Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by throw0101a | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

throw0101a

> "all-in-one" tabs (1 tab = 1 wash) for my dishwasher,

Technology Connections explains why you actually want to use powder:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBO8neWw04

TL; DR: It allows for the pre-wash/rinse cycle to work properly and gets things cleaner, faster.

View on HN

I'm a fan of the channel, and watched the video, but also haven't had issues with my Bosch not having a pre-rinse compartment. It washes far better than any dishwasher I've had before, including ones that had a pre-rinse compartment.

Your dishwasher was designed to be used without a pre-rinse and is good dishwasher. I’ve had not-so-great dishwashers with pre-rinse slots that were essentially required.

Since we are talking dishwasher life hacks: I always add washing soda (sodium carbonate) along with the detergent, for hard water. It's one of the main ingredients in dry detergent, but it's super cheap. It boosts pH and increases the ratio of sodium to detergent, reducing soap scum.

Washing soda? I’d never heard of it. Here is a nice explanation of how you make washing soda and the difference.

TLDR, bake some baking soda for a few hours to make washing soda.

https://www.drkarenslee.com/make-your-own-homemade-washing-s...

Or just buy it at the store?

I haven’t seen a machine that holds detergent for prewash cycles nor powdered detergent here in Denmark for over a decade

Same. I just opened my wash machine to check - no separate compartment for prewash.

I watched the same Technology Connections video and started adding a squirt (I use inexpensive liquid detergent) just directly on the inside of the door.

It has remarkably increased the “crud busting” power of my Bosch. I used to be fastidious about pre-rinsing before going in the dishwasher. Not I’m more confident to just go from table to washer (with a super quick rinse)

Even if you use tablets, buy a bit of liquid or powder and put about a teaspoon into the initial rinse.

On a tangent, the dishwasher is such a wonderful improvement on hand washing. My parents generation still sees the dishwasher as some kind of cheat or lazy way out.

They are so much more efficient and environmentally friendly than hand washing.

If you have more than one or two pots, you’ll easily use more than the couple of liters of water your dishwasher uses (and the heat for that water has to come from somewhere).

Same! Using normal dish soap that's sitting next to the sink anyways; if you only add a squirt, it doesn't start making foam like crazy as it pretty much gets "used up" by all the grease, and the result is so much better.

I'm not so sure about the environmental friendlyness. Our dishwasher runs for one and a half hour in eco mode. I'd need to measure how much energy it uses in the process. It feels so inefficient and slow. I'd spend about 20 minutes washing and drying the dishes on my own using cold water...

We still use it because with kids, every minute saved is a small win.

It does seem odd, but it is _far_ better than doing it manually. The reason it's so much more efficient is because it takes so long - it can do a great job despite using very little energy and water because it just keeps going at it gradually

The main power saving comes from running at lower temperature.

Heating up water takes way more electricity than running the pumps.

Take a look at the Technology Connections video. Most people would be astonished how little water is used.

And considering that practically all of the energy use is heating the water, that translates into low energy use.

The eco modes (or just generally, modes on newer dishwashers) take longer because to balance out the small amount of water, they need to spray the dishes more times. The energy use is low.

I agree

How much water and energy does it take to manufacture the machine? Mining the raw materials, transporting everything from different countries, etc, Sure it's convenient, but I'm not sold on the environment friendliness compared to hand washing. Of course, if you already have one it doesn't make sense to not use it, but much of our collective energy use comes from consumption and making new things we don't need.

Yeah just don't use too much. It was long ago but my then-roommate once used liquid dish detergent in the dishwasher because we had run out of dishwasher detergent. The seemingly endless gallons of foam flowing out onto the floor was quite memorable.

He even mentions that in the video, likely that your machine maker has altered their programmed cycles a bit to accommodate for it.

Luckily, there's no need! Anything you'd put in a prewash compartment, you can put directly in the "tub" for the same effect

(Note this is not the case for the normal compartment - that does work differently)

My brand new Kitchenaid dishwasher has the prewash compartment on top of the normal compartment - effectively making it a measuring cup throwing its contents into the tub once you close the door.

When there is no holder for the prewash cycle, you can just dump some detergent directly in the dishwasher.

My dishwasher lacks the prewash basin as well and the manual recommends to just dump some detergent onto the door for the prewash cycle.

I just bought some the other day in Løvbjerg.

My ikea one from 2016 has one.

Both Ikea ones that came with my last and current place doesn't have one. Maybe it's a higher end feature.

I think I picked the cheapest one. Could it be a regional thing? I'm in Germany.

Another point regarding tabs: some of them contain rinse aids and salt (or other limescale mitigation) in addition to the detergent.

Salt needs to be dosed (read the manual and check the hardness of your water) which is not possible with tabs.

The rinse aid in the tab would be released at the wrong time together with the detergent. (Not sure how big of a problem this is).

One thing I have been doing since watching this video was to add a small scoop of Oxyclean to the dishwasher (in addition to the tab). The difference in cleanliness has been noticeable.

Yeah, this video was interesting but didn’t at all support the conclusion he made. He stopped the cycle half way through and basically compared washing with soap and without. Shocker,with soap was better. More surprising is how close without soap was.

I assume he skipped comparing full cycle because showing that there isn’t a difference doesn’t result in a catchy title and an interesting video.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com