*cracks knuckles* Chemistry expert and former detergent chemist here, chiming in. Modulo some small semantic differences, you're 100% spot on. Functionally, there is zero difference in the formulations. Every powder dish detergent on the market comprises the same functional components, though the exact chemicals selected may vary. It's always some combination of detergent, anti-deposition agent, water conditioners, strong base, oxidizers, enzymes, buffers, "processing aids", and what I call "foo foo juice" - colors and fragrances. The Purpose section is annoyingly vague so I'm going to break down each of the categories and give their examples. These aren't strict categories, in fact many of these chemicals perform double or even triple duty. *Detergent/Surfactant* - Allows water to bind grease molecules by virtue of having two halves, hydrophilic (water loving) and hydrophobic (water hating or grease-binding). These can be basic/anionic (negative charge): sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS); neutral: isotridecanol ethoxylated, PEG C10. Acidic/cationic (positive) are uncommon in dish detergents but you may see them in rinse aids. Bonus fact: rinse aids are typically mild acids ( pH about 3) which helps dissolve calcium deposits and soap scum. Because of this, they have to use neutral or cationic surfactants. *Anti-deposition agent* - Once you dissolve the grease, you don't want it to deposit back onto the dishes. Cascade calls this "boosts shine" but it's basically film prevention. The line between detergent and anti-deposition agent is blurry, and many chemicals can fulfill both roles. Acrylic copolymers are the best example here, but the PEGs (polyethylene glycol) also help in this regard, as do any neutral detergents. They tend to be weak detergents on their own, but their big advantage is they don't create soap scum (calcium fatty acids, more on that later). *Water conditioners and chelators* - Hard water means calcium, iron, and other large positive ions in solution. Calcium reacts with anionic surfactants (aka soaps) to form insoluble scum. This both reduces cleaning power and makes extra goop that needs to be cleaned! Water conditioners exchange sodium for calcium, binding it so it doesn't form scum. This category includes polycarboxylates, citric acid, sodium phosphate (discontinued), EDTA, and our friend sodium acrylate/maleic/carboxylate copolymers again (yes it doubles as both anti-deposition and water conditioner. Synergy!). *Strong base* - Anionic detergents work best at a high pH (alkaline/basic). Alkali also saponifies grease, giving it a hydrophilic group and turning it into soap! Lye (sodium hydroxide), bleach (sodium hypochlorite), sodium percarbonate aka sodium carbonate peroxide aka "OxyClean", sodium silicate, and sodium phosphate are all strong bases. See all that sodium? They also help condition water as well! *Oxidizers* - These react with staining molecules such as tomato sauce, berries, tea, and coffee, as well as natural polymers like proteins (cheese) to break them apart. Sodium hypochlorite and percarbonate are oxidisers. "Transition metal catalyst" has a similar role, except instead of being consumed, it facilitates the bleaching action. *Enzymes* - Starch and protein when heated and hydrated form a natural glue of sorts. Anyone dealing with stuck-on cheese or rice knows what I'm talking about. Enzymes are natural molecules that break these polymers down so they unstick from surfaces. Amylase specifically digests amylose (starch) and Subtilisin (protease) breaks down protein. Pro-tip: any time in biology you see _whatever_-ase, that breaks down _whatever_. *Buffers* - prevent the base from being _too_ basic and etching glassware. I think this is what zinc carbonate is doing, but I'm not 100% sure. *Processing Aid* - Any time you see "processing aid" or "enables liquid processing" - that just means it's an inert bulk transport, because either the active ingredient is too viscous, or cakes easily, or whatever. Glycerin and Dipropylene glycol act as liquid solvents in those colorful liquid sections of the gel packs, since too much water would dissolve the pack. Sodium sulfate is just an inert powder.
I enjoyed this nearly as.much as the video. Thank you for sharing.... And as long as we are here, do you have a blog/channel/magic crystal ball bunker you transmit from?5
"There's also sodium hydroxide in here, not gonna lye" made me kinda sad, because it made me realize just how many of your jokes are probably going right over my head
Yes, and washing machines! There's so much stuff you can add to your laundry, detergent, oxiclean, borax, fabric softener, bleach... Please do a laundry series!
@@TylerShawful Great laundry list of ideas. I would also add the controversy of "DIY" laundry detergent. Among penny pinchers, myself included, it's believed that various mixes of additives like Borax, Washing Soda, laundry bar soap shavings, soap nuts, oxiclean, etc can produce an effective detergent for a fraction of the price. Others have pointed out that such amateur mixes are inherently inferior because they lack surfactants and other fancy detergent chemicals.
@@TobesAnimation Toner is more expensive up front... but oh my gosh so much cheaper per-page printed, and no waste from throwing out otherwise perfectly good cartridges because you didn't happen to need to print anything for 6 months and the heads got all gross and crusty. Get a good HP laser printer, and some cheap off-brand toner, and you will save tons of money and effort, and get better prints for everything except photos... at which point you print at a photo shop or print house anyways on their fancy $10k printers instead. Actually, last batch of toner for my color printer was $60, so that may actually be cheaper than ink in the first place, and that should last me a good 3000 pages vs an ink-jet which is good for ~250 pages.
I wanted to add two comments as a former appliance salesperson. 1. most dishwashers have a rinse only option that uses half of the water of a regular cycle and you can run that if you don't have a full load instead of rinsing by hand and then wait until you have a full load until you run the regular cycle. 2. The worst place to store laundry detergent is under the sink because it will lose its effectiveness if it gets humid.
If your dishwasher works properly there's no need to pre-rinse, by hand or by machine. Also, the cabinet under the sink is only humid if your sink leaks.
“through the magic of buying way too much f*cking dishwasher detergent” almost felt like it was a planned out punchline, that you only made the reoccurring “through the magic of buying two” as a buildup to it… I know that’s probably not how it happened but it just was delivered so perfectly.
The line about the design flaw where a plate blocks the dispenser from opening SAVED ME I thought something was broken but I realized I had a big cutting board right up against the dispenser when it closed. I was getting said clumpy powder mess. THANK YOU SO MUCH
Okay let's just appreciate that we got a better apology from the internet toaster and refrigeration guy for accidentally misleading a handful of people about detergent, resulting in a few incompletely rinsed dishes than we usually get when people actually do real bad things that hurt people.
Our normal wash didn't have a prewash, so I was using the wrong program for a month with extra deterrent or so before looking up in the manual that only the heavy duty and eco wash had the prewash.
If people have gotten hurt, apologising is a TERRIBLE idea. It makes is SO much easier to sue you, whether you're in the wrong or not. Keep your mouth shut, and hire a lawyer, (who will tell you to proudly proclaim repeatedly that you did nothing wrong and followed every code and it was the other guy's fault).
@@Asdayasman Or y'know, maybe have some backbone and basic morals and take responsibility for your actions even if it means you get sued? Maybe even viewing getting sued as a convenient aid to the process of reparation and reconciliation and an overall good and just thing? Jesus christ that is one cursed comment.
Your previous video on the subject has garnered the adoration of my 76-year-old mother, as she proudly reclaims 20-30 minutes a night by shoving dirty dishes directly into the dishwasher without allowing them anywhere near the sink. She even goes so far as to "challenge" the dishwasher by intentionally creating scenarios that put it at a disadvantage, just to see if she can make it falter. Thus far, the dishwasher always wins, and she's ecstatic. Thank you.
don't skip on your regular maintenance cycles on the machine - many people don't realize this, but with time - grease builds up in the internal pipes of the dishwasher, and if you don't do the maintenance cycles - you'll end up with a broken machine (it happened to my previous dishwasher)
@@moetocafe Never had that problem though I kinda gave up on dishwashers because steam kept getting into the circuitry and killing the machine before any kind of build up could cause a problem.
@@olstar18 sorry to hear that, but don't give up on dishwashers, just because of a single failure and bad experience with a specific unit. Dishwashers are wonderful machines, that truly make life easier, esp. when you have limited time for chores with the busy everyday, most people live. Life would be so much harder for me, without a dishwasher.
Wow. I have spent half my life working on dishwashers, 1000's of dishwashers of all brands over two decades. I also use a dishwasher at least 3 times a day because I have a huge family. I am embarrased to say that I have learnt something new, adding a bit of detergent for the prerinse. Makes a lot of sense, lol. Subscribed and liked. Thank you sir.
I feel like when he said "I'm starting to see a light there", he was clearly acknowledging / laughing about the fact that this channel's content is 90% lights.
my first guess was that there was truth serum in there, and that's why he said "not gonna lie", but thats sodium pentothal, not sodium hydroxide. thanks for catching this, haha
Sodium Hydroxide / lye / caustic soda, used to keep the pH of Sodium Hypochlorite / bleach high to prevent from decomposing. Sodium hydroxide also turns into a detergent when it reacts to oil. Bleach can be made with chlorine gas and sodium hydroxide. Hydroxides are great.
From a Minnesota born, Chicago raised kid, I want to highlight "I'm a Midwesterner. I'm no stranger to principled suffering," as a high point in your writing career. It belongs on a cross-stitch on the narrow stairway to the too-warm upstairs. Or prominently on your CV.
At least you didn’t grow up in the part of the Midwest that no one in the Midwest wants to claim. Ohio…sure there’s far less crime where I grew up than in Chicago, but that’s mostly because there’s NOTHING worth stealing or fighting over. Lol.
@@steveo7771286 I am Ohio born and raised, and I must say I think Indiana is even worse. Or at least Fort Wayne Indiana is. I worked there for 2 years. And nothing fucking happened, And they had shittier grocery stores.
We just got a new dishwasher after our 15 year old one died. My daughter had me watch both your TH-cam videos about pod detergents and prewashing. I am now going back to powders and will use the pre rinse and post rinse aids as recommended. Happy to stop using big plastic bottles (or buckets) that can't be recycled. I am 70 and now a subcriber. Priscilla Leach, Michigander
If you had an entire Netflix season over dishwashers I would spend all day binge watching it. I have no idea how you are making this so interesting but I absolutely love it.
Pro tip from a pro 50 year old housewife. Take the cheap powder detergent and place in an airtight tub/container and find a suitable small scoop. Eliminating mess. These videos are genius and I love them! Household mechanics are my life.
I can't remember the brand, but I purchased a tub of dishwashing soap that came packaged this way... in a tub with a scoop. That was back in the day when dishwashing soaps still had phosphates in them.
About 15 years ago I was given a half gallon sized Tupperware container filled with chexmix.... they didn't want it back so it now lives above my washing machine as a storage bin for my oxyclean powder lol
The plastic tubs that the dishwasher pacs come in can be reused to store detergent powder, oxiclean, or borax just add a scoop. If you are frugal, you can use the sccops from powedered laundry detergent boxes.
your video auto-played next from something i was listening to while i was grocery shopping with my son. i didn't change away because i wanted to 'not be picky' and let it play.....and also because my phone was zipped into my jacket. i am now home, finished putting away my groceries, rewatched your video, about to explore the rest of your channel, and am now sad i JUST left my local Walmart without getting non-tablet detergent powder. Thank you sir.
Just needed to chime in and rave about the writing here. I actually don't know how someone can take something like dishwasher detergent and make a 48 minute video that is well spoken, clear, entertaining and genuinly funny. I wish that any actual 'comedy' TH-camr out there could make me laugh as much as that snarky John Henry coment.
Yes! I don't know many younger people (if any) who would catch that John Henry reference. (And yes, the "Brown" video was also similarly amazing - how this guy can take a seemingly mundane subject and make it so interesting that it holds my attention for so long... gotta love the guy.)
@@jamarsac See CGP Grey’s “Tiffany” videos. Similarly a boring-turned-fascinating thing, also a two-parter for which part II is a follow-up that gets META follow-up-y.
Original Video got me to dust off the Manual and test out the "Sensor Clean" mode. Which basically adjusts the rinse/wash cycles depending how dirty the water ends up. Been tempted to try the Platinum Pacs but thankfully this followup video has reminded me the Powder has been and will continue to do a good job.
