Appliance repair technician here: one thing a lot of people miss when talking about this topic is that while you CAN skip the pre-rinse, if you want to keep your dishwasher I still recommend getting as much as you can off. Leftover food stuff clogging pumps, pipes, and spray arms are the most common causes of service calls and premature wear. a little sauce left over is fine, but anything oily or solid needs to be removed if you want to keep your dishwasher healthy.
In general nothing oily should be going down the drain if you can help it. That will eventually clog the line to the sewer when it cools down enough to solidify.
Did you miss the part where they talked about scrapping off food to keep things from clogging the machine? No need to rinse, but that doesn't mean you load the machine with easily removed garbage.
@@fatsquirrel75 I don't think he missed a thing. I think he is tell *you* what the majority of service calls entail on dishwashers. Did you miss the part where @MinuteFood found her sprayer clogged?
@@fatsquirrel75 I think they gave some good insight though; oily substances could physically go down the drain and many may not see it as an issue. But once they leave your dishes and go down the drain… they can solidify and clog, causing a big issue.
I think one of the big reasons that so many of these topics are argued about so often is that there are lots of different ways to load a dishwasher that will result in clean dishes. Then people find one method that works, and assume it's THE correct method, remaining unaware of the many other perfectly functional methods.
The reason I was taught to put utensils facing down were for hygiene and safety. Forks and knives that are sticking up can injure someone placing more dishes in or emptying it. When a person empties the dishwasher they do not need to touch the parts of the utensils which come into contact with food or which other people will put into their mouths. To reduce the risk of spreading germs. If the handles are sticking up they can grab a whole bunch at a time. If even one razor sharp knife or a pointy fork is sticking up and someone cuts themselves you're going to have to run the dishwasher all over again to clean all the blood off of all the dishes.
@@PhilLesh69you make an interesting point, but some (many?) dishwashers only allows “face up” loading of flatware. I just went and measured the openings in the top of the flatware basket in my Bosch dishwasher, they are approximately 2.5cm x 1cm (1”x1/2”) and, except for some knives, nothing will fit through in the “face down” orientation. I know there are models with an entire (very thin) rack dedicated to flatware, placed at the very top of the tub, where the utensils are loaded horizontally instead of vertically, each separated from the other by little upright nubs, which solves not only the hazard of pointy bits sticking up, but also keeps the spoons from spooning, and the forks from forking. See for example dishwashers made by Miele.
I never developed binocular vision, so knives up is a very bad idea for me, forks should go down too if I had my way, but it seems my dishwasher wants forks heads up, so I put them in one area, and go in from the side!
I put mine down because I don't want to put my hands on the eating part of a fork/spoon/knife that someone else is going to be putting in their mouth. It's not sanitary even if I wash my hands. Plus it's easier to grab the handles to pull them out of the rack.
If you guys want a more in-depth series on how a dishwasher works, go watch the technology connections series on them. He goes into a TON more information and details on how they work, what soap to use, prerinsing, how important adding soap to the prewash is, etc.
I just wanted to share my 57 years of dishwasher experience well actually I grew up in an old farm house so I didn't get luxury of a dishwasher until I was pushing 35 but here is what I found. If you pre rinse your dishes it greatly extends the life of your dishwasher or if you don't prerinse, its best if you change the filters more often. I had one dishwasher that lasted me from 2001 to 2024. Yes you read that correctly. I only just got a new one this year. Pretty amazing! Just wanted to share. Thank you for the video. I really enjoyed watching
Yes I totally agree. Always pre rinse. My first dishwasher was a whirlpool and was so noisy I got rid of it after about 7 years. Still working. My second was a KitchenAid it lasted 18 years with only the racks having to be replaced once and the bottom spray arm bushing replaced once. Got another KitchenAid and it does a great job using just the short wash cycle...(cuts the wash time in half) which should extend the life of the unit by at least 50%. Only time will tell. You know what they say, (They don’t make things like they used to).
It lasted that long because it was made before planned obsolescence. Your new one will break a few months after the warranty ends even if you never install it or take it out of the shipping box
Additional tip about the utensil direction. If you put your forks, knives or any other stuff with slim pointed ends in the basket, make sure they don't poke through the bottom too much. In some dishwashers as much as 0.5cm is already enough to collide with the bottom spinner during operation.
Our Bosch has a raised center section which is perfect for forks. They can slide down with nary a worry. Also, if you don't have a Bosch, you are hearing too much noise.
I think that's what the utensil direction debate comes down to. If you put forks and knives pointy end up, you might get poked when you retrieve them. If you put them pointy end down, you might damage the baskets over time.
The biggest problem is caused by all the spoons and forks placed in the same direction so the "nest". Some up, some down and you get better cleaning. Thus the rule becomes don't use a rule for utensils.
Definitely don’t let that bottom spinner get stuck! I had a water bottle lid stick down, blocking it, causing it to leak water from the dishwasher. Called a technician who removed it and basically solved the issue (since I was using the right detergent, the seal was good, and all the other utensils were good). Now I make sure to leave it on the top shelf and make sure nothing hangs or blocks the spinners.
There's a really great TH-cam channel called Technology Connections that did a great video on how dishwashers work and how to maximize their effectiveness. His video pretty much agrees with everything you said, though he also adds that some parts of the world don't get hot water quickly when you start to pull from the hot water tap, which the dishwasher needs. So I always just let my hot tap run just long enough to be hot when I turn on my dishwasher. Also, using too much detergent can result in a streaky appearance on your dishes, or in particular, glass objects.
That must be some kind of USA thing. Most of the dishwashers in the country I'm from don't even have a hot water intake. All just rely on cold water that is heated by the dishwasher...
@@D1ndo Yeah, that part makes little sense to me. Where I live we don't get heated water from the municipality, so the hot water pipe at a given moment would have actual hot water only if either A. there's been enough sunlight to heat up the solar water heater installed on the roof, or B. you have purposely turned on the (usually) electric water heater in advance.
Thanks for the T.C. reference. As for cold vs hot water inlets, my dishwasher heats the water to its favorite temperature, if it comes in cold. Likewise for the clothes washer. So, no more 140 degrees. My hot water is exactly shower temperature now.
One other reason to put plastic in the top rack is because there's usually a heating element on the bottom of the dishwasher, so the bottom rack often gets hot enough to melt, crack, or warp plastic
This video reminded me of a thing I saw ages ago, a German kids TV show, Die Sendung mit der Maus, meant to answer questions children might have about how things work. So obviously they had one episode where they explained how a dishwasher works. However, it was filmed before GoPros were a thing, so instead of putting a camera inside the dishwasher, they asked a manufacturer to make a transparent dishwasher door.
Technology Connections modified a dishwasher to had a transparent wall as well in a video about 2 years ago. Not sure why didn't he thought on the simpler option of a action camera
That is the same thought I got. I waited how they describe that thing what that kids show showed us with some guys catching dirt and salt balloons. If anybody is curious about that quirky kid show and how they taught us the inner works of that cleaning box, just search here on youtube "sendung mit der maus spülmaschine" and select "Wie funktioniert eine Spülmaschine". The English subtitles are sort of okay. With a more engineering view but no tip's on how to load the dish washer.
When I was dating my late wife, her family used to throw large (14 to 20 place) dinner parties. When it was time to clean up, my date insisted I help her with the washing of the delicate dishes and glasses. (The pots, pans, cooking sheets, and so forth did go through the dishwasher.) Usually she would wash, I would dry, and whoever else was in the kitchen would place them in table racks set up for the occasion. To this day, I feel this was time well spent to get to know my then-future wife, and later as a couple.
I have a food handler’s certificate, and in my training we’re taught to load flatware face-down because it’s much more sanitary when you pull them out by the ends and you’re less likely to make someone sick when they use the utensil.
I will forever be a flatware face up person in my house. But as in handling any food I make for family, I wash my hands throughly beforehand.....because, you know, common sense.
I just had that discussion with someone. It's impossible to get the silverware out without handling the business end. He said "use a towel". It thought "too much trouble, put them working end down." Our dishwasher has a third tray which is the best thing ever. Besides small things, baby things etc, we use it for the silverware. There are slots so we can put the laying down on an angle and since we are a bit OCD we group them. Then I can just grab the spoon section and put them right into the drawer. It also let us remove the silverware basket altogether and have more room for big dishes. I love it.
@@pokelover02I don't think this video debunks that. All dishwashers are different, and some may do a better job blasting water through the silverware basket. In my dishwasher, if I load silverware handle up, it does a poor job. Another dishwasher I frequently use will not even let you put silverware handle up because you have to fit the handles through slots.
Adding a bit of detergent outside the detergent door (like on its lid or just on the door of the dishwasher) will make it so the initial rinse has detergent in it, and cleans vastly better!
@@johantj My dishwasher has a pre-wash compartment, but I still find it easier and more effective to just sprinkle the powder straight into the tub. Might be different for gels
This is neat. It confirmed a lot of things I knew to be true. One note: you have a prewash detergent basin in your washer but you completely ignore it. Fill that thing with liquid detergent and youll get even better results than you normally do since there will be detergent in your prewash water and not just cold tap water. Also run the hot line on your sink for a bit to make sure the pipe is charged with hot water so that initial fill is hot.
^^^this^^^ always run the hot water prior to starting dishwasher and squirt some liquid dishwasher soap into the botton of washer (or in the little indented cup, doesn't matter) so your prewash actually washes rather than rinses.
@@JimWhitaker Yes, USA. So it fills with cold then a heater inside heats the water? My machine also has a heater but I don't use it since my tap is set to "more scalding than the sun."
@@JimWhitaker you can add detergent directly to the tub if you dont have a prewash dispenser. A prewash dispenser really just spills detergent to the tub when you close it anyway.
