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Tell HN: Properly using dishwasher reduced friction with my wife

16 pointsxylo18 comments

We started loading dishes directly into the dishwasher throughout the day. Morning to night. No sink pile.

At night, we run the dishwasher. In the morning, we completely unload it. Empty dishwasher = ready to be used again.

That’s it.

No piles. No guessing whose turn it is. No dishwasher-as-storage. And surprisingly… way fewer fights.

Note before following this system we were washing by hand or bulk load and unload from dishwasher.

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Here's an idea:

Don't keep score. If you're there and there's dishes, rinse them and put them in the dishwasher. It'll take a few minutes and your partner will be grateful.

If you insist on keeping score, aim for something like 80% of the time.

You don't need to rinse them...it actually works better if you don't rinse them, as it give something for the soap/detergent to stick onto. Try it.

I've heard this claim. I have no idea if it's really true or not. I don't really care.

Here's why I rinse my dishes: it keeps the dishwasher trap cleaner and I get less build up in the dishwasher drain lines, so I have less maintenance to do. The dishes come out clean, anyway.

Edit: It’s true for modern dishwashers. I can’t believe I spent time looking into this. The recommendation is still to scrape food off to prevent the aforementioned issues.

The reason is that dishwasher detergent is an enzyme based cleaner. Those enzymes need something to react withm.

You still want to scrape of loose food, of course, or yes you'll get a dirty filter faster.

And for those enzymes to work efficiently you need hot enough water from the very beginning of the washing cycle. See the video link I posted in another comment.

Hah, I knew exactly what it would be before I looked

Last fall I stopped trying to optimize loading the dishwasher and waiting to run it until it was full. I call it "dishwasher anarchy".

Now it gets loaded haphazardly throughout the day, run at night, and emptied the next morning.

It really, really offends my sensibilities. Stuff is in the "wrong" place. We are using a lot more detergent. I assume we are using a lot more energy and water.

I haven't had any dishwasher-related fights with my wife and daughter since we started this new protocol. I guess that's a win.

We load haphazardly through the day, though anything that I would predict would be required for the night time meal I would hand wash immediately rather than dump in the dishwasher for the person cooking to have to clean first.

Starting the washer generally falls to me, and wile I will shift items to fit as much in as possible, what I mostly fix are things like: placing a large item where the rotor will hit it, or cutlery with the handles up in the basket which can actually stop the bottom rotor spinning if a forks' prongs point through the bottom.

> I assume we are using a lot more energy

What I've learned from visiting my own parents is, you can alleviate the energy concern, if you (1) get solar panels and (2) ban your spouse from running the dishwasher at night :P

or (3) get a battery

There's 3 parts to that problem, every part is critical to get right. Yes, all 3 are critical for the operation. If you're loading it wrong, you are doing it wrong, etc.

Loading up. If you're not loading it up, the rest of the loop is useless. If you're loading it incorrectly, the arm doesn't spin and you are better off not having a machine doing it. Also, consistently loading it optimally is of course best. Throwing everything in the box and hoping it gets sorted before running is the worst way to approach the job. You don't start playing Tetris on line 14, you start on line 0.

Running optimally. Running it when 100% full is not the ideal option. You are best off running on a schedule that best allows time for the next step. Usually overnight and middle of the day are good but it entirely depends on when you expect to have free time for the last step.

Unloading. Just do it. Do it before picking up anything else. It comes before everyone gets to bother you with anything. You can't eat until everything is back where it should be. And you need to eat.

Dishwasher related video from "Technology Connections": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAX2_mPr9W8

I just do everything i can around the house immediately (as long as I dont have to go to work or whatever).. if its a long job it gives me the opportunity to listen to a podcast. “industry is its own reward”.

+1 to using it as opportunity to listen to a podcast.

I consider it some of my best podcast listening time. Somehow I’m more tuned in when doing house chores vs. trying to just sit and listen, or while walking outside where I have to pay attention to traffic when crossing the street and such.

I’ve always been a straight into the dishwasher person, unless it was already clean and I was too lazy to unload it. Going to the sink first is extra work.

My dishwashing creed also. How I do wish I could convince others to stop doing dishes like it’s 1985, and let the machine do the work efficiently

In our house it used to be the same thing every day: dishes pile up in the sink, someone says “I’ll do it later,” and then it slowly turns into stress.What fixed it was super simple. We just put dirty dishes straight into the dishwasher as we use them. At night we run it. In the morning we empty it completely so it’s ready again. Since doing that, the kitchen stays clean, nobody argues about whose turn it is, and it doesn’t feel like one person is always stuck doing the cleanup.

Huh. I would never have thought of "pile up dirty crockery until some later time" as an option!

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