I used to work in a laundry and dish soap manufacturing plant in Utah, and I can tell you unequivocally that the different colors in the detergent packs means absolutely nothing. It is all the same exact product just dyed differently to make them more enticing. Exactly like you said "more colors equals better sales", when they tested these they found that people felt less compelled to buy them when it was a single pack of just powder or liquid, because why not just buy straight powder or liquid and dose yourself? But with different colors and compartments in the pack, people assume it's several products at once that are all properly dosed, and that's way easier than having several different products and trying to figure out the ratio yourself. Even though the manufacturers never necessarily claim it's several different products in one pack, people assume it based on coloring.
@@doggfite yeah Huish before that if I remember correctly. I used to drive truck between warehouses and I remember how couple of blocks smelled really nice
Learned a lot from this video. On the topic of handwashing, there are a few good reasons to hand washing certain items. WOOD items in particular don't do well, the harsh chemicles dry out and destroy the wood. KNIVES (esp with wood handles) tend to dull faster. CAST-IRON seasioning does not hold up well. SILICONE either holds on to grease/oil or a hard water buildup. The things that you use and wash frequently. Lastly... some people like me find hand washing dishes to be a pleasant and relaxing task. Since I'm one of those people that enjoys hand washing, I use the diswasher for all the glass, ceramic, and stainless steel things I can jam in there. I certainly don't want to wash everything every day, but I do like to take care of those items that don't fare well in the automatic washer.
I love how the Cascade says "Number 1 product". Which, I wouldn't be surprised if it had a star next to it, and the star says in small print " Among products named Cascade".
I'm living in a campus apartment and the dish washer has always been really unreliable. I always used powder detergent because of price really. I just tried pouring some powder before starting the machine (my washer doesn't have that second section) and it worked wonders! I can finally use this thing instead of using it as a drying rack.
@@JasperJanssen coincidentally, I had to buy a new dishwasher a few weeks ago, so I kinda needed to dig into the subject to buy a decent one. Turns out that many of the dishwashers sold here (for non Dutchies: Jasper and I are both European) support hot filling. Heck, even my broken 20 year old dishwasher was fine with hot filling, according to old spec sheets. It’s just uncommon here to use warm water to fill the machine. I also tried to find one with a macerator instead of a filter, but that just doesn’t seem to exist here.
"Through the power of buying way too fucking many of them" has got to be the most hilarious payoff of a running joke on any channel or video series or whatever that I've ever seen omg
When I saw this video come out, I went to watch the original first. I was mildly disappointed that he didn't pull out that line when he put the dishwasher on the table.
Good it wasn't just me, the speed on the pan out is calculated to the level I believe its derived from a cosmological constant he's yet to release and idk maybe it has something to do with turn ratios in condenser coils
I just discovered your channel today, and I'll admit, I find your commentary entertaining enough that I watched most of this video despite not having owned or used a home dishwasher in over a decade. That is all.
"Through the magic of buying way too much F***king Dishwasher Detergent" This. This is why I'm subscribed to you. You're like a role model to me at this point.
This Video (and its predecessor) has brought me so much joy. the Joy of not doing the dishes anymore. I was under the impression that dishes had to be soaked and rinsed to effectively wash in a dishwasher. My whole family holds this perception, this video has disrupted us and set us free from the damning binds of dirty dishes. This video saved my LIFE
The powdered detergents having abrasives in them dates back to the 1980's and earlier. Some detergents had literally fine sand or pumice in them, but as more and more homes had dishwashers with grinders or garbage disposers, these particles chewed up those elements like crazy. So they switched to plastic microbeads. Beyond the environmental travesty of those microbeads (the same that have been used in exfoliant body and facial cleansers and are mostly phased out), they tended to become stinking threads of plastic goo that would build up like plastic cotton candy through the innards of the dishwasher. I don't think a single powder has had an abrasive in it since probably 1990 by my estimate.
I think it's funny that he's likely going to change the market share of certain detergent types just by ranting about them on youtube. Good job Technology Connections. I'm proud of you.
@@jjbarajas5341 home depot offers free water testing. Pick up the kit and send it in. Depending on where you live, they can be really complete or painfully inadequate. They give the kit out free so you can see if you need a water softener, so some locations only test for water hardness. In my area, they have a full 7 panel analytical test and results, but I brought one to a family member in another state, and even though I checked the boxes for the other 6 tests, they only reported on hardness.
@@littlejackalo5326 does your water provider not publish their results? In the entire EU and most other European states the water provider has to publish their test results.
@@littlejackalo5326 I just look in my local (free) newspaper and see what my water provider got from their tests regarding literally dozens of minerals and chemicals as well as of course hardness. Do you not have this in the US? Or get it from their website.
Can I just say that adding soap during the prewash is A GAME CHANGER!!!! I always called BS on anyone saying “you don’t have to rinse your dishes.” After watching these videos I was like yeah right, but fine I’ll give it a go just so I can say you’re wrong. I have never been so happy to be wrong before. Everyone in my family does this now and agrees it’s great. Thank you!!
about talking to clouds ... just the other day I told a rapidly-brewing storm over me to "behave yourself" because I wasn't finished doing whatever I was doing outside ... then lightning struck the neighbor's tree right after ... don't argue with a thunderstorm 🤣
I fix appliances for a living and I have given this link to more than one customer. Despite what most people think of appliance repair guys, I really don't enjoy charging some elderly couple hundreds of dollars for something they could have prevented JUST by using the machine as designed and cleaning it once in a while. Ty for the great video...A+ work.
That was me in phone sales. My manager wanted me to scum sale (as I call it). I'm not going to tell someone they need a new phone if it as simple as a charger needing replaced, or the air being blasted into ports.
I work in an hardware store and my dad own a farm and i learn some tips and tricks, so when at work, I try to help my customers to find the least expensive way to complete their project cause i don’t like scum-selling either
So thanks to the magic of The Algorithm I have now watched a combined 80 minutes on friggin dishwashers and been loving every second of it. You, dear Sir, are a gentleman and a scholar and have earned a new subscriber.
I've had this bookmarked for a couple years now to because these two sections are literally the best dishwashers for idiots clips I've seen thus far: - "You can use way less detergent than the box says" - Fun fact, my box doesn't even have dosing instructions. - "Rinse Aids (use them!)" Great stuff.
@@FiXato I thought the exact same lol, I’m from the UK where we have finish power ball, Quantum and Max I think but not Mega millions so I just assumed he was talking about a Finish brand that we don’t have. I laughed once I got the joke.
I work in the manufacturing facility that makes the enzymes in the cascade pods, as a process engineer. I can verify that the 3 different colors in the top of the pack do contain 3 different enzymes, all with unique stability chemistry. The different colors are a design choice, made upon the processing constraint that these components needed to be separated to ensure stability longer than ~2.5 months. If these 3 enzymes were packaged together, they would be almost useless by the time the customer used the detergent. I can also verify that the inclusion of glycerin is completely correct. It is added to the enzyme during "liquid formulation" shortly after being separated from the host cells. This is also done to improve enzyme stability. I am biased because my job is based around these enzymes; but, I am a proponent of the premium cascaded pods because they were the first iteration to introduce 2 new enzymes, and enzymes are really good at cleaning dishes.
Yep, he's discounting these entirely thinking they're just colored gel. I think he's also missing the best part: Use the pack, add a splash of powdered detergent for the pre-wash cycle. Perfect cleaning.
I watched 50 minutes of someone talking about dishwashers and their detergent and I would do it again. Great writing and surprisingly entertaining. I think you converted someone to powder, or atleast convinced me to try
@@tiagomoraes1510 pods bad value and over dosed, pre-wash is important if you are having bad results, powder = good for your wallet because of how cheap it is per wash and you can dose it for smaller batches (x20 compared to pods), for the environment because of lower packaging and more compact form factor (gel is mixed with 90% water). That's the gist
I just started scrolling through the comments and somehowly managed to read this at the exact time he was saying it. Kinda felt like he was in my head.
This is actually something I’ve been wondering about forever! I already came to the conclusion that you were paying more to get less on those packs, but was really close to rigging up a camera to see for sure what was going on in there… thanks for saving me a GoPro!
After watching the original video, I remembered of how my parents complained about their dishwasher not working that well, and that they were starting to wash their dishes by hand. The next time I visited them, I tried the method proposed, and lo and behold: it worked flawlessly! Since then, I've used the method at home and my parents have used it at their home all the time, with drastic improvements. It truly helped my daily life and made TC grow from a fun channel I like to watch to a channel I love and support on Patreon. Keep up the great work!
HEY! PLEASE READ: The dishwasher that you tested the tab in, Has a faulty heating element. (Whirlpool, Maytag, Kitchenaid, Jennair) The Flanges are gold color and have a major recall FYI. The new element will have stainless rings where it seals to the tub. Get that element replaced before it starts leaking. Great video and keep up the good work!!
@@ianspeckmaier9565 The original article was a year ago... and also 17,500 or so comments ago. So, yes, the heater element comment hasn't been responded on. Do you expect it to?
@@ianspeckmaier9565He has literally cut a big hole in it because it wasn't working properly anymore. I don't think potential future problems with it is a big concern anymore.
“And now, rinse aids!” I was already on the edge of my seat and that just pushed me off the edge. Not gonna lye, I got super excited when he pulled out the rinse aid.
Didn't learn much, just that I've been right all along. Always preferred powder, about half full, with rise aid. Clean my filter and sump monthly. Yasss!
Hey, I just want to say that I was also someone who thought our dishwasher just wasn’t very good and felt the need to hand wash my dishes because I couldn’t trust it to get everything off the way I like. That pre wash information was life saving for me. I can’t stand hand washing and now I only have to do it with special rarely used items instead of everything I use daily. Thanks!
Fun fact from Germany, a couple of years ago we supposedly have had an interesting problem: Germans seem to have been too good at water economy for our own sewage system, that was designed back when the waste water volume used to be higher. Low sewage volume may cause problems with buildups not being washed away properly.
It's been a while. Pardon me, I was working on this masterpiece. Also, here's the original video if you want more info on dishwashers themselves. th-cam.com/video/_rBO8neWw04/w-d-xo.html
As suggested by you, I went back to normal powder, add a little prewash dose separately on the inside of the lid. Incredible how much of a difference it makes.
"There's even sodium hydroxide in here, not gonna lye." Magnificent. Utterly magnificent. Hats off, sir. I also have enormous respect for your commitment to delivering the synopsis at the beginning at speed, rather than using digital trickery to make it seem like you did. Truly an artisan.
I told my friends at work that I was almost embarrassed by watching a whole video on a dishwasher. Now I have to tell them I watched the follow up by choice. Great work thank you!
I saw this video recommended soo many times on google and fully planned on skipping through. But I’m only 40 seconds in and I can tell I’m gonna watch the whole thing lol. Thank you for this 🖤
Huge respect for putting good, accurate captions on your videos. Hell, I'm not deaf nor a non-native English speaker but I always leave captions on just in case there's one word that someone's saying and you just CANNOT understand what in the world they're trying to pronounce even after replaying it 5 times. Another nice example of accessibility features benefiting even those without the problem the features are designed to fix.
@@millomweb Yeah the auto-captions are a little questionable usually, I personally don't really use them except as a last resort. Great that they exist though for sure!
@@millomweb It doesn't always. I'm a teacher. One time I decided that I was going to show Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land to my students on the last day of school. I use this accessibility feature myself pretty often since I often have trouble with voices in videos. Needless to say, on at least one occasion youtube thought that Donald was dropping an F bomb. I promptly turned the auto generated captioning off.
For me it was; "If you're happy with your detergent ... ...clap your hands" Because I made that EXACT same stupid joke in my head, and there's nothing I love more than making a stupid joke, only for the video I'm watching to make the same stupid joke! XD
The other day I was camping, and my brother pulled out his Coleman lantern. That got me spending the next ten minutes trying to explain the appeal of this channel. "Well, he goes on pedantic rants about the minutia of everyday objects for a LOOOOONNNG time. It's great!" I don't think he was impressed.
@@jamesmitchell7707 not a direct reference, I think the "for a loooonnnng time" joke has just ingrained itself into my vernacular, and slipped out subconsciously. Haha
I hadn't had a dish washer for many years, but recently bought one to save the time of hand washing. I get actual joy every time I run it. Your videos have been great getting me up to speed on how they work!
It is literally their goal. Detergent pods are the cleaning equivalent of Keurig K-Cups. Its just taking an existing, stagnant (from a profit-growth perspective) market and finding a way to squeeze more money out of dupes.