You cannot beat the in depth conversations you can have with family and friends by doing hand prep cooking and hand washing dishes. As someone that discussed forks up or down I was arguing that it didn’t matter. A few days later I jammed a fork tine under my thumb nail pulling the flatware out of a dishwasher. Forks and knife point down, spoons up now and forever in our house.
Note that all dishwashers are intended to have soap in BOTH the prewash AND main wash water. It’s much more effective that way. Edit: if your dishwasher doesn’t have a prewash cup, read the manual. There’s a 100% chance it tells you to sprinkle some at the base of the door or into the main wash tub.
That's if you use liquid dishwasher detergent. I think that the dishwashers are way more efficient, and the pods are way more effective, that using a prewash soap isn't as needed. (Or, with current model of dishwasher I use it's not needed.)
@@jer103 I just buy the box of powdered detergent instead of liquid detergent or the pods. I put the powder detergent in the soap and the pre wash (just sprinkle some on the door before closing if yours doesn't have a pre-wash area) and it works great. The pods are overpriced and don't allow you to put detergent in the pre wash unless you use two. Also powder detergent is generally better than liquid because the powder has both bleach and enzymes where the liquid detergent can only have one or the other.
@@jer103 It does work, but you would need way less detergent overall if there is detergent in both the pre-wash and main wash. I'm pretty sure you would be surprised how little powder detergent I use and get clean dishes.
Add a small amount of powdered dishwasher soap in the pre-wash cup, and run the sink faucet until the water gets hot otherwise you aren't getting much use out of the 1st cycle.
Depends if there's hot water intake - it also may, or is able to heat the water on it's own, to desired temperature - you're wastefully heating the water then. You may find pre-wash addition insignificant. Read the manual and experiment with your dishwasher to find optimal settings.
Rubbish. Prewash is to remove heat sensitive soils. If your dishwasher is connected to hot water you and it's installers are idiots. Much higher running costs and inconsistent results.
Great job. Thank you. I rent rooms short term to travellers and am fascinated by how absolutely clueless some of them are about loading a dishwasher. Stacking things inside of each other is the one that really does my head in because it seems so blindingly obvious that it won't work. Good to know l'm mostly doing it right and it's great to finally understand why plastics don't dry. 😊
When I first moved in with my wife she loaded a pitcher on the bottom rack face up. Came out full of water....big surprise. She said she didn't grow up with a dishwasher, so she had no idea how to load it. Not sure how she didn't anticipate that happening lol
Many countries don't even have dishwashers so it does make sense many travelers won't know how to use one, even though common sense would tell you a few things at least. lol Common sense isn't always common.
One thing about per-rinsing your dishes: I do it so I don't have food sitting in the dishwasher before the next use. If you only run your dishwasher every 4 to 5 days, it will get pretty stinky in there, especially during the summer time. (It's why you don't throw your leftovers in the kitchen garbage, then let it sit there for a week.)
@@HansMaximum It's recommed to do this before and after a wash to minmize microbial growth(by letting the water evaporate). It only gets stinky in there because the micobles are having a feast.
I also pre-wash because sometimes the dishwasher doesn’t get all of the dried-on food off the dishes and pans. Regardless I still need to remember to run the washer at least once every week or two, or the unseen microbes will make it smell.
@@trevinbeattie4888 You bring up a good point. The first dishwasher we had, was weak, and wouldn't get the dishes clean without a pre-wash. I guess that kind of conditioned me to clean the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. The new dishwasher I currently use can easily clean they dirtiest dishes, with ease. But if you are in the habit of pre-washing, it's hard to break the habit.
Thanks for pointing out the importance of how the washing functions in getting dishes clean. My experience is you are right about pre-rinsing (instead of “wrong” as questioned at 5:08). The issue is a matter of degree… as in how much time and materials are used to pre-pare the dishes for effective dishwasher use? Passive soaking can be very efficient. To wit: if pre-rinsing is not necessary, then why do some dishes continue to have food stuck to them coming out of a dishwasher when dish/utensils’ positioning has been proper. I’ve observed this for decades with every brand of dishwasher and detergent I’ve used. Further, Food that stays stuck on dishes AFTER going thru a dishwasher typically is even MORE difficult to manually remove than if the object was “pre-rinsed.”
the biggest thing people should know about dishwashers is CLEAN YOUR DISHWASHER clean out the filter, check the sprayarms for objects from time to time, use a dishwasher cleaner every once in a while dont get your clean dishes from a dishwasher that has gunk in it from 2 months ago
100%. Especially the filter trap and even more especially for folks who don't do any rinsing or don't take the time to scrape out food bits. Seems like this must be one of the most significant causes of dishwashers not fully cleaning, or being smelly, and while it's not exactly a nice job to have to do, doing it regularly is a lot better than waiting until it's *really* gross. I always scrape out anything big and try to give things a quick rinse before anything's solidified, but even so, the filters are going to eventually pick up some particles and start clogging.
My question is: How the heck do you get food bits out of the spray arms?! If you poke the holes out, the food chunk just goes inside the arm and gets pushed right back in the hole again next time the dishwasher runs.
@@NoName-ik2du Well, normally it's quite small stuff and just poking it may break it up enough to get blasted out next time, but I think most if not all dishwashers also allow the arms to be removed / replaced. I'd check your manual, or search online. Once removed, you should be able to thoroughly clean and flush them out before re-installing.
9:00 It can also help to put some detergent directly in the dishwasher (rather than only behind the detergent door) so that the pre-rinse step is more effective.
i don't know how much that helps, but just make sure you do that with dishwasher detergent. If you do it with dish soap you might flood your kitchen (trust me on this). It looks like a scene from an old "I Love Lucy" episode.
For safety reasons I suggest pointing knives and forks down. Spoons and spatulas are your call. ; ) Scraping is a must if you care about paying for service calls and replacement dishwashers. If it is very greasy wiping with a paper towel helps to keep the fat out of your septic system. Rinsing isn't necessary, but if something is really gross I do it anyway. Why have all that junk in the water with the rest of the dishes?
As a professional in the Hospitality industry, with experience as a server, cook, busser, and dishwasher, thank you. We do most of this stuff by hand and often do the same at home. One caveat though. Sharp utensils should always be put in the machine with the handle up. Nobody needs a cut. 😁
okay. That said, putting the cutting part down will wear the plastic of the bottom of the ustensil tray a lot faster, creating holes in the tray in the end... Clearly a hard choice :)
Many years ago we were all standing around the kitchen joking and laughing when my step-mom took a step backwards and hit the open dishwasher door. She instinctively lifted her foot to step back to catch herself, and put her foot directly down onto a steak knife which was point-up. It went all the way into her foot to the handle. Ambulance, hospital, weeks of recovery. She got lucky as it didn’t hit anything critical. Ever since I’ve always loaded pointy side down :)
8:00 My thought on utensil direction is that when unlading the dishwasher, do you want someone touching the part that touches food, and that you put in your mouth? Or would you rather have them touch the handle only, leaving the freshly washed surface untouched by someone's grubby paws? Chances that someone washes their hands before unloading the dishwasher are pretty slim and there's an even better chance that the flatware will be lifted out by the part that goes in your mouth when you use it. Just a thought...
I do face up because I don't want the detergent or food particles resting or pooling on the surface and since I am the one unloading 99% of the time, I wash my hands before doing so. Butter knives are the only utensils I place downwards. Kitchen knives I wash by hand.
@@marythibault9032 That isn't a problem in most dishwashers, furthermore, it's not a food safety issue because after the wash, you get a rinse to rid the soap, and then you get the heat to sanitize. There would be no soap or germs on your spoon or fork.
Footage from inside dishwashers showcases why you should always use the little capsule holder for your soap capsule, instead of what some people suggest which is that you can just throw the tablet into the bottom of the machine before you start the machine.
Ideally you’d use powder detergent, and pour it inside the detergent holder and sprinkle a bit on the outside. It’s also way cheaper, and more consistent.
@@felipevasconcelos6736 The only reason I use gel instead of powder is because my plumbing complains about the powder collecting on the sides of the pipes after only 3 or 4 years of use. So, what's ideal for some isn't universal.
For super dirty dishes, I do both. I knew there was a pre-rinse step at the start and that the door for the soap doesn't pop open until the wash phase. I don't have to do this often, but when I do, I am not disappointed in the results. It doesn't negatively impact anything in the process, works with the existing steps, and generally works out very well. I think the only time I had issues was when I used powders instead of the default tabs now. Glad that sorted itself through industry pressure.
Yes... put powder in the prewash tray, SO MUCH better! I found main wash using tabs vs powder, no difference, except in cost. Tabs are much more expensive... but maybe some are willing to spend more to save pouring powder and guessing how much to pour, whereas just putting in a tab is convenient.
He had like two 30 minute plus long videos on dishwashers, nobody is going to beat his thoroughness and knowledge. But most people I know aren't like me and aren't going to sit through an hour video of how a dishwasher works. So this video fills that niche, it's quite unfortunate that it misses the important point of putting some detergent in the pre-wash. As it missed it this video is not all that useful.
kinda hate them, as previously said, they don't focus on anything else, and one on top that demands TC acknowledgement is.. kinda ridiculous. It's not bad at all to share information with each other. But I saw at most one comment saying that you should just read the manual..... Moreover, your experience may vary, so pre-washing detergent makes 0 difference on your desired passable cycle. Comments about running hot water before the wash also come with multiple caveats, so pasting them blindly is just misleading.
I've serviced plenty of washing machines as a side gig where the main issue was people never cleaned the filter in dishwashers, that being said pre rinsing significantly helps lower the strain on your dishwasher from getting gunked up
@@OmegaRejectz pre-WASHING certainly would -- other than to get an extra sanitizing pass. Rinsing gunk off your dishes keeps it out of the washer and from just being blown around inside to get on other dishes, etc.
