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Comment by cush | Hacker News Reader

I feel like the two types of dishwasher people are clearly delineated by those who have and have not watched the Technology Connections videos on dishwashers.

1. Powdered detergent people who sprinkle some soap in for the prewash

2. Tab people who attest that they need to pre-rinse their dishes before they put them in the dishwasher

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How about a third :)

I've seen the technology connections video, continue to use pods, and continue not to pre-rinse the dishes

Many types... I've seen the Technology Connections video and use whatever, mostly liquid detergent. After running a few experiments and coming away unimpressed, I've kept on pre-rinsing.

There are two types of PEOPLE, there's lots of different animals /jk

I've seen the video and tried switching from pods (which I assume is the same thing as a tab, just never heard that name before) to powder with some power in the prewash compartment without prerinsing the dishes.

Other's results may vary, but I found my dishwasher would eventually get clogged with the TC approach, even though I clean the filter regularly and wasn't putting in dishes with absurd amounts of food still on them. Since I switched back to pods and prerinsing, the clogging went away. Maybe my dishwasher or the install has something goofy about it, but it was definitely a failed experiment for me. Although I still think the TC argument is a solid one in theory.

Some brands like Cascade produce solid compressed powder tablets. Same general concept as the pods, just no fluid load or pouch

Pod is with liquid, tab is with compresse powder.

Dishwasher companies have tried for a long time to get people to stop pre-washing their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I remember ads from the 80s or 90s with people putting full cakes, or a baked on lasagna pan into the dishwasher and it coming out clean.

Almost everyone I know still does excessive rinsing in the sink first. I have never done this and it’s always been fine.

I learned some things from the TC videos, but it was more about refining things, it didn’t drastically change what I was already doing.

And you have no residual food in the filter to clean out on a very short and regular basis? You do clean the filter out, don't you?

For most of the article I felt like the author's learnings were pretty obvious, particularly in regards to the water jet direction and the minimum necessary dish arrangement. They didn't even get into detail about the heat and steam.

Then they mentioned the part about dishwashers having a "filter", and in that moment, my heart was instantly filled with shock, horror, anxiety, and finally, resignation.

I apparently live in a world where dishwashers have filters.

I'm afraid to look, but I'm pretty sure mine probably does as well, in fact I think I've seen it with my own eyes, yet somehow it never registered. Oh no.

I clean out our dishwasher filter every few months and I've never seen any residual food get caught by the filter. As long as you scape off the food bits it's fine. It'd getting to the point where I'm checking the filter less and less often.

I had a GE Profile dishwasher from the 2000's when I moved into my current home. It was abused by the previous owner and sold as not working. I completely rebuilt it and it worked great for a while until it's logic board died and replacements were hard or expensive to source.

But that thing had a powerful masticator. It would slurry up almost any foods. There was a very coarse filter about half the diameter of the drain hose but outside of that there was never anything left in the pan.

It would also monitor the turbidity to determine if it needed to flush the current pan water and add fresh water. It had a soap dispenser so it could re-add soap if needed. That thing was an incredible dishwasher. I still miss it.

A masticator is what I am missing in a dishwasher. We do not have that in Europe (not the faucet electrical thing that mixes and destroys organic dtuff you put in the faucet - this is forbidden)

Not anymore! These are allowed at least in the UK and in Germany (where I reside) now. It was not the case when I first moved here a few years ago, but read about how they're within code now. The problem I have is that they're not actually available anywhere that I've seen, and I doubt I'll find a plumber easily who will install one.

They are still forbidden in France, and not because of the code.

This is because the sanitizing stations are not ready for this kind of mash - they expect cleaner water + oil + larger particles. What they get instead is a substance that kills the bacteria in charge of the sanitization.

Do y'all also not have in-sink macerators?

No, this is what we were discussing (it started with the device in a dishwasher (that one I have never seen) and then moved to the ein-sink one (that I saw when in the US and in horror movies)

I’m a Bosch dishwasher powder soap with some in the bottom for presoak but still pre-rinse type person. Clean the filter once a month (takes 2 minutes literally) use jet dry (or equivalent) and I have zero complaints about how my 20 year old dishwasher performs!

I too have a Bosch dishwasher and use powdered soap. I also add in some citric acid to help with the really hard water we have in my area. I pre-rinse everything though.

If it's a Bosch, it's probably got a salt compartment and a way to configure it for the water hardness.

Pods work fine without prerinsing

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