You’ve convinced me, and when I looked in the dishwasher manual there was actually a friendly section titled “What to do if you want to stop using multi-tablets” which is THRILLING, I feel like I’m becoming a part of something bigger, cleaner
An update from me for any who care! Following the advice in this video I am getting perfect results! My first two tries left some spots but by my third wash I had it dialed in just right! Thank you so much for these dishwasher videos!
@@raracool6531 I've never heard of it. You can get in a liquid easily, but the only powder I've seen is Oxy Clean, and that's more of a supplement than a main washing chemical.
@@raracool6531 Liquid laundry detergent is *much* more popular, but has the same drawback as liquid dishwasher detergent: It's mostly water... you're paying for water! And of course there's the now-ubiquitous Tide Pods, which are just powdered detergent in a plastic pod form with some squidgy bits of color added to make it "better" somehow. But now I'm just writing Alec's script for him. I use powdered detergent exclusively.
The complaint about powders being messy is likely due to how poorly made or roughly handled boxes of powder tend to spring leaks from the vertices and bottom closure. It's comparable to how flour comes spurting out of the bag if you drop it even a few centimeters. We actually keep our powder detergent in an old detergent tin and use a scoop instead of the spout for that very reason.
We keep ours (well, don't have a dishwasher, so I'm referring to powdered laundry soap) in a big old plastic jar with a screw-on lid that originally held mango pickle.
"Did you know you can get powdered laundry soap?" Yes I did, but I had forgotten. My family used it when I was a child. Totally unlocked some vivid memories of helping my Mom with laundry. Please do a video about it! I'm curious to see how it compares to liquid detergent (and also to those detergent packs).
I just bought a big bucket of powdered laundry detergent because it comes in a very useful big plastic bucket. It's like a double win. But I also have Tide pods.
Is powdered laundry detergent that rare in the states? We mostly only use powder in India, I'm not even sure these Pouches / Tide pods are actually even available here
I do know that going down to 1/8th of a cup of laundry detergent (Persil, in my case) has been absolutely splendid. Cleans everything in cold water, and I buy detergent like twice a year or something? It's fantabulous!
One thing I've learnt with washing machines is to use washing powder, and avoid liquid detergents, or use them infrequently if you must. The reason for this is not because the powder does a better job (though I would say it does), but because washing machine powder contains a couple of chemicals that you wont find in a liquid detergent, sodium percarbonate (Oxygen bleach) and something called TAED (tetraacetylethylenediamine - I had to look that up :) ), which apparently significantly enhances the effectiveness of the oxygen bleach. While their primary purpose is to remove stains from your laundry, they serve an invaluable second purpose of killing mould and bacteria in the tub, door seal and innards of your washing machine. You won't find them in liquids because in solution they would react with and break down the rest of the ingredients. On top of that, with liquid washing machine detergent, you get gel residue which tends to hold on to moisture coating the innards of the machine, such as the creases of the door seal and inside the tub, creating a nice environment for black mould and bacteria to flourish. Of course you can get all sorts of extra additives, like oxygen bleach, bottles of stuff to kill bacteria and mould in you laundry and washing machine cleaners, all at extra expense, to make up for the deficiencies of the liquids. When they first reached the UK in the 80's, we switched to a liquid machine detergent (I think at my suggestion). All seemed good at first, then the washing started coming out with dark grey / black marks on which my mum and the repairman blamed on the black door seal of her machine, after using liquid for I guess 2+ years, and probably after a couple of new door seals, the washing machine started to stink (back then it was more common to do boil and hot washes, which would have helped to keep the mould and bacteria under control) and we discovered the real problem, used bleach to clean the machine and switched back to powders. In the UK at least there is a bit of a thing for non-bio powders (enzyme free) and it often claimed to be better for kids, but biological powder is best at washing, except for wool and silk and for keeping the machine clean. There was an issue with a new enzyme used in one new formula bio powder many, many years that caused skin reactions with some people (my mum was one), which I guess may have started it off. I would suggest to forget about best water saving and energy efficiency, and select the extra rinses option if your machine will do it, because modern energy efficient machines rarely rinse thoroughly enough on the standard settings to get rid of all the detergent.
@@Egaslem It is good to know about TAED (tetra acetyl ethylene diamine), which is not to be confused with the similarly-named EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid). EDTA was mentioned in the video; It has long been considered to be a very safe chelating agent, though there is some evidence of toxicity at high doses. Chelating agents traps metal atoms/ions. EDTA is even used in some foods, for example to prevent discoloration, and/or to prevent fats from prematurely becoming rancid (oxidized) due to metal atoms (often from processing machinery). Nickel from stainless steel is a common culprit there. Manganese ions can also be trapped by EDTA, which is important for preserving hydrogen peroxide bleaching action. As a water softener, EDTA also binds iron, calcium, magnesium, and other metal ions.
One thing I neglected to mention is not only does the build up of mould, bacteria and liquid detergent residue coating the innards stink, it can promote corrosion, such as of the aluminium spider which attaches the drum to the drive shaft, causing it to fail. There's a video promoting the benefits of TAED here th-cam.com/video/1NmsV6XAbuY/w-d-xo.html
The complaints about how long the dishwasher takes amuse me SO MUCH! I usually set the dishwasher to run as the last thing before I go to bed, so that I can empty it first thing in the morning. As far as I'm concerned, the best thing to do while your dishwasher washes the dishes is GO TO SLEEP!!! XD
As a fellow value-obsessed midwesterner, I appreciate the lengths Alec goes to to explain and demonstrate how the use of household systems can be optimized for different use cases.
"It's not like the only thing you can do with that time is pace a rut in the floor waiting until you see your precious dishes again." THIS HAS ME CRACKING UP!
It's funny though. Anxiety disorders and difficulties switching from one task to another or say impatience because you need to eat but you didn't put the dishwasher on until it was actually at or past lunchtime (executive function problems or just a busy chaotic life) then you could be waiting & pacing. Been there too many times. Same with the washing machine (laundry).
Plus, if for some reason you actually DO need one dish or fork right away and can't wait for the machine to finish, then wash one by hand. You can even remove them from the middle of the cycle.
15:27 The whole "no pre-wash" thing is specifically for the baby boomer generation (actual baby boomers, not people born in the 80's). My grandma was washing dishes for her house when she got her first machine washer, and that first generation of machine dish washers SUCKED. They were terrible. they hardly washed anything at all. they were essentially just a way to rinse dishes you had already washed. So she, and any other traditional woman born in the 40's, learned that you had to wash dishes before putting them in the washer. Most women would even use soap to scrub the dishes before putting them in the dish washer... with more soap. The pre-washing thing became a woman's secret homekeeping knowledge thing. Old habits die hard. She STILL washes EVERY DISH completely by hand, WITH SOAP before loading them into the dish washer. Sometimes she will forget to put them in the dish washer at all because they are so clean that she will think they already went through. Good luck teaching an 80 year old woman how to use a modern dish washer though. From her perspective, she, and every other woman her age, has been washing dishes for 70 years. What could i POSSIBLY know about washing dishes that trumps 70 years of washing? I have to literally do her dishes in the middle of the night to avoid her demanding i wash them all completely by hand before loading them.
While I'm "Gen X", my parent's house I grew up in was built and outfitted the same year I was born. Hence, the abysmally crappy dishwasher and the childhood chore of "doing the dishes" - which essentially meant removing every speck of food from the dishes before putting them into the late 1960s era "dishwasher". Essentially the thing was just a post-wash hot water sanitizer. And my parents refused to ever upgrade anything until it had broken beyond repair (which meant every appliance we had was repaired a minimum of 3 or 4 times and usually only replaced when parts were no longer available for the 30 year old unit). So, I continued to do this long into my adult life, especially since apartments tend to have equally crappy and ancient dishwashers - if they had them at all. Only in the past 10 years or so have I forced myself to break this life-long habit. It was very difficult, and I was always suspicious of the output of the dishwasher, minutely examining every little bit of surface to find any tiny speck of soil... or perhaps a misprint of the decoration on the plate; sometimes it was hard to tell. Old habits die harder than Bruce Willis...
@@mikegrey8088 that's because of your own bad habits tho. You're supposed to get the food out of the dishes and put it in the trash before you clean them. It's... obvious. Just use a paper towel to quickly clean the still not-cemented oatmeal and then put the bowl in the washing mashine. Done.
"Did you know you can buy powdered laundry soap?" Yes! Can you do the equivalent for clothes? Pods vs Powder (homemade and purchased) vs gel (manual and auto fill)? I've had better luck with homemade powdered soap mixes, but have been warned "they can destroy the washer" the same as you heard for dishwashers. You can also go into upright vs front loading, and the different and potentially more complicated loading mechanisms!
@@evanallen5377 whenever I use powder soap, I always let the water get above the tub (there’s a small space beneath the upright tub that fills before the tub begins to fill) before adding it so that it doesn’t leave a white residue
As a user of liquid detergent (coloured clothes), powdered detergent (whites), and powdered soap (anything I don't want to potentially be irritating, i.e. pillowcases or face towels) I've been pretty happy with how everything washes so far. Powdered detergent is certainly more 'damaging' to clothing in my experience, which is why coloureds get liquid.
After seeing the speedy bit at the beginning, I so looked forward for the bloopers. The wait was well worth it. FWIW, I definitely enjoy the snark. You are not only producing educational content on applicable/relatable topics, but also advocate for intelligent reflection on the topics of product quality, consumption, efficiency, and much more. The world is full of people who are missing information and/or context, and some of those people will double down on at instead of welcoming change (maybe all of us do that, depending on the subject). I for one think that snark is appropriate in these situations. You're still coming from a good place that wishes to educate; you don't aim to demonize, you're not trying to be on a high horse, you are trying to get people to think and reevaluate previously held stances. I think snarkiness makes the presentation more lively and helps engagement with the topic. As someone who snarks from time to time, I understand the self-consciousness to tone it down, but I hope it never goes away. It's quite endearing. Thanks for making a 48 minute video about dish washer detergent enjoyable. :)
I feel like you. I do not always see eye to eye with his views on things. I do however definitely enjoy the work he does in trying to get you to see things how he sees them and to just look a little deeper into ordinary things and you may learn something. I also love the comedy, quips, and snark. I find all of it smartly hilarious.
I, too, enjoy the snark. In fact, it's one of my favorite things about this channel! I mean, who else could put together such an entertainingly passionate (and educational!) 30 minute rant about dishwasher soap, and then follow it up with another entertainingly passionate and educational 45 minute rant about dishwasher soap?! The snark is a big part of that! He could make a 90 minute video on the magic of paint drying and I would eat it up because I know it would be a hoot 😂
Fun story: When I was a kid, I used to think that the dishwasher filled up completely, or at least halfway, like an aquarium, and it would flood the kitchen if I opened the door.
So did I! It wasn't until I was like 7 or 8 when I saw one of those clear demo dishwashers at our local Sears that I saw how they actually worked. I was so fascinated with the machine that my parents could leave me in front of the damn thing, go do their shopping, and I would still be sitting in front of it!
Just an fyi: your snarkiness is why I love this channel. I love the information, but I really love the personality you put on camera. It's human, and genuine. And funny!
Cheers and Thanks, and the reason some older folks hand wash is because it is pleasurable and gives a romanic feeling of sorts. I have struggled but your first video on dish washing changed me. Cheers!
I never envisioned a life where I would spend close to an hour listening to a guy talking about dishwashing detergent and be so thoroughly engaged with it, yet here we are. Thanks for a great video!