Totally agree. I setup an event/reminder to clean my dishwasher filter monthly. I've seen pieces of veggies, fishbones, gunk in the filter. I suggest getting the solid stuff off for sure.
...or you teach your kids what the right method is, instead of treating it like undecipheral magic. Just a thought (from a 45-year-old who's still a bit irritated that my parents never sat me down to help them do the taxes so I'd understand the process and stop having anxiety about pissing off the government).
@user-rw3fm9ix3i, I never bother separating colours when doing laundry. It sounds unnecessary. I just put everything in at once and they turn out fine. Only once did something change colour: a custom printed t-shirt that I'm pretty sure was discoloured from its own ink, and it affected none of the other things that were washed with it.
@@JNCresseyI don’t either. I run one load a week. Warm water works fine. Whites come out white, colors stay bright. I do separate towels from the rest for drying since I don’t use fabric softener on them.
@@Ryarios It's probably just that in the past the companies that produced the fabrics didn't wash off the excess dye left behind, and that lead to a lot of bleeding which then lead to people washing clothing by color.
Former restaurant guy here. There IS a reason why handle up is the right way. You are only handling the part you are not eating with. Yes, the chances of a clean fork out of the dishwasher harboring nasties that will infect you are very small. But techniques matter, and in some kitchens, can be seen by guests. You are totally correct, with proper cycles and equipment, everything comes out clean. But for hecks sake, don't handle the flatware from the eating end, which if you load handle down, you can't avoid.
That's a BS excuse. These machines have removable caddies for the utensils. All you have to is remove the caddy and dump the contents out on a sanitized tray and you don't have to touch the parts that you put in your mouth. Plus, these are typically made out of metal and once they dry, there's none of the necessary components to allow for bacteria to grow. It is possible to get food poisoning like that, but realistically, that is a much, much smaller risk than handwashing was, and it's completely avoidable with just a cheap and easily sanitizable tray if you're that picky.
So does that appy to plates and glasses too? Can't see how you can get a plate out of the dishwasher without handling the eating surface. Just wash your hands before unloading.
wash your hands, and ppl dont get food poisoning from hands. many countries ppl eat with their hands, and wash them less. they dont find it to be a public health crisis bc the fix would be essentially free, but yet had enacted such guidelines
Thanks for the great info. BTW: People should read their manual and see how to clean the inside of the dishwasher. It will help get rid of the soap residue buildup on all the plastic parts.
My manual says handles down except pointy knives just for safety. If forks go face down, they will go through the screen at the bottom and stop the arm from turning. It's much harder to prevent "spooning" the spoons if they are face down. There is so much more room to separate spoons and forks if they are handles down. Wash your hands before handling the clean utensils. Also, you can spread out a clean dish towel and dump the utensils out where you can touch only the handles.
My dishwasher is about 53 years old and still working great. I've never had to replace any parts. They don't make this model anymore. I am the dishwasher. :)
I recommend using powder or gel detergent so you can utilize the pre-rinse phase to pre-wash for better results. Also, it's cheaper and not much more inconvenient.
Totally agree but I'd go with powder for sure. Gels aren't bad, but your basically getting less detergent as it's really the same active ingredients as the powder, just pre-disolved in water. So your kinda replacing detergent for water when you get the gels.
i've been putting pre-wash in the bottom of the dishwasher becuase it never fully cleans out in the pre-wash slot. Didn't realize it pumps before running, oops.
I am very happy with my dishwasher. She whines a lot and is not very efficient, but she does work. She has no manual though ... if she did it would be over a million pages. She has replaced the old dishwasher, that she destroyed, by ignoring its instruction manual. It was only 6 months old. Her husband took it apart after she proclaimed it just stopped working at the end of 6 months. Her husband unit found that she had put powdered soap in it, rather than the gel soap the manufacturer demanded (What do they know). After meticulously wire brushing the inside of the clogged arms and showing her the instructions again, and telling her not to ever do it again, I threw away all the powdered soap. She on the other hand, saw a dishwasher video, saying that the powdered soap was best ... sponsored by a powdered soap manufacturer, of course, and ruined it again 2 weeks later. Three days later, I deposited it at the curb, and have been dealing with my 2-armed, whiney model ever since. My new dishwasher has a nickname ... I call her Sherri. My old dishwasher was named Maytag, She was the top of the line, but could not compete with the Sherri model.
10:40 My father, a mechanical engineer, taught me how to use the dishwasher to better clean the dishes while caring for the appliance itself. First thing he told me to do is use a paper towel to remove as much food as possible from the dishes, immediately after using them. One paper towel is enough and you may dispose of it as soon as you finish loading the dishwasher.
Well, my mother, a railroad engineer, said not to waste a paper towel and to scrape it into the trash with the edge of one of the dirty forks. So there! 😊
My Frigidaire dishwasher had a gimmicky "OrbitClean" bottom spray arm that was poorly designed so as to be unbalanced on its spindle and over time eventually wore a groove in the spindle that caused it to bind and no longer spin around. That issue was preventing the dishwasher from cleaning dishes in the bottom rack. I replaced the gimmicky spray arm with a bog-standard, generic arm that I picked up on Amazon for a few dollars, and my dishwasher has been doing a great job at cleaning ever since. So if your dishwasher isn't cleaning, you might have a badly designed spray arm that isn't rotating anymore.
When it comes to utensils, my approach always has been: -Table knives ALWAYS facing down. Not because of cleaning reasons, for safety reasons, you shouldn't risk an injury by grabbing a knife the wrong way when you unload the dishwasher -Spoons and forks although they'll generally get clean anyways, when possible put them facing up to take less space at the bottom of the basket and lower the probability of trapping a small piece of food in there
Forks may be dull but if you trip over an open dishwater and fall on them they can still cause injury and break through the skin. My grandma apparently learned the hard way.
@@1972hermanoben I believe my grandma backed up on an open dishwasher. Some kitchens can be a little cramped too and when you’re cooking multiple things it can get a bit fast paced.
I repair a lot of dishwashers, I recommend pre-rinsing if your dishwashers does not have a food disposal in it. The issue isn't with getting your dishes clean but the clogs that can form in the drain pump and hose
I've always found that forks and butter knives get clean when face down but spoons do not. I always put the spoons in face up. It makes good use of basket space and you won't poke yourself with a tine or blade when reaching in.
I really like this video and glad it confirms I've been doing it right. :) One thing I will add about utensils is that I think there's benefit in having them face the same direction (up or down) so that when you collect them to put them in the drawer where they belong, you're not spending extra time facing each one.
As others have mentioned, I enjoyed Technology Connections's videos on dishwashers. The main takeaway for me was adding a bit of detergent for the pre-wash to really help it get off the big chunk of gunk early on.
Thank you! I point fork tines and knife tips down because I’ve had them stab me while reaching across. Spoons get distributed throughout the bins, handles pointing down. Works for me, I just have to keep explaining it to others in my house. (To be clear, we now wash sharp knives by hand, so it’s only table knives in the dishwasher.)
It's worth noting that, if you use dishwasher pods and your dishwasher does a pre-rinse cycle, you'll want to put the detergent pod in the detergent dispenser, and NOT just toss it in the bottom of the basin. That way, it dispenses the detergent when the wash cycle starts, and doesn't just rinse your detergent down the drain in the first few minutes. Also, perhaps it was the products I was using, but when I used gel detergent, our spray arms would get clogged frequently and our dishwasher had a scale buildup all over the inside. When we switched back to powdered detergent, the dishwasher itself was cleaner almost immediately. We're now using cheap pods, and they seem to be doing fine. Finally, I've replaced a couple of parts in our 15-year-old (new in 2009) dishwasher, and ours doesn't just have filters, but an actual spinning blade like a miniature garbage disposal at the front of the water pump.
An engineer friend of mine told me to stop worrying which direction to put in my plates- he said just place in between posts. It’s made to clean ALL SIDES OF THE DISHES. Have never worried since
I'm gonna join the technology connections shoutout crowd by saying that putting a little dishwasher detergent on a specialized slot (or, if your dishwasher doesn't have one, directly on the inside of the lid) will help clan stuff during the prewash cycle. However, you can't really do this by using dishwasher tablets/pods instead of powder of liquid.
The solution I found when I had a big stock of pods after watching the technology connections video was to just toss a second pod in the bottom of the dishwasher. It worked great
Tablets are way more expensive and clean worse, especially when the machine can dose the salt and polish on its own. We switched to powder and the colours on the dishes no longer fade. Whenever we have oily food, some extra powder in the tub will help.
Old lady here..... I've been loading dishwashers for nearly 6 decades. My rules have always been: save water by pre-rinsing really gunky dishes (I use a large salad bowl of HOT water in my sink to dunk/scrub after-meal dishware & utensils, so as to save on water use); arrange utensils as this vlogger suggests; make sure to arrange dishes/utensils so nothing is "spooning" against another and there is enough space between that the spray arm can get water on each dish; only wash a full washer load to save even more on water (THIS is the only reason I pre-rinse things). In my small household I often can't fill up my dishwasher for 7 to 10 days, and I don't like thinking of a dishwasher full of stinky food-degrading bacteria at work in there for days before it gets cleaned and sanitized by a wash cycle. If your situation can fill a dishwasher every day, then by all means save water and don't pre-rinse. My newest dishwasher has three tiers, and does a fantastic job; but then all my previous machines have done creditably well. Sanitizing baby bottles back in the day was a real time-saver, and even now I put my canning jars and lids/rings in for a sanitizing rinse and hold when I process my garden produce. Between clothes washers and dishwashers, householders can live their best lives now. Poor Grandma was a slave to her home. Thank God, not true for us any longer.
Some dishwashers settle the face up/down debate by having a grate on top of the bin. So anything aside from table knives would have to go in face up. As a bonus, the grate also prevented any snuggling.
