, dishwasher detergent is stronger, have broader functions and hence is a better product.

Tips

  1. clean the filter at the bottom regularly — it is grim.
  2. dirty surfaces should face down and inwards — the jets come up from the bottom and aim outwards. Oh and don’t block the spinning.
  3. if your dishwasher uses the hot tap, run the hot tap before you turn it on so the first water load is hot.
  4. use dishwasher cleaning products — they mainly focus on limescale which helps the jets be more powerful
  5. rinse aid is not a scam — it helps the water evaporate from your plates
  6. Don’t use pods; use powdered dishwasher detergent — it is more powerful and cheaper
  7. fill up the pre-wash detergent too with the powder
  8. use the dispenser door! Don’t just chuck it in!

Thanks Tom Scott and thanks Technology Connections!

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