Too add to the testimonials, growing up I was always taught that the dishwasher was just to get rid of whatever you missed washing and to sanitize the dishes. I was also told that prewash was just a waste since the dishes needed to already be mostly clean, if was just there for the types of people who were paranoid, and it was optional. For the past 4 months I've been in an apartment with a dishwasher again and I'm so much happier being able to toss dirty dishes in and not have to clean and scrub first, though I do still quickly rinse them to get the biggest stuff off, which also has the added benefit of running the tap to get the water hot. I'm also just buying cheap liquid instead of packs so it's cheaper too. My dishwasher doesn't have a pre-wash compartment (it looks like it does but it's really just 2 different load sizes under the gasketed flap) so I just squirt a little into the bottom. I've had 2 items in 4 months of washing that didn't come out completely clean, and I'm pretty sure at least one of those was down to how I loaded it. I still can't convince my parents to try this but at least I know. (And honestly, as soon as you explained why prewash was important I felt like an idiot for not realizing that. But I'd never even thought about it before, just accepted what I'd always been told)
Yes, I know some people just like that, waste more water "pre-washing" their dishes - like WTF is the point of having a dishwasher if it doesn't actually wash the dishes and you have to do it first? (or more like you can't read and follow simple directions) - it's infuriating how some people just have no logic to work that out on their own. I definitely notice a difference between gel and powder - powder has always worked better. A long time ago, you could get a little plastic pail of powder that was even cheaper than the box (because it was a bigger container), and then the pail was useful for other things afterwards. Then they got rid of that, renamed it "finish", and seem to only sell it in little cakes now with that dumb red "powerball" on top :(
Absolutely great video thanks for sharing! As a Canadian who has moved to a place with very very hard water (3 weeks to plug a shower head) a softening system was installed in our house after moving from a place with very soft water. Now with that said, regardless of water hardness, dishwasher common sense is needed! Load the dishwasher correctly, soiled surfaces facing the water stream, pointy things facing down etc. Scrape off the big bits, and FFS don't wash your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher!!!!! Its a dishwasher not a dish-rinser!!! The "pre-wash" detergent section is very important I have found. The pod sales companies don't want us to use this feature. When I cook a meal for a large family gathering I will toss a "pod" into the bottom of the dishwasher or or add some powder or liquid detergent to the door area. I find this removes grease and oils very well. I must back up though, I run the sink water until it is hot so that my dishwasher has hot water and not just cold/lukewarm water as it has filled from the water line that was cold. After years of using gels, packs, powders etc. I have found that correct loading and ensuring hot water is ideal. I run my current Maytag on the normal cycle with heat and sanitizing option or the "power blast" setting for extremely soiled dishes and pots and pans. The only time I have to re-wash dishes is after the Mrs. loads the dishwasher incorrectly with dishes facing away from the water spray and leave utensils and bowls facing upwards so they fill with dirty water...an ongoing educational battle that has yet to be solved! :) I have also found that when washing dishes with baked on goo such as: lasagna, turkey, duck etc, some baking soda added to the pre-wash detergent adds extra grit to scrub off the hard to clean mess.
I feel you. My wife and I joke about my Tetris skills every time I have to double-check her dish loading to fit the rest. ;) I grew up with dishwasher load/unload as one of my daily chores, while she grew up without a dishwasher at all.
@@nathanschubert3048 Some people just can't grasp the loading of a dishwasher. I have to constantly reload the dishwasher after the wife made a mess out of it! She marvels at how much I can fit into it :) We have a new system now, I load, she unloads. its better for the dishes that way!
If you want to save a ton of money on cleaning a dishwasher go to the canning section and get powdered citric acid. Then just pour it into the soap dispenser of the dishwasher, shut the door, and wash empty. You now have a clean dishwasher and a ton of money saved. It works really well. It also helps get out left behind soap not just descaling.
*cracks knuckles* Chemistry expert and former detergent chemist here, chiming in. Modulo some small semantic differences, you're 100% spot on. Functionally, there is zero difference in the formulations. Every powder dish detergent on the market comprises the same functional components, though the exact chemicals selected may vary. It's always some combination of detergent, anti-deposition agent, water conditioners, strong base, oxidizers, enzymes, buffers, "processing aids", and what I call "foo foo juice" - colors and fragrances.
The Purpose section is annoyingly vague so I'm going to break down each of the categories and give their examples. These aren't strict categories, in fact many of these chemicals perform double or even triple duty.
*Detergent/Surfactant* - Allows water to bind grease molecules by virtue of having two halves, hydrophilic (water loving) and hydrophobic (water hating or grease-binding). These can be basic/anionic (negative charge): sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS); neutral: isotridecanol ethoxylated, PEG C10. Acidic/cationic (positive) are uncommon in dish detergents but you may see them in rinse aids. Bonus fact: rinse aids are typically mild acids ( pH about 3) which helps dissolve calcium deposits and soap scum. Because of this, they have to use neutral or cationic surfactants.
*Anti-deposition agent* - Once you dissolve the grease, you don't want it to deposit back onto the dishes. Cascade calls this "boosts shine" but it's basically film prevention. The line between detergent and anti-deposition agent is blurry, and many chemicals can fulfill both roles. Acrylic copolymers are the best example here, but the PEGs (polyethylene glycol) also help in this regard, as do any neutral detergents. They tend to be weak detergents on their own, but their big advantage is they don't create soap scum (calcium fatty acids, more on that later).
*Water conditioners and chelators* - Hard water means calcium, iron, and other large positive ions in solution. Calcium reacts with anionic surfactants (aka soaps) to form insoluble scum. This both reduces cleaning power and makes extra goop that needs to be cleaned! Water conditioners exchange sodium for calcium, binding it so it doesn't form scum. This category includes polycarboxylates, citric acid, sodium phosphate (discontinued), EDTA, and our friend sodium acrylate/maleic/carboxylate copolymers again (yes it doubles as both anti-deposition and water conditioner. Synergy!).
*Strong base* - Anionic detergents work best at a high pH (alkaline/basic). Alkali also saponifies grease, giving it a hydrophilic group and turning it into soap! Lye (sodium hydroxide), bleach (sodium hypochlorite), sodium percarbonate aka sodium carbonate peroxide aka "OxyClean", sodium silicate, and sodium phosphate are all strong bases. See all that sodium? They also help condition water as well!
*Oxidizers* - These react with staining molecules such as tomato sauce, berries, tea, and coffee, as well as natural polymers like proteins (cheese) to break them apart. Sodium hypochlorite and percarbonate are oxidisers. "Transition metal catalyst" has a similar role, except instead of being consumed, it facilitates the bleaching action.
*Enzymes* - Starch and protein when heated and hydrated form a natural glue of sorts. Anyone dealing with stuck-on cheese or rice knows what I'm talking about. Enzymes are natural molecules that break these polymers down so they unstick from surfaces. Amylase specifically digests amylose (starch) and Subtilisin (protease) breaks down protein. Pro-tip: any time in biology you see _whatever_-ase, that breaks down _whatever_.
*Buffers* - prevent the base from being _too_ basic and etching glassware. I think this is what zinc carbonate is doing, but I'm not 100% sure.
*Processing Aid* - Any time you see "processing aid" or "enables liquid processing" - that just means it's an inert bulk transport, because either the active ingredient is too viscous, or cakes easily, or whatever. Glycerin and Dipropylene glycol act as liquid solvents in those colorful liquid sections of the gel packs, since too much water would dissolve the pack. Sodium sulfate is just an inert powder.
Top comment material!! Thanks!
This should be pinned.
I enjoyed this nearly as.much as the video. Thank you for sharing.... And as long as we are here, do you have a blog/channel/magic crystal ball bunker you transmit from?5
Foo foo juice is an excellent category description.
And what do we learn from this kids?
Always use dishwasher tabs to dissolve bodies you want to dispose of!
"There's also sodium hydroxide in here, not gonna lye" made me kinda sad, because it made me realize just how many of your jokes are probably going right over my head
I'm too impressed by his thorough approach to lye about it: I missed that one.
Watching with captions feels like cheating ngl
ah damn it... I knew that was a punchline, but I've got no clue about chemical names!
Thought that joke was funny. 😁
Yeah, jokes about Lye are a bit Basic.
Laundry detergents: YES....make an entire series about every household consumable like this, I've wanted this sorta thing for years.
Yes, and washing machines! There's so much stuff you can add to your laundry, detergent, oxiclean, borax, fabric softener, bleach... Please do a laundry series!
@@TylerShawful 'Series' being the key work there, I reckon we'll need at least 3 videos!
This is all I want for Christmas
@@TylerShawful Great laundry list of ideas. I would also add the controversy of "DIY" laundry detergent. Among penny pinchers, myself included, it's believed that various mixes of additives like Borax, Washing Soda, laundry bar soap shavings, soap nuts, oxiclean, etc can produce an effective detergent for a fraction of the price. Others have pointed out that such amateur mixes are inherently inferior because they lack surfactants and other fancy detergent chemicals.
@@TobesAnimation Toner is more expensive up front... but oh my gosh so much cheaper per-page printed, and no waste from throwing out otherwise perfectly good cartridges because you didn't happen to need to print anything for 6 months and the heads got all gross and crusty. Get a good HP laser printer, and some cheap off-brand toner, and you will save tons of money and effort, and get better prints for everything except photos... at which point you print at a photo shop or print house anyways on their fancy $10k printers instead.
Actually, last batch of toner for my color printer was $60, so that may actually be cheaper than ink in the first place, and that should last me a good 3000 pages vs an ink-jet which is good for ~250 pages.
oh man, as a 30-something homeowner, this is exactly the content I need right now. This is why I don't pay for cable, can't get this anywhere else.
dolita windo - Ah, but think about the last thing I touch with it, and the first thing that you touch with it! - Joey Tribbiani
He is more entertaining than most of the garbage we see on tv lol
That's why I'm a TH-cam junkie, there's just so much SPECIALIZED content that suits my tastes, and I can learn a lot, too!
@dolita windo I had to find it back, here it is: th-cam.com/video/32hFijyWkmw/w-d-xo.html
Checking in. You = me
I wanted to add two comments as a former appliance salesperson.
1. most dishwashers have a rinse only option that uses half of the water of a regular cycle and you can run that if you don't have a full load instead of rinsing by hand and then wait until you have a full load until you run the regular cycle.
2. The worst place to store laundry detergent is under the sink because it will lose its effectiveness if it gets humid.
If your dishwasher works properly there's no need to pre-rinse, by hand or by machine. Also, the cabinet under the sink is only humid if your sink leaks.
why would you want to pre-rinse seperately instead of just using a cycle that has pre-rinse in it anyways?
@@Amir-jn5moso you don't have to smell your tuna salad everytime you add dishes until the machine is full enough to run
@@duanem.1567 the pipes and the tub attract and disperse moisture from getting warm and cold. So it is potentially more moist in there.
I shouldn't put my laundry detergent in the laundry machine then, since the washing cycles all use water, rendering it ineffective?
He may suggest we click on different chapters to skip parts, but we all know we’re watching this 48 minute video from start to finish lmao
I wasn't planning on sitting through the whole thing, but as always I did and I don't regret a minute.
Amen
Change playback speed to 1.25 or 1.5 and turn on Closed Captioning. (48 min / 1.25x speed = 38.4 min)
@@dall3n88 my frozen burritos have been cooked for a half hour now. Briquettes, anyone?
It was a fascinating topic, too. Also, nice profile picture.
“through the magic of buying way too much f*cking dishwasher detergent” almost felt like it was a planned out punchline, that you only made the reoccurring “through the magic of buying two” as a buildup to it… I know that’s probably not how it happened but it just was delivered so perfectly.
I know right XD it caught me off guard and is probably my favourite part of the video now
I wouldn't put it past him to plan it all out years ago. I believe the first instance was toasters
10:53
This ENTIRE TH-cam channel was planned out just to lead up to that joke.
it is planned....
The line about the design flaw where a plate blocks the dispenser from opening SAVED ME I thought something was broken but I realized I had a big cutting board right up against the dispenser when it closed. I was getting said clumpy powder mess. THANK YOU SO MUCH
Okay let's just appreciate that we got a better apology from the internet toaster and refrigeration guy for accidentally misleading a handful of people about detergent, resulting in a few incompletely rinsed dishes than we usually get when people actually do real bad things that hurt people.
Because the kind of people who care enough to apologize generally don't do real bad things that hurt people in the first place.
Our normal wash didn't have a prewash, so I was using the wrong program for a month with extra deterrent or so before looking up in the manual that only the heavy duty and eco wash had the prewash.
If people have gotten hurt, apologising is a TERRIBLE idea. It makes is SO much easier to sue you, whether you're in the wrong or not. Keep your mouth shut, and hire a lawyer, (who will tell you to proudly proclaim repeatedly that you did nothing wrong and followed every code and it was the other guy's fault).