When loading utensils, I like loading more blunt utensils like spoons pointing up, but more pointy utensils like forks and knives pointing down to avoid accidental stabbings.
I just put the knives pointing down. Everything else points up. And to avoid contaminating the silverware afterwards, you can take the baskets out of the dishwasher and dump them on a sanitized tray. But, these are made of metal and as long as your hands are clean, there shouldn't be much risk of contamination.
Getting your finger trapped in the basket under a knife that won't dislodge is more dangerous than getting poked by one that's sticking up, according to safety experts I've heard on this subject
I thought that too until that episode of 'Lost' where an assassin fell on all the upward pointing knives in a dishwasher. Now I keep them all pointing up in case someone tries to assassinate me.
Wash sharp knives by hand. All the jostling around in the dishwasher can damage the blade. Also, any utensil that is made from wood or has a wooden handle should be washed by hand. The hot water and chemicals can ruin the wood.
Between this video and Technology Connections' videos, I've actually been convinced. And although I still enjoy doing dishes by hand, I'm not worried about dishwashers doing a bad job anymore. :)
In industrial cleaning, aka CIP (Clean in Place) we talk about the sinner’s circle. Where you need 4 elements to clean. Heat, time, mechanical and chemical. Dishwashers operate on the same principle, and if you reduce one you will have to increase another. Just a random fact.
Thank you! I was wondering how to clean the spinning arms. I always check and clean my filters (on bottom) but the arms-never thought about that. Not having one spin would diminish cleaning for sure. 😊
My thought about utensils up or down was based on newer models that mostly come with a movable slot-dividers on the basket to keep utensils from overlapping so the intended method to load utensils up and handles down. My daughter's disgrees with me based on the utensils are likely touched by hands when emptied from the basket, especially for those handles are shorter than the depth of the basket.
My elderly father in-law fell on the dishwasher once. Only the forks and spoons were facing up. They cut a bunch of skin off his forearms and we had to take him to the hospital. It’s not just knives that are dangerous facing up.
Remember the TV show Monk? There was an episode where they talked about how he wants his silverware washed. He runs it twice, once face-up and once facedown.
I actually had this question for my dishwasher a couple years ago and so I found the manual for my dish washer and found out that the previous owner of my house actually bought a addon tray that is in the very top of the dish washer ( above the top tray ) I thought it was just for small things like chop sticks or maybe lids or something, come to find out it was a tray specifically for cutlery, so I place all my utensils in the top tray and they have dividers for each one, and after I found that out, I actually took out the cutlery basket and can fit a lot more stuff in the dishwasher. And for the rinsing the dishes before they go in the dishwasher, or what some people say "washing the dishes before washing the dishes" its actually better if you leave them dirty because the food that is on the dishes gives something for the detergent to grab onto with emulsifier's ( not sure if I spelled that right xD )
Delighted by the scientific approach, nicely done! Fun & funny video too. I was a "who cares?" person for utensils until my wife made a very compelling point, which was, "Do you want to stab yourself by knife or fork emptying utensils?" Right, knives and forks down.
The wife and I always debated the silverware up and down situation as well and now I can comfortably face them down and not have a minor anxiety attack. Thank you!
They may still recommend, prior to offering your home for sale, to install a dishwasher. I know the seller of our current home listened to that. They removed a very convenient cabinet to install a dishwasher, which we promptly removed and sold after taking possession. On a well/septic system made it impractical, plus handwashing/drying, for me, is a welcome zen experience.
I had a dishwasher with a utensil rack and thought I'd love it, but in practice it was fiddly to load and unload and took away vertical space that was needed for glasses and plates. It's easier to take all the utensils to their drawer in one go with a basket.
Most dishwashers I've seen come with a utensil organizer that keeps silverware spaced out. Using it requires silverware be loaded facing up, but it gets your stuff clean and even saves you time when unloading.
It's the knives and forks penetrating the quick on your nails when facing up, also when dirty handed kids/grands grab the clean utensils with their dirty hands
The reason for placing utensils pointy side down is safety. When you reach in to get them out, you are likely to cut yourself if the utensils are points/edges up.
Saw a little kid nearly take his eye out taking half a kitchen scissor out of the basket because it was stuck and pointed up. I'm liking the newer trays for cutlery that lay them horizontally, but I am 100% team handles up and eating side down.
Technology Connections has a very good in depth video on dishwashers. Especially, he talked about the immense value of liquid or powder rather than pods because you can use them to pre-rinse much more effectively and efficiently. Apparently, it will significantly improve your dishwasher performance. Not going to debate it here (I don't remember enough of it anyway), but you should watch his video.
Seriously? People are bat feces crazy over "germs". I took microbiology and I can tell you that 99% of all germs do not survive on hard clean surfaces. Even if you had some deadly ones, but then you would have already known that, eh? You can clean your hands, and in the process of moving your hands through the air you already picked up thousands of mold spores and much more. And don't forget your breathing on them. Your mouth is a cesspool of bacteria.
I basically understand how dishwashers work, where the only thing on noticed on our current dishwasher is that if I faced the bowls in one direction, the first bowl was hit or miss as to whether it would be fully clean, but facing the bowls in the other direction guaranteed success every time. I usually face my silverware down for safety reasons. I do rinse my dishes quickly under the faucet just to remove loose stuff and still amazed at really stuck on food being removed by the dishwasher with very few exceptions. I remember my mom's dishwasher from decades ago where it seemed like you had to wash the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher where the main purpose seem like sterilization back then. Dishwashers have made vast improvements since those days.
- No mention of egg smell?!? Egg yolk will make your glass smell (and other porous surfaces too). I hand wash or prewash yolk off dishes and cutlery. Never get "that smell" again. - Excess grease will clog your basket and become unhygienic and smelly. Especially in large households (too long too explain). Wipe off grease with a small amout of detergent on moist sponge or dry wipe/scrape thoroughly. No need to waste water. - Cuttlery up or down? This is the argument!?! Neither you fools... sharps down for safety, teaspoons down if handle narrow enough to slip through basket and damage spinning jets, forks up as tines get stuck in the basket, spoons and butter knives up (or down) as long as they are spread or splayed, avoiding e.g. peanut butter caught between two spoons perfectly lined up in same direction. So, sharps and teaspoons down, everything else up and splayed. - Efficient stacking just makes sense and is less wasteful. It all depends on your dishwasher, dish types and . If something is dirty after wash. Rethink the positioning/stacking method. - Tablet hopper should be dry or tablet might get stuck resulting in poor wash. - Clean the removable catchers and filters in the bottom regularly.
The only thing I've found that consistently doesn't come off if it isn't pre-rinsed is oatmeal, grits, and other hot breakfast cereals. I just wind up with oatmeal grains stuck on random dishes all throughout the dishwasher.
If you use gel or powder detergent, try adding detergent to your dishwasher's prewash phase(your detergent dispenser should have a section for this). This usually gives better results for edge cases such as yours, but it still is recommended to dislodge food chucks, as shown in the video, before running the dishwasher.
This isn't about pre-rinsing, though, this is about scraping off. If you make sure there are no oats in your bowl after a yummy bowl of muesli, there's nothing to get stuck on...
I make a pancake batter out of ground up oats and cottage cheese, and that stuff is like cement once it has had time to harden. Same deal, they have to be washed off right after use.
My dishwasher is original to the house built in 1985 and I have lived here since 1989 and followed the manufacturer’s recommendations for loading it. Dried food never was completely removed so I always rinsed well. I had essentially clean dishes so just ran it on china and crystal cycle for the higher temperature and heated dry. At 15 years old, it was having an issue and the repairman said it was a high end model and it was better than many on the market. It’s been going strong ever since.
Fantastic video! I love seeing what's actually going on inside the washer. My own mom believed that the dishwasher was basically a sanitizer not a an actual washer. The washing was my job. Good to know I can let the machine do it's job. Now we'll see if my kids let their kids in on the secret! Lol 😊
So true, as loading the dishwasher is my job as I kicked that responsibility away from my wife and I would have no other way and in return I get no forking and no spooning.
Some dishwashers (mine for example) has a second small reservoir with a grate to allow water to get in and enable that first cycle to have detergent as well. Makes sense to have soap present for the bulk cleaning at the beginning.
The reason for pointing the business end of utensils down is safety, pure and simple. You're unlikely to slice your hand open on a spoon, but any other configuration is simply not worth the risk of someone slicing their hand open on a knife when they're groggily unloading the machine the next morning.
I was going to comment on safety. It's more than just slicing your hand - you could actually fall on the utensil rack. I'm sure people have died in accidents like that.
Thank you. I was going to mention safety. A co-worker told us that a family member had tripped over the opn dishwasher drawer and would have to have multiple plastic surgeries as a result. Their family member, in this case, was their 4 year old. The forks had been tines-up. That was 30 years ago. I've made sure that my loved ones load utensils spear/sharp-end down
One thing about utensils to think about - depending on the shape of you utensil sometimes it can hang down below the basket that holds them and stop the moving around that spraying out the water. It happened with a dishwasher that I had in one of the places I live at. We actually had the repair person come in to take a look at it and neither of us could figure out what was going on. I finally looked carefully at the basket while putting utensils in and realized certain ones hung down below the basket and the arm from moving.
@@MattStMarie-bm5sq This was a few years back and, although it was a new dishwasher, the ability to put utensils on the top rack was limited. An easy work around is to flip the utensil so the and tines are pointing up.
Garbage disposals are actually really problematic appliances. The implication is that we can throw anything down there and it will magically break down into drain-safe and water-treatment-safe material. But that's not the case. We should be composting instead, especially for anyone with a septic tank. Anything that can't compost should just go in the trash bin.
That was fairly entertaining 😁. I watched because I just unclogged my dishwasher by watching another video on dishwashers, so i said, what the heck, let's just watch this one😂😂😂. Low and behold, I found it very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Appliance repair technician here: one thing a lot of people miss when talking about this topic is that while you CAN skip the pre-rinse, if you want to keep your dishwasher I still recommend getting as much as you can off. Leftover food stuff clogging pumps, pipes, and spray arms are the most common causes of service calls and premature wear. a little sauce left over is fine, but anything oily or solid needs to be removed if you want to keep your dishwasher healthy.
In general nothing oily should be going down the drain if you can help it. That will eventually clog the line to the sewer when it cools down enough to solidify.
Did you miss the part where they talked about scrapping off food to keep things from clogging the machine? No need to rinse, but that doesn't mean you load the machine with easily removed garbage.
Exactly!
@@fatsquirrel75 I don't think he missed a thing. I think he is tell *you* what the majority of service calls entail on dishwashers. Did you miss the part where @MinuteFood found her sprayer clogged?
@@fatsquirrel75 I think they gave some good insight though; oily substances could physically go down the drain and many may not see it as an issue.
But once they leave your dishes and go down the drain… they can solidify and clog, causing a big issue.
I think one of the big reasons that so many of these topics are argued about so often is that there are lots of different ways to load a dishwasher that will result in clean dishes. Then people find one method that works, and assume it's THE correct method, remaining unaware of the many other perfectly functional methods.
I think this is a really insightful point!
I think this is the case with a lot of things like the gym and with cooking
The reason I was taught to put utensils facing down were for hygiene and safety.
Forks and knives that are sticking up can injure someone placing more dishes in or emptying it.
When a person empties the dishwasher they do not need to touch the parts of the utensils which come into contact with food or which other people will put into their mouths. To reduce the risk of spreading germs.
If the handles are sticking up they can grab a whole bunch at a time. If even one razor sharp knife or a pointy fork is sticking up and someone cuts themselves you're going to have to run the dishwasher all over again to clean all the blood off of all the dishes.
@@PhilLesh69 good point
@@PhilLesh69you make an interesting point, but some (many?) dishwashers only allows “face up” loading of flatware. I just went and measured the openings in the top of the flatware basket in my Bosch dishwasher, they are approximately 2.5cm x 1cm (1”x1/2”) and, except for some knives, nothing will fit through in the “face down” orientation. I know there are models with an entire (very thin) rack dedicated to flatware, placed at the very top of the tub, where the utensils are loaded horizontally instead of vertically, each separated from the other by little upright nubs, which solves not only the hazard of pointy bits sticking up, but also keeps the spoons from spooning, and the forks from forking. See for example dishwashers made by Miele.
Cutting my hand on upward facing knife tips (multiple times!) has made me a life long pointy-side-down advocate.
But they'll eventually cut out the bottom
I never developed binocular vision, so knives up is a very bad idea for me, forks should go down too if I had my way, but it seems my dishwasher wants forks heads up, so I put them in one area, and go in from the side!
I've always put knives down even butter knives, that's basic safety, but regular utensils I put up.
I put mine down because I don't want to put my hands on the eating part of a fork/spoon/knife that someone else is going to be putting in their mouth. It's not sanitary even if I wash my hands. Plus it's easier to grab the handles to pull them out of the rack.
@@aaronearnedanironurnnYou can buy replacement dishwasher components. You can buy a new hand but it won’t really be the same.
THIS IS WHAT THE PEOPLE NEED
Make sure to check out the Technology Connections video for more in depth dishwasher info
For a moment I thought your logo was a honeycomb and your name BeeSmart, lol
@@robspiessME TOO-
no you used a pod and ignored the prewash detergent 🤡
@@SoopCanSam-EthoPlaylists I always run my tap to get the water pre-heated before running my dishwasher because of him!
If you guys want a more in-depth series on how a dishwasher works, go watch the technology connections series on them. He goes into a TON more information and details on how they work, what soap to use, prerinsing, how important adding soap to the prewash is, etc.
th-cam.com/video/_rBO8neWw04/w-d-xo.html and th-cam.com/video/Ll6-eGDpimU/w-d-xo.html
I've read a few comments mentioning the channel, without saying who they were or why they were relevant. Thank you for the context.
I was about to mention that.
@@ussxrequin he goes into detail how pods are actually worse for dish washers
I JUST finished watching the TC video on that last week and was pleasantly surprised to see this MinuteFood video pop up on the same topic.
I just wanted to share my 57 years of dishwasher experience well actually I grew up in an old farm house so I didn't get luxury of a dishwasher until I was pushing 35 but here is what I found. If you pre rinse your dishes it greatly extends the life of your dishwasher or if you don't prerinse, its best if you change the filters more often. I had one dishwasher that lasted me from 2001 to 2024. Yes you read that correctly. I only just got a new one this year. Pretty amazing! Just wanted to share. Thank you for the video. I really enjoyed watching
Yes I totally agree. Always pre rinse. My first dishwasher was a whirlpool and was so noisy I got rid of it after about 7 years. Still working. My second was a KitchenAid it lasted 18 years with only the racks having to be replaced once and the bottom spray arm bushing replaced once. Got another KitchenAid and it does a great job using just the short wash cycle...(cuts the wash time in half) which should extend the life of the unit by at least 50%. Only time will tell. You know what they say, (They don’t make things like they used to).
Thank you!!!
It lasted that long because it was made before planned obsolescence. Your new one will break a few months after the warranty ends even if you never install it or take it out of the shipping box
@@thekingoffailure9967 ahh yes I need to factor in the 'they don't make em like they used to' point noted
Wow. I should have found this video 20 years ago.
Additional tip about the utensil direction. If you put your forks, knives or any other stuff with slim pointed ends in the basket, make sure they don't poke through the bottom too much. In some dishwashers as much as 0.5cm is already enough to collide with the bottom spinner during operation.
Our Bosch has a raised center section which is perfect for forks. They can slide down with nary a worry. Also, if you don't have a Bosch, you are hearing too much noise.
I think that's what the utensil direction debate comes down to. If you put forks and knives pointy end up, you might get poked when you retrieve them. If you put them pointy end down, you might damage the baskets over time.
The biggest problem is caused by all the spoons and forks placed in the same direction so the "nest". Some up, some down and you get better cleaning. Thus the rule becomes don't use a rule for utensils.
Definitely don’t let that bottom spinner get stuck! I had a water bottle lid stick down, blocking it, causing it to leak water from the dishwasher. Called a technician who removed it and basically solved the issue (since I was using the right detergent, the seal was good, and all the other utensils were good). Now I make sure to leave it on the top shelf and make sure nothing hangs or blocks the spinners.
@@wilsonli5642dont wanna damage ur hands, things are meant to be used, lest we die. its the way of man in the end
There's a really great TH-cam channel called Technology Connections that did a great video on how dishwashers work and how to maximize their effectiveness. His video pretty much agrees with everything you said, though he also adds that some parts of the world don't get hot water quickly when you start to pull from the hot water tap, which the dishwasher needs. So I always just let my hot tap run just long enough to be hot when I turn on my dishwasher. Also, using too much detergent can result in a streaky appearance on your dishes, or in particular, glass objects.
It probably depends on dishwasher, but I'm under the impression most have the ability to add additional heat.
That must be some kind of USA thing. Most of the dishwashers in the country I'm from don't even have a hot water intake. All just rely on cold water that is heated by the dishwasher...
@@D1ndo Yeah, that part makes little sense to me. Where I live we don't get heated water from the municipality, so the hot water pipe at a given moment would have actual hot water only if either A. there's been enough sunlight to heat up the solar water heater installed on the roof, or B. you have purposely turned on the (usually) electric water heater in advance.
There's something satisfying about watching independent TH-camrs produce similar results
Thanks for the T.C. reference.
As for cold vs hot water inlets, my dishwasher heats the water to its favorite temperature, if it comes in cold. Likewise for the clothes washer. So, no more 140 degrees. My hot water is exactly shower temperature now.
One other reason to put plastic in the top rack is because there's usually a heating element on the bottom of the dishwasher, so the bottom rack often gets hot enough to melt, crack, or warp plastic
Most better new machines blow hot air and don't have that coil.
@@Tel864Yes, but they don’t dry as effectively IME.
some types of plastic should never go in the dishwasher. Just the hot water alone is enough to soften and start melting them.
This video reminded me of a thing I saw ages ago, a German kids TV show, Die Sendung mit der Maus, meant to answer questions children might have about how things work. So obviously they had one episode where they explained how a dishwasher works. However, it was filmed before GoPros were a thing, so instead of putting a camera inside the dishwasher, they asked a manufacturer to make a transparent dishwasher door.
I remember that one. Isn't it fun, that a show a lot of us enjoyed as kids already, we can now watch with our own children?
Technology Connections modified a dishwasher to had a transparent wall as well in a video about 2 years ago. Not sure why didn't he thought on the simpler option of a action camera
here so comment to say that Die Sendung mit der Maus means the tv show with the mouse, the most german thing ever
That is the same thought I got. I waited how they describe that thing what that kids show showed us with some guys catching dirt and salt balloons.
If anybody is curious about that quirky kid show and how they taught us the inner works of that cleaning box, just search here on youtube "sendung mit der maus spülmaschine" and select "Wie funktioniert eine Spülmaschine". The English subtitles are sort of okay. With a more engineering view but no tip's on how to load the dish washer.
Now I want a transparent door for my dishwasher
When I was dating my late wife, her family used to throw large (14 to 20 place) dinner parties. When it was time to clean up, my date insisted I help her with the washing of the delicate dishes and glasses. (The pots, pans, cooking sheets, and so forth did go through the dishwasher.) Usually she would wash, I would dry, and whoever else was in the kitchen would place them in table racks set up for the occasion. To this day, I feel this was time well spent to get to know my then-future wife, and later as a couple.