@@Asdayasman Or y'know, maybe have some backbone and basic morals and take responsibility for your actions even if it means you get sued? Maybe even viewing getting sued as a convenient aid to the process of reparation and reconciliation and an overall good and just thing? Jesus christ that is one cursed comment.
@@Salsmachev I have to wonder how old you are.
Your previous video on the subject has garnered the adoration of my 76-year-old mother, as she proudly reclaims 20-30 minutes a night by shoving dirty dishes directly into the dishwasher without allowing them anywhere near the sink. She even goes so far as to "challenge" the dishwasher by intentionally creating scenarios that put it at a disadvantage, just to see if she can make it falter. Thus far, the dishwasher always wins, and she's ecstatic.
Thank you.
This is so sweet honestly. Just the kind of comment I needed today
don't skip on your regular maintenance cycles on the machine - many people don't realize this, but with time - grease builds up in the internal pipes of the dishwasher, and if you don't do the maintenance cycles - you'll end up with a broken machine (it happened to my previous dishwasher)
You win a wholesome award.
@@moetocafe Never had that problem though I kinda gave up on dishwashers because steam kept getting into the circuitry and killing the machine before any kind of build up could cause a problem.
@@olstar18 sorry to hear that, but don't give up on dishwashers, just because of a single failure and bad experience with a specific unit.
Dishwashers are wonderful machines, that truly make life easier, esp. when you have limited time for chores with the busy everyday, most people live.
Life would be so much harder for me, without a dishwasher.
“We’ve got to talk about dishwashers again”
Me - You have my full attention, go on.
Me: "I was waiting for more."
Same
Wow. I have spent half my life working on dishwashers, 1000's of dishwashers of all brands over two decades. I also use a dishwasher at least 3 times a day because I have a huge family. I am embarrased to say that I have learnt something new, adding a bit of detergent for the prerinse. Makes a lot of sense, lol. Subscribed and liked. Thank you sir.
Takes a lot to admit, good for you!
@@mcohen8025 The more someone knows, the humbler. The less someone knows, infinite ego and opinion of their knowledge balloons.
Were your dishes already coming out clean, though? If so, I don't see any reason to waste product doing this.
Phew, I felt that. Great comment!
"I'm not gonna lye" I would have missed this gem without the closed captioning. Thank you for a good punny laugh.
I feel like when he said "I'm starting to see a light there", he was clearly acknowledging / laughing about the fact that this channel's content is 90% lights.
my first guess was that there was truth serum in there, and that's why he said "not gonna lie", but thats sodium pentothal, not sodium hydroxide. thanks for catching this, haha
Sodium Hydroxide / lye / caustic soda, used to keep the pH of Sodium Hypochlorite / bleach high to prevent from decomposing.
Sodium hydroxide also turns into a detergent when it reacts to oil.
Bleach can be made with chlorine gas and sodium hydroxide.
Hydroxides are great.
Lye🤣
Also "unexpected smooth Jazz" and "Sufficiently smooth Jazz"
I guess this is what being adult is like: watching a man on youtube rant about dish detergent and walking away with valuable life lessons...
Your profile picture makes this comment even better 🤔😂😎👍
welcome to adulthood
Ya, knowledge. It's more powerful that Thanos.
@@milenamiki1349 Thank you :D
@@PolPotsPieHole Been here for over a decade, but thanks :D
From a Minnesota born, Chicago raised kid, I want to highlight "I'm a Midwesterner. I'm no stranger to principled suffering," as a high point in your writing career. It belongs on a cross-stitch on the narrow stairway to the too-warm upstairs. Or prominently on your CV.
Does the narrow stairway have a kink in it somewhere? If not, I'm not sure this comment is relatable enough.
Principled suffering, porch geese, and the word “ope”
The triumvirate of midwesternism
At least you didn’t grow up in the part of the Midwest that no one in the Midwest wants to claim. Ohio…sure there’s far less crime where I grew up than in Chicago, but that’s mostly because there’s NOTHING worth stealing or fighting over. Lol.
@@steveo7771286 I am Ohio born and raised, and I must say I think Indiana is even worse. Or at least Fort Wayne Indiana is. I worked there for 2 years. And nothing fucking happened, And they had shittier grocery stores.
@@45nickname very good point. Ohio AND Indiana…middle of nowhere, USA
We just got a new dishwasher after our 15 year old one died. My daughter had me watch both your TH-cam videos about pod detergents and prewashing. I am now going back to powders and will use the pre rinse and post rinse aids as recommended. Happy to stop using big plastic bottles (or buckets) that can't be recycled. I am 70 and now a subcriber.
Priscilla Leach, Michigander
If you had an entire Netflix season over dishwashers I would spend all day binge watching it. I have no idea how you are making this so interesting but I absolutely love it.
🤣
Bring on the 3-phase, 5 stage commercial models that take about 300 litres just to prime!
I want a laundry detergent episode.
Just watch it on TH-cam
Why does everything need to be on Netflix
How is this comment older than the video?
Pro tip from a pro 50 year old housewife. Take the cheap powder detergent and place in an airtight tub/container and find a suitable small scoop. Eliminating mess. These videos are genius and I love them! Household mechanics are my life.
Good tip! "Household mechanics," something we should all aim to get good at
I can't remember the brand, but I purchased a tub of dishwashing soap that came packaged this way... in a tub with a scoop. That was back in the day when dishwashing soaps still had phosphates in them.
I use washing powder in my washing machine too, instead of pods / gels. They're so much cheaper and do a good job. They also smell better
About 15 years ago I was given a half gallon sized Tupperware container filled with chexmix.... they didn't want it back so it now lives above my washing machine as a storage bin for my oxyclean powder lol
The plastic tubs that the dishwasher pacs come in can be reused to store detergent powder, oxiclean, or borax just add a scoop. If you are frugal, you can use the sccops from powedered laundry detergent boxes.
When using powders, the "pre-wash" is the powder you spill while trying to fill the cup.
It's not a bug, it's a feature!
honestly that's probably when they realize that you need pre-wash liquid or gel.
powder is the only thing that works in my dishwasher, otherwise liquid just congeals and doesnt get used up, even super small amounts. weird huh
Michael J. Fox must have the cleanest dishes in the world.
@@cymes82 Nasty but funny
your video auto-played next from something i was listening to while i was grocery shopping with my son. i didn't change away because i wanted to 'not be picky' and let it play.....and also because my phone was zipped into my jacket. i am now home, finished putting away my groceries, rewatched your video, about to explore the rest of your channel, and am now sad i JUST left my local Walmart without getting non-tablet detergent powder. Thank you sir.
Just needed to chime in and rave about the writing here. I actually don't know how someone can take something like dishwasher detergent and make a 48 minute video that is well spoken, clear, entertaining and genuinly funny. I wish that any actual 'comedy' TH-camr out there could make me laugh as much as that snarky John Henry coment.
He is a true genius when comes to making something boring into something interesting. I saw the "Brown" video a year ago and it still amazes me.
Yes! I don't know many younger people (if any) who would catch that John Henry reference. (And yes, the "Brown" video was also similarly amazing - how this guy can take a seemingly mundane subject and make it so interesting that it holds my attention for so long... gotta love the guy.)
@@jamarsac See CGP Grey’s “Tiffany” videos. Similarly a boring-turned-fascinating thing, also a two-parter for which part II is a follow-up that gets META follow-up-y.
@@MemeticsX I’m sorry I don’t get the reference.
I'm one of those that thought my dishwasher was just crappy at it's job until I saw the original video. Getting great results now, thank you!
Me too!
Original Video got me to dust off the Manual and test out the "Sensor Clean" mode. Which basically adjusts the rinse/wash cycles depending how dirty the water ends up. Been tempted to try the Platinum Pacs but thankfully this followup video has reminded me the Powder has been and will continue to do a good job.
Me too
3 yrs later my dishwasher is still crap. Less crap than it was originally though cuz I stop using it for 29 days of the month.
I used to work in a laundry and dish soap manufacturing plant in Utah, and I can tell you unequivocally that the different colors in the detergent packs means absolutely nothing. It is all the same exact product just dyed differently to make them more enticing.
Exactly like you said "more colors equals better sales", when they tested these they found that people felt less compelled to buy them when it was a single pack of just powder or liquid, because why not just buy straight powder or liquid and dose yourself?
But with different colors and compartments in the pack, people assume it's several products at once that are all properly dosed, and that's way easier than having several different products and trying to figure out the ratio yourself. Even though the manufacturers never necessarily claim it's several different products in one pack, people assume it based on coloring.
Thank you for your input kind sir/m'am
*Proctor & Gamble* wants to know your location
Henkel?
@@Nermin_1978 sun products when I worked there, but yes
@@doggfite yeah Huish before that if I remember correctly. I used to drive truck between warehouses and I remember how couple of blocks smelled really nice
Learned a lot from this video. On the topic of handwashing, there are a few good reasons to hand washing certain items. WOOD items in particular don't do well, the harsh chemicles dry out and destroy the wood. KNIVES (esp with wood handles) tend to dull faster. CAST-IRON seasioning does not hold up well. SILICONE either holds on to grease/oil or a hard water buildup. The things that you use and wash frequently. Lastly... some people like me find hand washing dishes to be a pleasant and relaxing task. Since I'm one of those people that enjoys hand washing, I use the diswasher for all the glass, ceramic, and stainless steel things I can jam in there. I certainly don't want to wash everything every day, but I do like to take care of those items that don't fare well in the automatic washer.
The fact that I can sit through a 48 min video on the nitty gritty details of dishwashing detergent is a testament to what a great presenter Alec is.
I confess. I watched this at 1.25x playback speed.
for me it was the urge to escape my aerodynamics exercises, but he definetly helped :D
@@Soruk42 How did you manage the first minute and a half when he was speaking at 2x normal speed?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
"I'm a midwesterner, I'm no stranger to principled suffering" is an amazing line :D
That line slayed me! 🤣
God, as someone born, raised and living in Minnesota, that’s so true. I think it might be our unofficial state motto!!
A rabbit with a TH-cam channel!
Guy's car is registered in Faillinois. That's not principled suffering. That's masochism.
I think that is true by definition. 🙃
Technology Connections: "We need to talk about dishwashers again."
Me: "Damn right we do."
I love how the Cascade says "Number 1 product". Which, I wouldn't be surprised if it had a star next to it, and the star says in small print " Among products named Cascade".
I'm not gonna miss a video about dishwashers for any reason in the world. Bring it on!
I don't even have a dishwasher and I can't look away lol.
@@AndyBHome now you can. its at 170 and counting.
I got goosebumps when I saw it in my youtube recommended videos.
This video made a difference. Fixing my dishwasher this week.
Everyone hates it when I spill my hot takes on dishwashers 😎
I'm living in a campus apartment and the dish washer has always been really unreliable. I always used powder detergent because of price really. I just tried pouring some powder before starting the machine (my washer doesn't have that second section) and it worked wonders! I can finally use this thing instead of using it as a drying rack.
dont forget to run the hot tap before!
Make sure you clean out the filter at the bottom too! Since it's a college apartment, I bet it's NEVER been cleaned...
@@zviper are you assuming it’s a hot fill dishwasher? Over here in Europe those aren’t really a thing.
@@JasperJanssen You got me! I did, better safe than sorry :)
@@JasperJanssen coincidentally, I had to buy a new dishwasher a few weeks ago, so I kinda needed to dig into the subject to buy a decent one. Turns out that many of the dishwashers sold here (for non Dutchies: Jasper and I are both European) support hot filling. Heck, even my broken 20 year old dishwasher was fine with hot filling, according to old spec sheets. It’s just uncommon here to use warm water to fill the machine.
I also tried to find one with a macerator instead of a filter, but that just doesn’t seem to exist here.
"Through the power of buying way too fucking many of them" has got to be the most hilarious payoff of a running joke on any channel or video series or whatever that I've ever seen omg
I died 😅
When I saw this video come out, I went to watch the original first. I was mildly disappointed that he didn't pull out that line when he put the dishwasher on the table.
Good it wasn't just me, the speed on the pan out is calculated to the level I believe its derived from a cosmological constant he's yet to release and idk maybe it has something to do with turn ratios in condenser coils
I just discovered your channel today, and I'll admit, I find your commentary entertaining enough that I watched most of this video despite not having owned or used a home dishwasher in over a decade.