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful memory. I'm sorry for your loss ❤
Bro I hope she shows up on time soon
@@thekingoffailure9967what does that mean?
What a lovely story. Sorry for your loss.
Thats exactly how i helped with my parents too! Nice childhood moments. Now we have a dishwasher and thats my dad's job 😂
I have a food handler’s certificate, and in my training we’re taught to load flatware face-down because it’s much more sanitary when you pull them out by the ends and you’re less likely to make someone sick when they use the utensil.
I didn't know face up was a thing and I am disgusted and horrified
@@WyzrdCat Same! Maybe people think face-up gets washed better, but I’m glad this video debunks that
I will forever be a flatware face up person in my house. But as in handling any food I make for family, I wash my hands throughly beforehand.....because, you know, common sense.
I just had that discussion with someone. It's impossible to get the silverware out without handling the business end. He said "use a towel". It thought "too much trouble, put them working end down." Our dishwasher has a third tray which is the best thing ever. Besides small things, baby things etc, we use it for the silverware. There are slots so we can put the laying down on an angle and since we are a bit OCD we group them. Then I can just grab the spoon section and put them right into the drawer. It also let us remove the silverware basket altogether and have more room for big dishes. I love it.
@@pokelover02I don't think this video debunks that. All dishwashers are different, and some may do a better job blasting water through the silverware basket.
In my dishwasher, if I load silverware handle up, it does a poor job. Another dishwasher I frequently use will not even let you put silverware handle up because you have to fit the handles through slots.
Adding a bit of detergent outside the detergent door (like on its lid or just on the door of the dishwasher) will make it so the initial rinse has detergent in it, and cleans vastly better!
That’s what the pre-wash dispenser compartment is for. The dishwasher in this video has it although it is not used.
@@johantj some do, some don't. Doesn't matter, as long as there's a little exposed for the pre-rinse cycle.
@@johantj yeah, my dishwasher does not have one, the manual specifically says to add detergent directly into the dishwasher body
That's courtesy of (amongst others) Technology Connections.
@@johantj My dishwasher has a pre-wash compartment, but I still find it easier and more effective to just sprinkle the powder straight into the tub. Might be different for gels
This is neat. It confirmed a lot of things I knew to be true. One note: you have a prewash detergent basin in your washer but you completely ignore it. Fill that thing with liquid detergent and youll get even better results than you normally do since there will be detergent in your prewash water and not just cold tap water. Also run the hot line on your sink for a bit to make sure the pipe is charged with hot water so that initial fill is hot.
^^^this^^^ always run the hot water prior to starting dishwasher and squirt some liquid dishwasher soap into the botton of washer (or in the little indented cup, doesn't matter) so your prewash actually washes rather than rinses.
You are probably American, I guess. Dishwashers here in the UK do not have hot fill, cold water only. They only have one detergent dispenser.
@@JimWhitaker Yes, USA. So it fills with cold then a heater inside heats the water? My machine also has a heater but I don't use it since my tap is set to "more scalding than the sun."
I don't need to do that. I figured out there is a heating element in the unit that heats water to the correct temp as it comes in. Washer circa 2018.
@@JimWhitaker you can add detergent directly to the tub if you dont have a prewash dispenser. A prewash dispenser really just spills detergent to the tub when you close it anyway.
You cannot beat the in depth conversations you can have with family and friends by doing hand prep cooking and hand washing dishes.
As someone that discussed forks up or down I was arguing that it didn’t matter. A few days later I jammed a fork tine under my thumb nail pulling the flatware out of a dishwasher. Forks and knife point down, spoons up now and forever in our house.
Great video! No love for Technology Connections though?
Absolutely - we have links to their dishwasher videos in the description!
They're using the detergent pods. They definitely haven't seen that video.
@MinuteFood nah if you think the pods different colors are different chemicals(like in the animation), you didn't do any real research.
@@Tmanw8898 it's just for visualization I bet, but I agree it might lead some people to believe the marketing.
@@Houdini111 Was just thinking the same thing
Note that all dishwashers are intended to have soap in BOTH the prewash AND main wash water. It’s much more effective that way. Edit: if your dishwasher doesn’t have a prewash cup, read the manual. There’s a 100% chance it tells you to sprinkle some at the base of the door or into the main wash tub.
That's if you use liquid dishwasher detergent.
I think that the dishwashers are way more efficient, and the pods are way more effective, that using a prewash soap isn't as needed. (Or, with current model of dishwasher I use it's not needed.)
@@jer103 I just buy the box of powdered detergent instead of liquid detergent or the pods. I put the powder detergent in the soap and the pre wash (just sprinkle some on the door before closing if yours doesn't have a pre-wash area) and it works great. The pods are overpriced and don't allow you to put detergent in the pre wash unless you use two.
Also powder detergent is generally better than liquid because the powder has both bleach and enzymes where the liquid detergent can only have one or the other.
@@jer103 Pods are a massive waste of money and forces you to use too much soap. The powder is cheaper and you can use exactly as much as you need.
@@jer103 It does work, but you would need way less detergent overall if there is detergent in both the pre-wash and main wash. I'm pretty sure you would be surprised how little powder detergent I use and get clean dishes.
@@Ryan-on9ne I couldn't agree more! Well said.
Add a small amount of powdered dishwasher soap in the pre-wash cup, and run the sink faucet until the water gets hot otherwise you aren't getting much use out of the 1st cycle.
Depends if there's hot water intake - it also may, or is able to heat the water on it's own, to desired temperature - you're wastefully heating the water then.
You may find pre-wash addition insignificant.
Read the manual and experiment with your dishwasher to find optimal settings.
Rubbish. Prewash is to remove heat sensitive soils. If your dishwasher is connected to hot water you and it's installers are idiots.
Much higher running costs and inconsistent results.
Exactly what I do. Run sink tap to get hot water, and add powder for the first cycle to have detergent is SO MUCH better.
@@tteqhu A dishwasher should always be connected to the DHW line.
Great job. Thank you. I rent rooms short term to travellers and am fascinated by how absolutely clueless some of them are about loading a dishwasher. Stacking things inside of each other is the one that really does my head in because it seems so blindingly obvious that it won't work. Good to know l'm mostly doing it right and it's great to finally understand why plastics don't dry. 😊
When I first moved in with my wife she loaded a pitcher on the bottom rack face up. Came out full of water....big surprise. She said she didn't grow up with a dishwasher, so she had no idea how to load it. Not sure how she didn't anticipate that happening lol
Many countries don't even have dishwashers so it does make sense many travelers won't know how to use one, even though common sense would tell you a few things at least. lol Common sense isn't always common.
One thing about per-rinsing your dishes: I do it so I don't have food sitting in the dishwasher before the next use.
If you only run your dishwasher every 4 to 5 days, it will get pretty stinky in there, especially during the summer time.
(It's why you don't throw your leftovers in the kitchen garbage, then let it sit there for a week.)
I always leave mine open a crack.
@@HansMaximum It's recommed to do this before and after a wash to minmize microbial growth(by letting the water evaporate). It only gets stinky in there because the micobles are having a feast.
just be mindful what goes down the garbage disposal
I also pre-wash because sometimes the dishwasher doesn’t get all of the dried-on food off the dishes and pans. Regardless I still need to remember to run the washer at least once every week or two, or the unseen microbes will make it smell.
@@trevinbeattie4888 You bring up a good point. The first dishwasher we had, was weak, and wouldn't get the dishes clean without a pre-wash. I guess that kind of conditioned me to clean the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.
The new dishwasher I currently use can easily clean they dirtiest dishes, with ease. But if you are in the habit of pre-washing, it's hard to break the habit.
Thanks for pointing out the importance of how the washing functions in getting dishes clean.
My experience is you are right about pre-rinsing (instead of “wrong” as questioned at 5:08). The issue is a matter of degree… as in how much time and materials are used to pre-pare the dishes for effective dishwasher use? Passive soaking can be very efficient. To wit: if pre-rinsing is not necessary, then why do some dishes continue to have food stuck to them coming out of a dishwasher when dish/utensils’ positioning has been proper. I’ve observed this for decades with every brand of dishwasher and detergent I’ve used. Further, Food that stays stuck on dishes AFTER going thru a dishwasher typically is even MORE difficult to manually remove than if the object was “pre-rinsed.”
the biggest thing people should know about dishwashers is CLEAN YOUR DISHWASHER
clean out the filter, check the sprayarms for objects from time to time, use a dishwasher cleaner every once in a while
dont get your clean dishes from a dishwasher that has gunk in it from 2 months ago
i know this to be true but never has by dishwasher ever been clogged or dirty. idk how for multiple years ive checked and nothing is there anywhere
100%. Especially the filter trap and even more especially for folks who don't do any rinsing or don't take the time to scrape out food bits. Seems like this must be one of the most significant causes of dishwashers not fully cleaning, or being smelly, and while it's not exactly a nice job to have to do, doing it regularly is a lot better than waiting until it's *really* gross. I always scrape out anything big and try to give things a quick rinse before anything's solidified, but even so, the filters are going to eventually pick up some particles and start clogging.
My question is: How the heck do you get food bits out of the spray arms?! If you poke the holes out, the food chunk just goes inside the arm and gets pushed right back in the hole again next time the dishwasher runs.
I was just about to comment this as well! This comment deserves more love. So many people I know have never cleaned out their dishwasher filter.
@@NoName-ik2du Well, normally it's quite small stuff and just poking it may break it up enough to get blasted out next time, but I think most if not all dishwashers also allow the arms to be removed / replaced. I'd check your manual, or search online. Once removed, you should be able to thoroughly clean and flush them out before re-installing.