That is all.
A man that can say "i was wrong" loud and proud is a man that has my full respect.
Unlike all recent U.S. Presidents.
"Through the magic of buying way too much F***king Dishwasher Detergent"
This. This is why I'm subscribed to you. You're like a role model to me at this point.
I had to pause the video I was laughing so hard
He's such a freakin treasure, man!
I lost it when this happened
him and Project Farm for me
*** magic ***
You my friend are the only person I can bring myself to listen to speak about soap for nearly 50 minutes. Bravo
Twice.
Facts lmao
Ditto Internet Historian
This Video (and its predecessor) has brought me so much joy. the Joy of not doing the dishes anymore. I was under the impression that dishes had to be soaked and rinsed to effectively wash in a dishwasher. My whole family holds this perception, this video has disrupted us and set us free from the damning binds of dirty dishes. This video saved my LIFE
Man, I just showed my mom your first video after we got a new dishwasher, and now I have to watch a 48 minute follow up?!
Of course I’ll watch it all!
The powdered detergents having abrasives in them dates back to the 1980's and earlier. Some detergents had literally fine sand or pumice in them, but as more and more homes had dishwashers with grinders or garbage disposers, these particles chewed up those elements like crazy. So they switched to plastic microbeads. Beyond the environmental travesty of those microbeads (the same that have been used in exfoliant body and facial cleansers and are mostly phased out), they tended to become stinking threads of plastic goo that would build up like plastic cotton candy through the innards of the dishwasher. I don't think a single powder has had an abrasive in it since probably 1990 by my estimate.
Excellent historical info there.
This needs to be the top comment
They also etch glass permanent...
I liked the old detergent with sand of whatever, sure it took the pattern off the plates but did clean motorcycle engine parts beautifully!
@@jonathantatler - You put your motorcycle parts in the dishwasher? I can't decide if that's lunacy or genius. Maybe both.
I think it's funny that he's likely going to change the market share of certain detergent types just by ranting about them on youtube. Good job Technology Connections. I'm proud of you.
He's definitely benefited some Amazon vendors that sell hard water test kits 😅
@@jjbarajas5341 home depot offers free water testing. Pick up the kit and send it in. Depending on where you live, they can be really complete or painfully inadequate. They give the kit out free so you can see if you need a water softener, so some locations only test for water hardness. In my area, they have a full 7 panel analytical test and results, but I brought one to a family member in another state, and even though I checked the boxes for the other 6 tests, they only reported on hardness.
@@littlejackalo5326 does your water provider not publish their results? In the entire EU and most other European states the water provider has to publish their test results.
Technology Connections MASSIF. Cascade is QUAKING.
@@littlejackalo5326 I just look in my local (free) newspaper and see what my water provider got from their tests regarding literally dozens of minerals and chemicals as well as of course hardness. Do you not have this in the US? Or get it from their website.
Can I just say that adding soap during the prewash is A GAME CHANGER!!!! I always called BS on anyone saying “you don’t have to rinse your dishes.” After watching these videos I was like yeah right, but fine I’ll give it a go just so I can say you’re wrong. I have never been so happy to be wrong before. Everyone in my family does this now and agrees it’s great. Thank you!!
I’ve been going through a lot recently, and “Midwesterner yells at cloud” is exactly the energy I need to keep it together. Love the channel
Damn clouds always lookin down on me making funny faces
*shakes fist*
about talking to clouds ... just the other day I told a rapidly-brewing storm over me to "behave yourself" because I wasn't finished doing whatever I was doing outside ... then lightning struck the neighbor's tree right after ... don't argue with a thunderstorm 🤣
"And I’m a Midwesterner! I’m no stranger to principled suffering."
There's so much good writing in this video, but this is just... *chef's kiss*
I fix appliances for a living and I have given this link to more than one customer. Despite what most people think of appliance repair guys, I really don't enjoy charging some elderly couple hundreds of dollars for something they could have prevented JUST by using the machine as designed and cleaning it once in a while. Ty for the great video...A+ work.
That was me in phone sales. My manager wanted me to scum sale (as I call it). I'm not going to tell someone they need a new phone if it as simple as a charger needing replaced, or the air being blasted into ports.
I work in an hardware store and my dad own a farm and i learn some tips and tricks, so when at work, I try to help my customers to find the least expensive way to complete their project cause i don’t like scum-selling either
@@M60A3, building that trust with customers will have them coming back for future business :)
I’m watching a 48-minute video on dishwasher detergent - and I just realised I don’t have a dishwasher…!
@@piccalillipit9211 Me also.
So thanks to the magic of The Algorithm I have now watched a combined 80 minutes on friggin dishwashers and been loving every second of it. You, dear Sir, are a gentleman and a scholar and have earned a new subscriber.
You have a rare skill of being able to present boring data in a very entertaining way. You had my wife and I laughing at this one. Thank you :)
Never though I'll find a story about dishwashers to be just fascinating!!!
I can't believe I was interested in 48 min video about dishwashers
The way you speak of manufacturer recommended appliance practices strikes me like a young Hank Hill
"Dipropylene and Dipropylene accessories"
Snarky Hank Hill
I'll tell ya whut...
He’s found his lawn
In the spirit of this comment there needs to be a propane episode
Alec getting entirely too upset about people washing their dishes wrong is like the best thing about this channel.
Except for all the other things.
His name's Alec??
@@salmiakki5638 Yup.
@@salmiakki5638 short for Alectricity.
@@crapcopter I remember seeing Alec's laptop or something to that tune, in a video about lightscribe. Check it out
@@salmiakki5638 You want a real smack in the face? His last name is Watson. Alec Watson. Tell me that his name is not perfect for what he does!
I've had this bookmarked for a couple years now to because these two sections are literally the best dishwashers for idiots clips I've seen thus far:
- "You can use way less detergent than the box says" - Fun fact, my box doesn't even have dosing instructions.
- "Rinse Aids (use them!)"
Great stuff.
"They were out of Mega Millions" when mentioning the "power ball" pack, that one got me good.
It went over my head until I saw your comment.
@@Alexander_l322 likewise! I first brushed it off as "must be some American brand thing", rather than a reference to that lottery thing.
@@FiXato I thought the exact same lol, I’m from the UK where we have finish power ball, Quantum and Max I think but not Mega millions so I just assumed he was talking about a Finish brand that we don’t have. I laughed once I got the joke.
Same 😂
I work in the manufacturing facility that makes the enzymes in the cascade pods, as a process engineer. I can verify that the 3 different colors in the top of the pack do contain 3 different enzymes, all with unique stability chemistry. The different colors are a design choice, made upon the processing constraint that these components needed to be separated to ensure stability longer than ~2.5 months. If these 3 enzymes were packaged together, they would be almost useless by the time the customer used the detergent. I can also verify that the inclusion of glycerin is completely correct. It is added to the enzyme during "liquid formulation" shortly after being separated from the host cells. This is also done to improve enzyme stability. I am biased because my job is based around these enzymes; but, I am a proponent of the premium cascaded pods because they were the first iteration to introduce 2 new enzymes, and enzymes are really good at cleaning dishes.
Interesting
The only question I really want an answer to is, can I eat them?
@@ds29912 Wrong, the real question is "how many can you eat?!"
@@alaric_ hmm? I'll get back to you.
Yep, he's discounting these entirely thinking they're just colored gel.
I think he's also missing the best part: Use the pack, add a splash of powdered detergent for the pre-wash cycle. Perfect cleaning.
I’m a 31 year old man watching another grown man explain dishwasher detergent. And there’s drama attached some how. I’m thoroughly enjoying it 🤣
you need to get a hobby
Spot on
I'm a 25 year old woman and very much same.
@@lordjaashin I agree 😞
@@sef11996 well hello there 25 year old cat lady...
that "sped up" part was insane...
and I learned a lot about dishwashers too! Thank you!
I watched 50 minutes of someone talking about dishwashers and their detergent and I would do it again.
Great writing and surprisingly entertaining.
I think you converted someone to powder, or atleast convinced me to try
I watched both videos. We don't even have dishwasher...
We are poor.
@@tiagomoraes1510 pods bad value and over dosed, pre-wash is important if you are having bad results, powder = good for your wallet because of how cheap it is per wash and you can dose it for smaller batches (x20 compared to pods), for the environment because of lower packaging and more compact form factor (gel is mixed with 90% water).
That's the gist
He can talk about the most mundane things and I have zero problems with watching his videos over and over. His subtle humor is what I live for.
I don't even have a dishwasher, but he made me want one
“If your water is up high enough on the hardness scale that it leaves you with scale that is hard to deal with” Jesus this man is a genius
"I'm a Midwesterner! I'm no stranger to principled suffering!" Never heard such a succinct description of us Midwesterners. Amazing.
I just started scrolling through the comments and somehowly managed to read this at the exact time he was saying it. Kinda felt like he was in my head.
This is actually something I’ve been wondering about forever! I already came to the conclusion that you were paying more to get less on those packs, but was really close to rigging up a camera to see for sure what was going on in there… thanks for saving me a GoPro!
After watching the original video, I remembered of how my parents complained about their dishwasher not working that well, and that they were starting to wash their dishes by hand. The next time I visited them, I tried the method proposed, and lo and behold: it worked flawlessly! Since then, I've used the method at home and my parents have used it at their home all the time, with drastic improvements.
It truly helped my daily life and made TC grow from a fun channel I like to watch to a channel I love and support on Patreon.
Keep up the great work!
“Upgrade. Do it. More colors. Pretty.” is going to become my ringtone now
My first tech connections video was the old dishwasher one.
HEY! PLEASE READ: The dishwasher that you tested the tab in, Has a faulty heating element. (Whirlpool, Maytag, Kitchenaid, Jennair) The Flanges are gold color and have a major recall FYI. The new element will have stainless rings where it seals to the tub. Get that element replaced before it starts leaking. Great video and keep up the good work!!
Comments like these need a pin!
+
No response I guess. Too bad.
@@ianspeckmaier9565 The original article was a year ago... and also 17,500 or so comments ago. So, yes, the heater element comment hasn't been responded on. Do you expect it to?
@@ianspeckmaier9565He has literally cut a big hole in it because it wasn't working properly anymore. I don't think potential future problems with it is a big concern anymore.
Nothing more respectful than admitting when you’re wrong and clarifying your misunderstandings. Good job 👍
“And now, rinse aids!”
I was already on the edge of my seat and that just pushed me off the edge. Not gonna lye, I got super excited when he pulled out the rinse aid.
yaaaas the jubilation when the rinse aid came out was very real
Y'all are some weirdo's getting excited about rinse aid lol
Didn't learn much, just that I've been right all along.
Always preferred powder, about half full, with rise aid. Clean my filter and sump monthly. Yasss!
The only TH-cam comments section with soap puns.
I actually just refilled the rinse aid reservoir in mine moments before he started talking about it.
"By the magic of buying way too much fu*king dishwasher detergent" is my favorite TC moment by FAR.
Wasn't midwest settled by Germans and Scandinavians? That would check out.
@just do it
Not my cup of tea but appreciate you sharing such things.
I was so ready for the "buying n of them" joke that the sudden bleep just slayed me
Yep, got an actual out loud laugh from me
He owes the woman opposite me on the train home an apology for my choking and the Dr Pepper running out of my nose.
Hey, I just want to say that I was also someone who thought our dishwasher just wasn’t very good and felt the need to hand wash my dishes because I couldn’t trust it to get everything off the way I like. That pre wash information was life saving for me. I can’t stand hand washing and now I only have to do it with special rarely used items instead of everything I use daily. Thanks!
Fun fact from Germany, a couple of years ago we supposedly have had an interesting problem: Germans seem to have been too good at water economy for our own sewage system, that was designed back when the waste water volume used to be higher. Low sewage volume may cause problems with buildups not being washed away properly.
Can't you fix that by drinking more beer, resulting in more flushes?
So Germans don't bath. Got it.
@@8bitorgy No, I think he was saying that Germans don't poop enough.
@@8bitorgy Non-American, or even non-North American, bathrooms are generally smaller and therefore, they don't always have bathtubs due to size.
@@jwb52z9 Nonsense, utter utter nonsense.
It's been a while. Pardon me, I was working on this masterpiece. Also, here's the original video if you want more info on dishwashers themselves.
th-cam.com/video/_rBO8neWw04/w-d-xo.html
Quality > Quantity. No worries!!
Well, at least you admit your mistakes. Can't ask for much more than that! 👍 😬
Love the tee shirt, so many memories.
I love the snarky humor don't stop being yourself
@@shb8651 quantity eats quality
"There's also sodium hydroxide in here... not gonna lye" I Love this channel.
" I see what you just did there " Recommended reading: "Cruel Lye, A Caustic Yarn"
Lmao I didn't even get that until now.
Imagine if someone wooosh this
Bruh 😂
I only got it cause I'm deaf and he made sure the captions spelled it right! He actually edits the captions as well!
As suggested by you, I went back to normal powder, add a little prewash dose separately on the inside of the lid. Incredible how much of a difference it makes.
"There's even sodium hydroxide in here, not gonna lye." Magnificent. Utterly magnificent. Hats off, sir. I also have enormous respect for your commitment to delivering the synopsis at the beginning at speed, rather than using digital trickery to make it seem like you did. Truly an artisan.
Almost missed it
OMG, I knew there was a pun in that line and somehow I couldn't figure it out, despite staring me right in the face. 🤦♀️ Thank you! 😅
i realized there was a joke but i still dont get it
@@Joadix100 "Lye" is the common name and "sodium hydroxide" is the chemical name. "Lye" is pronounced the same way as "lie." Thus, I giggle.
This probably doesn't need to be said, but just in case: lye has been used to make soap since before the pyramids were built.
"Through the magic of buying too much fucking detergent..."
I'M HOWLING
Yes.
Same. This was easily the peak of the episode. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
I told my friends at work that I was almost embarrassed by watching a whole video on a dishwasher. Now I have to tell them I watched the follow up by choice.
Great work thank you!
I've had the same experience when talking about microwaves
IKR!?!? 🧐🤪
I don't even own a dishwasher in this house, but could not stop watching!
I saw this video recommended soo many times on google and fully planned on skipping through. But I’m only 40 seconds in and I can tell I’m gonna watch the whole thing lol. Thank you for this 🖤
Huge respect for putting good, accurate captions on your videos. Hell, I'm not deaf nor a non-native English speaker but I always leave captions on just in case there's one word that someone's saying and you just CANNOT understand what in the world they're trying to pronounce even after replaying it 5 times. Another nice example of accessibility features benefiting even those without the problem the features are designed to fix.
Alec & Tom Scott are probably the best in terms of good captioning
Many videos TH-cam creates a transcript - so you can read what's being said - if TH-cam understands them - otherwise it's just [music] !
@@millomweb Yeah the auto-captions are a little questionable usually, I personally don't really use them except as a last resort. Great that they exist though for sure!
@@millomweb It doesn't always. I'm a teacher. One time I decided that I was going to show Donald Duck in Mathemagic Land to my students on the last day of school. I use this accessibility feature myself pretty often since I often have trouble with voices in videos. Needless to say, on at least one occasion youtube thought that Donald was dropping an F bomb. I promptly turned the auto generated captioning off.
Especially ones that incorporate his puns. The 'I'm not gonna lye' in the captions stood out to me.
"They were out of Mega Millions"
That's the kind of Dad Joke that got a fairly loud "HA...nice" from me. Keep up the great videos!
For me it was; "If you're happy with your detergent ... ...clap your hands" Because I made that EXACT same stupid joke in my head, and there's nothing I love more than making a stupid joke, only for the video I'm watching to make the same stupid joke! XD
The other day I was camping, and my brother pulled out his Coleman lantern. That got me spending the next ten minutes trying to explain the appeal of this channel. "Well, he goes on pedantic rants about the minutia of everyday objects for a LOOOOONNNG time. It's great!" I don't think he was impressed.
See i don't explain with words, i just cast to the TV and say "watch this", i think I've convinced my dad this channel is great.
If his episode about brown doesn't do it for you, you may not have a soul.
Is that a game grumps reference I see
@@jamesmitchell7707 not a direct reference, I think the "for a loooonnnng time" joke has just ingrained itself into my vernacular, and slipped out subconsciously. Haha
Did you tell him about the snark?!
I hadn't had a dish washer for many years, but recently bought one to save the time of hand washing. I get actual joy every time I run it. Your videos have been great getting me up to speed on how they work!
I don't think the conclusion of "companies want you to buy more stuff" even classifies as cynical. It's pretty realistic.
It is literally their goal. Detergent pods are the cleaning equivalent of Keurig K-Cups. Its just taking an existing, stagnant (from a profit-growth perspective) market and finding a way to squeeze more money out of dupes.
Never apologize for being snarky, that's what I keep coming back for.
Here here!! I always feel like he conveys the snarky comments I wish I had the courage to say.
Yes. More snark please!
Likewise. I see it more as a normal outpouring of annoyance and sarcasm than snark anyway :)
Agreed!
agreed!
You’ve convinced me, and when I looked in the dishwasher manual there was actually a friendly section titled “What to do if you want to stop using multi-tablets” which is THRILLING, I feel like I’m becoming a part of something bigger, cleaner
How can you comment this and not tell us what it says haha
@@marvinjoa he's part on an in-group now and isn't supposed to talk about it. It's like the first two rules of the Fight Club.
@@marvinjoa he's part on an in-group now and isn't supposed to talk about it. It's like the first two rules of the Fight Club.
@@marvinjoa Giving someone the answers, will only hurt them in the long run.
An update from me for any who care! Following the advice in this video I am getting perfect results! My first two tries left some spots but by my third wash I had it dialed in just right! Thank you so much for these dishwasher videos!
"Did you know you can get *powdered* laundry soap?"
Please, please, go on a tirade about that! PLEASE!
Wait, do Americans not have washing powder?
@@raracool6531 it exists, but its very uncommon. I only found out it existed because i worked at a grocery store.
@@raracool6531 I've never heard of it. You can get in a liquid easily, but the only powder I've seen is Oxy Clean, and that's more of a supplement than a main washing chemical.
@@raracool6531 Liquid laundry detergent is *much* more popular, but has the same drawback as liquid dishwasher detergent: It's mostly water... you're paying for water!
And of course there's the now-ubiquitous Tide Pods, which are just powdered detergent in a plastic pod form with some squidgy bits of color added to make it "better" somehow. But now I'm just writing Alec's script for him.
I use powdered detergent exclusively.
@@angolin9352 Powdered detergent is cheaper per-load but for *some* reason grocery stores always seem to stock it on the bottom-most shelf... hrm...
The complaint about powders being messy is likely due to how poorly made or roughly handled boxes of powder tend to spring leaks from the vertices and bottom closure. It's comparable to how flour comes spurting out of the bag if you drop it even a few centimeters.
We actually keep our powder detergent in an old detergent tin and use a scoop instead of the spout for that very reason.
Very smart!
@@maxheadroom224 we have a plastic container with a door on top and refill it with the new bags of powder detergent we buy.
We keep ours (well, don't have a dishwasher, so I'm referring to powdered laundry soap) in a big old plastic jar with a screw-on lid that originally held mango pickle.
or when someone has a leaky sink drain or sink/counter seal. Turns into a brick.
@@Albtraum_TDDC *looks at original comment* LOL I do the same thing with my flour!
"Did you know you can get powdered laundry soap?"
Yes I did, but I had forgotten. My family used it when I was a child. Totally unlocked some vivid memories of helping my Mom with laundry.
Please do a video about it! I'm curious to see how it compares to liquid detergent (and also to those detergent packs).
is that different that powdered laundry detergent? because that still exists but not that common
I just bought a big bucket of powdered laundry detergent because it comes in a very useful big plastic bucket. It's like a double win. But I also have Tide pods.
Is powdered laundry detergent that rare in the states? We mostly only use powder in India, I'm not even sure these Pouches / Tide pods are actually even available here
@@sayujraphael It's available in stores and on the internet. I just bought a bucket online. I now have the detergent and a useful plastic bucket.
Th... There are other kinds?
This man's the epitome of knowing a topic so well he makes it sound simple enough for a toddler.
Please consider doing this for laundry machines! They could use a good investigation I say.
Yess!!
I do know that going down to 1/8th of a cup of laundry detergent (Persil, in my case) has been absolutely splendid. Cleans everything in cold water, and I buy detergent like twice a year or something? It's fantabulous!
One thing I've learnt with washing machines is to use washing powder, and avoid liquid detergents, or use them infrequently if you must. The reason for this is not because the powder does a better job (though I would say it does), but because washing machine powder contains a couple of chemicals that you wont find in a liquid detergent, sodium percarbonate (Oxygen bleach) and something called TAED (tetraacetylethylenediamine - I had to look that up :) ), which apparently significantly enhances the effectiveness of the oxygen bleach.
While their primary purpose is to remove stains from your laundry, they serve an invaluable second purpose of killing mould and bacteria in the tub, door seal and innards of your washing machine. You won't find them in liquids because in solution they would react with and break down the rest of the ingredients.
On top of that, with liquid washing machine detergent, you get gel residue which tends to hold on to moisture coating the innards of the machine, such as the creases of the door seal and inside the tub, creating a nice environment for black mould and bacteria to flourish.
Of course you can get all sorts of extra additives, like oxygen bleach, bottles of stuff to kill bacteria and mould in you laundry and washing machine cleaners, all at extra expense, to make up for the deficiencies of the liquids.
When they first reached the UK in the 80's, we switched to a liquid machine detergent (I think at my suggestion). All seemed good at first, then the washing started coming out with dark grey / black marks on which my mum and the repairman blamed on the black door seal of her machine, after using liquid for I guess 2+ years, and probably after a couple of new door seals, the washing machine started to stink (back then it was more common to do boil and hot washes, which would have helped to keep the mould and bacteria under control) and we discovered the real problem, used bleach to clean the machine and switched back to powders.
In the UK at least there is a bit of a thing for non-bio powders (enzyme free) and it often claimed to be better for kids, but biological powder is best at washing, except for wool and silk and for keeping the machine clean. There was an issue with a new enzyme used in one new formula bio powder many, many years that caused skin reactions with some people (my mum was one), which I guess may have started it off.
I would suggest to forget about best water saving and energy efficiency, and select the extra rinses option if your machine will do it, because modern energy efficient machines rarely rinse thoroughly enough on the standard settings to get rid of all the detergent.
@@Egaslem It is good to know about TAED (tetra acetyl ethylene diamine), which is not to be confused with the similarly-named EDTA (ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid). EDTA was mentioned in the video; It has long been considered to be a very safe chelating agent, though there is some evidence of toxicity at high doses. Chelating agents traps metal atoms/ions. EDTA is even used in some foods, for example to prevent discoloration, and/or to prevent fats from prematurely becoming rancid (oxidized) due to metal atoms (often from processing machinery). Nickel from stainless steel is a common culprit there. Manganese ions can also be trapped by EDTA, which is important for preserving hydrogen peroxide bleaching action. As a water softener, EDTA also binds iron, calcium, magnesium, and other metal ions.
One thing I neglected to mention is not only does the build up of mould, bacteria and liquid detergent residue coating the innards stink, it can promote corrosion, such as of the aluminium spider which attaches the drum to the drive shaft, causing it to fail.
There's a video promoting the benefits of TAED here th-cam.com/video/1NmsV6XAbuY/w-d-xo.html
The complaints about how long the dishwasher takes amuse me SO MUCH! I usually set the dishwasher to run as the last thing before I go to bed, so that I can empty it first thing in the morning. As far as I'm concerned, the best thing to do while your dishwasher washes the dishes is GO TO SLEEP!!! XD
That’s what we do. And by using rinse aid we don’t use the HEAT option and the dishes are dry in the morning.
Yes, I thought this was the obvious best use. Before bed and/or before work/going out to run errands, etc.
When you have a big family you sometimes need to run it 2-3 times a day
I do this, save that I set it to a 2-3 hour delay to ensure there is no background dishwasher noise running when I'm trying to get to sleep.
Hearing water flowing through the pipe system is relaxing just like sleeping while hearing the rain
As a fellow value-obsessed midwesterner, I appreciate the lengths Alec goes to to explain and demonstrate how the use of household systems can be optimized for different use cases.