9:00 It can also help to put some detergent directly in the dishwasher (rather than only behind the detergent door) so that the pre-rinse step is more effective.
Welcome from technology connections
i don't know how much that helps, but just make sure you do that with dishwasher detergent. If you do it with dish soap you might flood your kitchen (trust me on this). It looks like a scene from an old "I Love Lucy" episode.
For safety reasons I suggest pointing knives and forks down. Spoons and spatulas are your call. ; ) Scraping is a must if you care about paying for service calls and replacement dishwashers. If it is very greasy wiping with a paper towel helps to keep the fat out of your septic system. Rinsing isn't necessary, but if something is really gross I do it anyway. Why have all that junk in the water with the rest of the dishes?
As a professional in the Hospitality industry, with experience as a server, cook, busser, and dishwasher, thank you. We do most of this stuff by hand and often do the same at home.
One caveat though. Sharp utensils should always be put in the machine with the handle up. Nobody needs a cut. 😁
Truly sharp/sharpened utensils shouldn't be put in a dishwasher to begin with. It's the best way to lose that sharp edge. ;)
okay. That said, putting the cutting part down will wear the plastic of the bottom of the ustensil tray a lot faster, creating holes in the tray in the end...
Clearly a hard choice :)
@@benjaminsonntag7262Right, a hole in the bottom of the tray or a bloody hole in your hand?
Or the fact that utensils trays already have holes in the bottom....
Many years ago we were all standing around the kitchen joking and laughing when my step-mom took a step backwards and hit the open dishwasher door. She instinctively lifted her foot to step back to catch herself, and put her foot directly down onto a steak knife which was point-up. It went all the way into her foot to the handle. Ambulance, hospital, weeks of recovery. She got lucky as it didn’t hit anything critical.
Ever since I’ve always loaded pointy side down :)
This is actually my new favorite channel. It's so helpful for me as a student who's basically never cooked before
8:00 My thought on utensil direction is that when unlading the dishwasher, do you want someone touching the part that touches food, and that you put in your mouth? Or would you rather have them touch the handle only, leaving the freshly washed surface untouched by someone's grubby paws? Chances that someone washes their hands before unloading the dishwasher are pretty slim and there's an even better chance that the flatware will be lifted out by the part that goes in your mouth when you use it. Just a thought...
Yes that's exactly why silverware is faced down.
I do face up because I don't want the detergent or food particles resting or pooling on the surface and since I am the one unloading 99% of the time, I wash my hands before doing so. Butter knives are the only utensils I place downwards. Kitchen knives I wash by hand.
@@marythibault9032 That isn't a problem in most dishwashers, furthermore, it's not a food safety issue because after the wash, you get a rinse to rid the soap, and then you get the heat to sanitize. There would be no soap or germs on your spoon or fork.
@@marythibault9032 And if your heating element is working properly, you won't have any pools of anything metal.
Footage from inside dishwashers showcases why you should always use the little capsule holder for your soap capsule, instead of what some people suggest which is that you can just throw the tablet into the bottom of the machine before you start the machine.
Ideally you’d use powder detergent, and pour it inside the detergent holder and sprinkle a bit on the outside. It’s also way cheaper, and more consistent.
@@felipevasconcelos6736 The only reason I use gel instead of powder is because my plumbing complains about the powder collecting on the sides of the pipes after only 3 or 4 years of use. So, what's ideal for some isn't universal.
That’s exactly what I do
For super dirty dishes, I do both. I knew there was a pre-rinse step at the start and that the door for the soap doesn't pop open until the wash phase.
I don't have to do this often, but when I do, I am not disappointed in the results. It doesn't negatively impact anything in the process, works with the existing steps, and generally works out very well. I think the only time I had issues was when I used powders instead of the default tabs now. Glad that sorted itself through industry pressure.
Yes... put powder in the prewash tray, SO MUCH better!
I found main wash using tabs vs powder, no difference, except in cost. Tabs are much more expensive... but maybe some are willing to spend more to save pouring powder and guessing how much to pour, whereas just putting in a tab is convenient.
00:53 "great for character design", love it! 😂
Lots of good answers, but I still have one question: What is going on with that aggressive curve on your forks? (8:27)
love all the technology connections comments lol
Why? Because of those, no one is talking about THIS video 🤦♀️
@@ninjalectualx
Well, _this_ video didn't mention prewash detergent, so I'd say the comments about Technology Connections are fairly warranted.
He earned it with how in depth he was in his experiments
He had like two 30 minute plus long videos on dishwashers, nobody is going to beat his thoroughness and knowledge. But most people I know aren't like me and aren't going to sit through an hour video of how a dishwasher works. So this video fills that niche, it's quite unfortunate that it misses the important point of putting some detergent in the pre-wash. As it missed it this video is not all that useful.
kinda hate them, as previously said, they don't focus on anything else, and one on top that demands TC acknowledgement is.. kinda ridiculous.
It's not bad at all to share information with each other. But I saw at most one comment saying that you should just read the manual.....
Moreover, your experience may vary, so pre-washing detergent makes 0 difference on your desired passable cycle. Comments about running hot water before the wash also come with multiple caveats, so pasting them blindly is just misleading.
I've serviced plenty of washing machines as a side gig where the main issue was people never cleaned the filter in dishwashers, that being said pre rinsing significantly helps lower the strain on your dishwasher from getting gunked up
do you mean pre-wash? Because pre-rinsing defeats the entire point of a dishwasher.
@@OmegaRejectz pre-WASHING certainly would -- other than to get an extra sanitizing pass. Rinsing gunk off your dishes keeps it out of the washer and from just being blown around inside to get on other dishes, etc.
Totally agree. I setup an event/reminder to clean my dishwasher filter monthly. I've seen pieces of veggies, fishbones, gunk in the filter.
I suggest getting the solid stuff off for sure.
Prerinse. AKA, washing them. Just use dish soap, and finish the job by hand.
@@OmegaRejectzdishwashers are mor for sanitizing than actually cleaning
This is where I end up after watching Technology Connections video series on dishwashers.
Growing up, my dad would not let any of us load the dishwasher, because he swore he was the only one who could do it properly.
Now, I understand.
...or you teach your kids what the right method is, instead of treating it like undecipheral magic.
Just a thought (from a 45-year-old who's still a bit irritated that my parents never sat me down to help them do the taxes so I'd understand the process and stop having anxiety about pissing off the government).
@user-rw3fm9ix3i, I never bother separating colours when doing laundry. It sounds unnecessary. I just put everything in at once and they turn out fine.
Only once did something change colour: a custom printed t-shirt that I'm pretty sure was discoloured from its own ink, and it affected none of the other things that were washed with it.
@@JNCressey exactly. best is red and white. they balance each other out over time.
@@JNCresseyI don’t either. I run one load a week. Warm water works fine. Whites come out white, colors stay bright. I do separate towels from the rest for drying since I don’t use fabric softener on them.
@@Ryarios It's probably just that in the past the companies that produced the fabrics didn't wash off the excess dye left behind, and that lead to a lot of bleeding which then lead to people washing clothing by color.
We have a Pomeranian Pre-Rinse System on our floor. That ensures all debris is removed from dishes prior to placing in the dishwasher.
Our's are Boston Terriers. 😂 😂
My son has 2 schnauzers, I call them four 🐾🐾 Hoovers.
Chihuahua here
Mine is a labrador system. Incredibly affective at removing all fatty deposits!
Ours was a Labradoodle 😂
Really well done video.
I tuned-in on a lark and a giggle, and was completely impressed by your production. TY
Former restaurant guy here. There IS a reason why handle up is the right way. You are only handling the part you are not eating with. Yes, the chances of a clean fork out of the dishwasher harboring nasties that will infect you are very small. But techniques matter, and in some kitchens, can be seen by guests. You are totally correct, with proper cycles and equipment, everything comes out clean. But for hecks sake, don't handle the flatware from the eating end, which if you load handle down, you can't avoid.
That's a BS excuse. These machines have removable caddies for the utensils. All you have to is remove the caddy and dump the contents out on a sanitized tray and you don't have to touch the parts that you put in your mouth. Plus, these are typically made out of metal and once they dry, there's none of the necessary components to allow for bacteria to grow.
It is possible to get food poisoning like that, but realistically, that is a much, much smaller risk than handwashing was, and it's completely avoidable with just a cheap and easily sanitizable tray if you're that picky.
Yeah, wash your hands before emptying out the clean dishwasher.
So does that appy to plates and glasses too? Can't see how you can get a plate out of the dishwasher without handling the eating surface. Just wash your hands before unloading.
wash your hands, and ppl dont get food poisoning from hands. many countries ppl eat with their hands, and wash them less. they dont find it to be a public health crisis bc the fix would be essentially free, but yet had enacted such guidelines
@@ThePentosinI always do for exactly that reason, but most people don't and it's gross.
Thanks for the great info. BTW: People should read their manual and see how to clean the inside of the dishwasher. It will help get rid of the soap residue buildup on all the plastic parts.
My manual says handles down except pointy knives just for safety. If forks go face down, they will go through the screen at the bottom and stop the arm from turning. It's much harder to prevent "spooning" the spoons if they are face down. There is so much more room to separate spoons and forks if they are handles down. Wash your hands before handling the clean utensils. Also, you can spread out a clean dish towel and dump the utensils out where you can touch only the handles.
My dishwasher is about 53 years old and still working great. I've never had to replace any parts. They don't make this model anymore. I am the dishwasher. :)
High five. Never had a machine for this.
Have fun wasting tons of water
@@AlexanderPaveldishwashers waste less water???
@@paracetamol9116 yes, they reuse the same water for the maximum amount of time
Still have your same baby teeth?
I recommend using powder or gel detergent so you can utilize the pre-rinse phase to pre-wash for better results. Also, it's cheaper and not much more inconvenient.