I love the addition of the bloopers. I;m impressed you did the fast bit like that... I was sure that was just all editing! Such commitment. Thank you!
"It's not like the only thing you can do with that time is pace a rut in the floor waiting until you see your precious dishes again." THIS HAS ME CRACKING UP!
I somehow managed to completely miss that line...
so that's why they don't make dishwashers with a window on the front, they don't want you to stare at it.
dishwasher are just shy...
@@Ragnar_Oock I’d cancel Netflix if I had one of those.
It's funny though. Anxiety disorders and difficulties switching from one task to another or say impatience because you need to eat but you didn't put the dishwasher on until it was actually at or past lunchtime (executive function problems or just a busy chaotic life) then you could be waiting & pacing. Been there too many times. Same with the washing machine (laundry).
Plus, if for some reason you actually DO need one dish or fork right away and can't wait for the machine to finish, then wash one by hand. You can even remove them from the middle of the cycle.
15:27 The whole "no pre-wash" thing is specifically for the baby boomer generation (actual baby boomers, not people born in the 80's). My grandma was washing dishes for her house when she got her first machine washer, and that first generation of machine dish washers SUCKED. They were terrible. they hardly washed anything at all. they were essentially just a way to rinse dishes you had already washed. So she, and any other traditional woman born in the 40's, learned that you had to wash dishes before putting them in the washer. Most women would even use soap to scrub the dishes before putting them in the dish washer... with more soap. The pre-washing thing became a woman's secret homekeeping knowledge thing.
Old habits die hard. She STILL washes EVERY DISH completely by hand, WITH SOAP before loading them into the dish washer. Sometimes she will forget to put them in the dish washer at all because they are so clean that she will think they already went through. Good luck teaching an 80 year old woman how to use a modern dish washer though. From her perspective, she, and every other woman her age, has been washing dishes for 70 years. What could i POSSIBLY know about washing dishes that trumps 70 years of washing? I have to literally do her dishes in the middle of the night to avoid her demanding i wash them all completely by hand before loading them.
I have found that I either hand wash them before or after the machine, but unless the dishes are very lightly soiled, hand washing will be required.
@Gunhaver yes, my parents are also like this, although I might finally be winning dad over.
@Mike Grey I refer you to the first video in this series.
@@Musikur I watched it, I still haven't found a dishwasher that truly cleans dishes as well as hand washing. None can get dried oatmeal out of a bowl.
While I'm "Gen X", my parent's house I grew up in was built and outfitted the same year I was born. Hence, the abysmally crappy dishwasher and the childhood chore of "doing the dishes" - which essentially meant removing every speck of food from the dishes before putting them into the late 1960s era "dishwasher". Essentially the thing was just a post-wash hot water sanitizer. And my parents refused to ever upgrade anything until it had broken beyond repair (which meant every appliance we had was repaired a minimum of 3 or 4 times and usually only replaced when parts were no longer available for the 30 year old unit).
So, I continued to do this long into my adult life, especially since apartments tend to have equally crappy and ancient dishwashers - if they had them at all. Only in the past 10 years or so have I forced myself to break this life-long habit. It was very difficult, and I was always suspicious of the output of the dishwasher, minutely examining every little bit of surface to find any tiny speck of soil... or perhaps a misprint of the decoration on the plate; sometimes it was hard to tell.
Old habits die harder than Bruce Willis...
@@mikegrey8088 that's because of your own bad habits tho. You're supposed to get the food out of the dishes and put it in the trash before you clean them. It's... obvious. Just use a paper towel to quickly clean the still not-cemented oatmeal and then put the bowl in the washing mashine. Done.
"Did you know you can buy powdered laundry soap?" Yes! Can you do the equivalent for clothes? Pods vs Powder (homemade and purchased) vs gel (manual and auto fill)? I've had better luck with homemade powdered soap mixes, but have been warned "they can destroy the washer" the same as you heard for dishwashers. You can also go into upright vs front loading, and the different and potentially more complicated loading mechanisms!
Yes!! I would love this video too.
Please help, I tried but did not get good results from powdered laundry soap. I want to though!
Foca powdered laundry soap is hands down the best. Very little goes a long way.
@@evanallen5377 whenever I use powder soap, I always let the water get above the tub (there’s a small space beneath the upright tub that fills before the tub begins to fill) before adding it so that it doesn’t leave a white residue
As a user of liquid detergent (coloured clothes), powdered detergent (whites), and powdered soap (anything I don't want to potentially be irritating, i.e. pillowcases or face towels) I've been pretty happy with how everything washes so far. Powdered detergent is certainly more 'damaging' to clothing in my experience, which is why coloureds get liquid.
I actually find your sarcasm to be one of the most fun things about your channel. So thank you and do with that what you will
After seeing the speedy bit at the beginning, I so looked forward for the bloopers. The wait was well worth it.
FWIW, I definitely enjoy the snark. You are not only producing educational content on applicable/relatable topics, but also advocate for intelligent reflection on the topics of product quality, consumption, efficiency, and much more. The world is full of people who are missing information and/or context, and some of those people will double down on at instead of welcoming change (maybe all of us do that, depending on the subject). I for one think that snark is appropriate in these situations. You're still coming from a good place that wishes to educate; you don't aim to demonize, you're not trying to be on a high horse, you are trying to get people to think and reevaluate previously held stances. I think snarkiness makes the presentation more lively and helps engagement with the topic. As someone who snarks from time to time, I understand the self-consciousness to tone it down, but I hope it never goes away. It's quite endearing. Thanks for making a 48 minute video about dish washer detergent enjoyable. :)
I feel like you. I do not always see eye to eye with his views on things. I do however definitely enjoy the work he does in trying to get you to see things how he sees them and to just look a little deeper into ordinary things and you may learn something. I also love the comedy, quips, and snark. I find all of it smartly hilarious.
I, too, enjoy the snark. In fact, it's one of my favorite things about this channel! I mean, who else could put together such an entertainingly passionate (and educational!) 30 minute rant about dishwasher soap, and then follow it up with another entertainingly passionate and educational 45 minute rant about dishwasher soap?! The snark is a big part of that!
He could make a 90 minute video on the magic of paint drying and I would eat it up because I know it would be a hoot 😂
"shissatidfdumbledefufy FAH!" And yeah, John Henry deserved the snark.
Absolutely agree with you about the value and entertainment of the snark!
Fun story: When I was a kid, I used to think that the dishwasher filled up completely, or at least halfway, like an aquarium, and it would flood the kitchen if I opened the door.
So did I! It wasn't until I was like 7 or 8 when I saw one of those clear demo dishwashers at our local Sears that I saw how they actually worked. I was so fascinated with the machine that my parents could leave me in front of the damn thing, go do their shopping, and I would still be sitting in front of it!
Well it would probably still make a mess of water on the floor if you opened the door mid wash, just not bathtub volumes of water.
I still think that despite having watched both of the dishwasher vids. I'm not a clever man.
Wait waaaaaaaaaaaat!?!?
I thought that about front loading laundry machines until this very month, after moving into a place with one.
Just an fyi: your snarkiness is why I love this channel. I love the information, but I really love the personality you put on camera. It's human, and genuine. And funny!
We're all here for the snark, the useful info and everything else is just a wonderful bonus
I love how he change his accent when he is been snarki jaja
Smart and snarky. Works for me.
Just made the same comment before reading
My biology teacher consistently does that towards students who make questionable decisions 😅
Cheers and Thanks, and the reason some older folks hand wash is because it is pleasurable and gives a romanic feeling of sorts. I have struggled but your first video on dish washing changed me. Cheers!
I never envisioned a life where I would spend close to an hour listening to a guy talking about dishwashing detergent and be so thoroughly engaged with it, yet here we are. Thanks for a great video!
“I’m a Midwesterner, I’m no stranger to principled suffering!” Holy shit that line fucking got me
I'm not a midwesterner but I've met a few who act just like that and I got a mighty chuckle from him pointing it out!
Yher, I got that reference - being in the land the Puritans were escaping from.
I laughed because it feels like my job description (I drive professionally in the northeast) 😂
@@Bentfrombeyond Thanks for trucking where others just don't wanna!
Was that around the John Henry part? I lol'd.
Too add to the testimonials, growing up I was always taught that the dishwasher was just to get rid of whatever you missed washing and to sanitize the dishes. I was also told that prewash was just a waste since the dishes needed to already be mostly clean, if was just there for the types of people who were paranoid, and it was optional. For the past 4 months I've been in an apartment with a dishwasher again and I'm so much happier being able to toss dirty dishes in and not have to clean and scrub first, though I do still quickly rinse them to get the biggest stuff off, which also has the added benefit of running the tap to get the water hot. I'm also just buying cheap liquid instead of packs so it's cheaper too.
My dishwasher doesn't have a pre-wash compartment (it looks like it does but it's really just 2 different load sizes under the gasketed flap) so I just squirt a little into the bottom. I've had 2 items in 4 months of washing that didn't come out completely clean, and I'm pretty sure at least one of those was down to how I loaded it. I still can't convince my parents to try this but at least I know.
(And honestly, as soon as you explained why prewash was important I felt like an idiot for not realizing that. But I'd never even thought about it before, just accepted what I'd always been told)
Just demonstrate it infront of them and call them boomers. :P
Yes, I know some people just like that, waste more water "pre-washing" their dishes - like WTF is the point of having a dishwasher if it doesn't actually wash the dishes and you have to do it first? (or more like you can't read and follow simple directions) - it's infuriating how some people just have no logic to work that out on their own.
I definitely notice a difference between gel and powder - powder has always worked better. A long time ago, you could get a little plastic pail of powder that was even cheaper than the box (because it was a bigger container), and then the pail was useful for other things afterwards. Then they got rid of that, renamed it "finish", and seem to only sell it in little cakes now with that dumb red "powerball" on top :(
Hehe, very wise of you. As the Vulcans say: Challenge your preconceptions or they will challenge you. :)
Absolutely great video thanks for sharing! As a Canadian who has moved to a place with very very hard water (3 weeks to plug a shower head) a softening system was installed in our house after moving from a place with very soft water. Now with that said, regardless of water hardness, dishwasher common sense is needed! Load the dishwasher correctly, soiled surfaces facing the water stream, pointy things facing down etc. Scrape off the big bits, and FFS don't wash your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher!!!!! Its a dishwasher not a dish-rinser!!! The "pre-wash" detergent section is very important I have found. The pod sales companies don't want us to use this feature. When I cook a meal for a large family gathering I will toss a "pod" into the bottom of the dishwasher or or add some powder or liquid detergent to the door area. I find this removes grease and oils very well. I must back up though, I run the sink water until it is hot so that my dishwasher has hot water and not just cold/lukewarm water as it has filled from the water line that was cold. After years of using gels, packs, powders etc. I have found that correct loading and ensuring hot water is ideal. I run my current Maytag on the normal cycle with heat and sanitizing option or the "power blast" setting for extremely soiled dishes and pots and pans. The only time I have to re-wash dishes is after the Mrs. loads the dishwasher incorrectly with dishes facing away from the water spray and leave utensils and bowls facing upwards so they fill with dirty water...an ongoing educational battle that has yet to be solved! :) I have also found that when washing dishes with baked on goo such as: lasagna, turkey, duck etc, some baking soda added to the pre-wash detergent adds extra grit to scrub off the hard to clean mess.
I feel you. My wife and I joke about my Tetris skills every time I have to double-check her dish loading to fit the rest. ;)
I grew up with dishwasher load/unload as one of my daily chores, while she grew up without a dishwasher at all.
@@nathanschubert3048 Some people just can't grasp the loading of a dishwasher. I have to constantly reload the dishwasher after the wife made a mess out of it! She marvels at how much I can fit into it :) We have a new system now, I load, she unloads. its better for the dishes that way!
If you want to save a ton of money on cleaning a dishwasher go to the canning section and get powdered citric acid. Then just pour it into the soap dispenser of the dishwasher, shut the door, and wash empty. You now have a clean dishwasher and a ton of money saved. It works really well. It also helps get out left behind soap not just descaling.
Truly? 😊
@@vnickcolvin4971 yes, and the dishwasher I just bought had that as the “how to clean” directions.
Good idea. Vinegar works too.
@@Spudcore it does, but the manual says not to use regularly.
@@richard8939 Duly noted, thanks!