Totally agree but I'd go with powder for sure. Gels aren't bad, but your basically getting less detergent as it's really the same active ingredients as the powder, just pre-disolved in water. So your kinda replacing detergent for water when you get the gels.
i've been putting pre-wash in the bottom of the dishwasher becuase it never fully cleans out in the pre-wash slot. Didn't realize it pumps before running, oops.
I had an appliance repair guy say that gel is one of the worst things you can use - it gums things up. He said use powder, always.
I am very happy with my dishwasher. She whines a lot and is not very efficient, but she does work. She has no manual though ... if she did it would be over a million pages. She has replaced the old dishwasher, that she destroyed, by ignoring its instruction manual. It was only 6 months old. Her husband took it apart after she proclaimed it just stopped working at the end of 6 months. Her husband unit found that she had put powdered soap in it, rather than the gel soap the manufacturer demanded (What do they know). After meticulously wire brushing the inside of the clogged arms and showing her the instructions again, and telling her not to ever do it again, I threw away all the powdered soap. She on the other hand, saw a dishwasher video, saying that the powdered soap was best ... sponsored by a powdered soap manufacturer, of course, and ruined it again 2 weeks later. Three days later, I deposited it at the curb, and have been dealing with my 2-armed, whiney model ever since. My new dishwasher has a nickname ... I call her Sherri. My old dishwasher was named Maytag, She was the top of the line, but could not compete with the Sherri model.
10:40 My father, a mechanical engineer, taught me how to use the dishwasher to better clean the dishes while caring for the appliance itself. First thing he told me to do is use a paper towel to remove as much food as possible from the dishes, immediately after using them. One paper towel is enough and you may dispose of it as soon as you finish loading the dishwasher.
Well, my mother, a railroad engineer, said not to waste a paper towel and to scrape it into the trash with the edge of one of the dirty forks. So there! 😊
My Frigidaire dishwasher had a gimmicky "OrbitClean" bottom spray arm that was poorly designed so as to be unbalanced on its spindle and over time eventually wore a groove in the spindle that caused it to bind and no longer spin around. That issue was preventing the dishwasher from cleaning dishes in the bottom rack. I replaced the gimmicky spray arm with a bog-standard, generic arm that I picked up on Amazon for a few dollars, and my dishwasher has been doing a great job at cleaning ever since. So if your dishwasher isn't cleaning, you might have a badly designed spray arm that isn't rotating anymore.
"OrbitClean" You must rerefing to the Gum brand Orbit which should put you in my age range
When it comes to utensils, my approach always has been:
-Table knives ALWAYS facing down. Not because of cleaning reasons, for safety reasons, you shouldn't risk an injury by grabbing a knife the wrong way when you unload the dishwasher
-Spoons and forks although they'll generally get clean anyways, when possible put them facing up to take less space at the bottom of the basket and lower the probability of trapping a small piece of food in there
Forks between the finger and fingernail are still painful. Spoons are the only things I will put handle down.
Forks may be dull but if you trip over an open dishwater and fall on them they can still cause injury and break through the skin. My grandma apparently learned the hard way.
I don’t understand. How much of a hurry are you in, that there’s even the remotest risk from that sort of injury?
Sharp knives shouldn't go in the dishwasher anyway, that'll mess up the edge (worse if you have hard water)
@@1972hermanoben I believe my grandma backed up on an open dishwasher.
Some kitchens can be a little cramped too and when you’re cooking multiple things it can get a bit fast paced.
I repair a lot of dishwashers, I recommend pre-rinsing if your dishwashers does not have a food disposal in it. The issue isn't with getting your dishes clean but the clogs that can form in the drain pump and hose
This video is truly useful! This and the dishwasher series on "Technology connections" which I also recommend.
I've always found that forks and butter knives get clean when face down but spoons do not. I always put the spoons in face up. It makes good use of basket space and you won't poke yourself with a tine or blade when reaching in.
Yeah, anything sharp needs to go down.
How picky one is about handling clean silverware might determine if they want the handles up or not.
Agreed, sharps down
Having sharps down will wear out the basket quicker.
I just try to put all the silverware the same direction. That way it just easier when you put them away in their drawer.
They're less likely to spoon each other facing up because they pivot on the handles rather than the faces.
I really like this video and glad it confirms I've been doing it right. :) One thing I will add about utensils is that I think there's benefit in having them face the same direction (up or down) so that when you collect them to put them in the drawer where they belong, you're not spending extra time facing each one.
As others have mentioned, I enjoyed Technology Connections's videos on dishwashers. The main takeaway for me was adding a bit of detergent for the pre-wash to really help it get off the big chunk of gunk early on.
Yes! I can't believe she didn't mention this. It makes such a difference.
Yesss! This video turned out SO GREAT!! And I love the little doodle version of me! :)
The real-life version of you is pretty awesome too :) Thanks for being such an awesome resource for us, and everyone else!!
(Everyone should go watch the amazing content @renduhofficial makes)
Thank you! I point fork tines and knife tips down because I’ve had them stab me while reaching across. Spoons get distributed throughout the bins, handles pointing down. Works for me, I just have to keep explaining it to others in my house. (To be clear, we now wash sharp knives by hand, so it’s only table knives in the dishwasher.)
It's worth noting that, if you use dishwasher pods and your dishwasher does a pre-rinse cycle, you'll want to put the detergent pod in the detergent dispenser, and NOT just toss it in the bottom of the basin. That way, it dispenses the detergent when the wash cycle starts, and doesn't just rinse your detergent down the drain in the first few minutes.
Also, perhaps it was the products I was using, but when I used gel detergent, our spray arms would get clogged frequently and our dishwasher had a scale buildup all over the inside. When we switched back to powdered detergent, the dishwasher itself was cleaner almost immediately. We're now using cheap pods, and they seem to be doing fine.
Finally, I've replaced a couple of parts in our 15-year-old (new in 2009) dishwasher, and ours doesn't just have filters, but an actual spinning blade like a miniature garbage disposal at the front of the water pump.
Niiiiice citations, I was going to recommend some materials, but I see I don't have to. Thanks a lot for making this!!
An engineer friend of mine told me to stop worrying which direction to put in my plates- he said just place in between posts. It’s made to clean ALL SIDES OF THE DISHES. Have never worried since
Plates/dishes direction may be unimportant BUT bowls, cups, glasses, (wide mouth) bottles, pots and pans should always face down.
Cool video. I especially like the marker style lines emphasizing your descriptions.
Technology Connections
I don't remember him talking about loading, but yeah. He has a great series on dishwashers lol.
Lol! I just posted about the same before seeing your comment.
That's how I first found out how a dishwasher works.
Prewash king!
I came to write that and I'm glad other people did it first 👍🏽
I'm gonna join the technology connections shoutout crowd by saying that putting a little dishwasher detergent on a specialized slot (or, if your dishwasher doesn't have one, directly on the inside of the lid) will help clan stuff during the prewash cycle. However, you can't really do this by using dishwasher tablets/pods instead of powder of liquid.
The solution I found when I had a big stock of pods after watching the technology connections video was to just toss a second pod in the bottom of the dishwasher. It worked great
@@benjaminbargman3050Wow Benjamin got Benjamins
Tablets are way more expensive and clean worse, especially when the machine can dose the salt and polish on its own.
We switched to powder and the colours on the dishes no longer fade. Whenever we have oily food, some extra powder in the tub will help.
We switched to powder just cause of tech connections. Anecdotally it has helped marginally and is a little bit cheaper.
I put tableware down. That way I take them out by the handle & don't get stabbed by a fork. Sharp knives are best handwashed
Old lady here..... I've been loading dishwashers for nearly 6 decades. My rules have always been: save water by pre-rinsing really gunky dishes (I use a large salad bowl of HOT water in my sink to dunk/scrub after-meal dishware & utensils, so as to save on water use); arrange utensils as this vlogger suggests; make sure to arrange dishes/utensils so nothing is "spooning" against another and there is enough space between that the spray arm can get water on each dish; only wash a full washer load to save even more on water (THIS is the only reason I pre-rinse things). In my small household I often can't fill up my dishwasher for 7 to 10 days, and I don't like thinking of a dishwasher full of stinky food-degrading bacteria at work in there for days before it gets cleaned and sanitized by a wash cycle. If your situation can fill a dishwasher every day, then by all means save water and don't pre-rinse. My newest dishwasher has three tiers, and does a fantastic job; but then all my previous machines have done creditably well. Sanitizing baby bottles back in the day was a real time-saver, and even now I put my canning jars and lids/rings in for a sanitizing rinse and hold when I process my garden produce. Between clothes washers and dishwashers, householders can live their best lives now. Poor Grandma was a slave to her home. Thank God, not true for us any longer.
Some dishwashers settle the face up/down debate by having a grate on top of the bin. So anything aside from table knives would have to go in face up.
As a bonus, the grate also prevented any snuggling.
When loading utensils, I like loading more blunt utensils like spoons pointing up, but more pointy utensils like forks and knives pointing down to avoid accidental stabbings.
this right here is my only rule
I just put the knives pointing down. Everything else points up. And to avoid contaminating the silverware afterwards, you can take the baskets out of the dishwasher and dump them on a sanitized tray. But, these are made of metal and as long as your hands are clean, there shouldn't be much risk of contamination.
It’s no fun getting poked by a fork pointing up lol
Getting your finger trapped in the basket under a knife that won't dislodge is more dangerous than getting poked by one that's sticking up, according to safety experts I've heard on this subject
I thought that too until that episode of 'Lost' where an assassin fell on all the upward pointing knives in a dishwasher. Now I keep them all pointing up in case someone tries to assassinate me.
- Knives down to avoid accidents
- utensils up to aid in identification
The other thing I've heard for utensils is handles up so the eating surface isn't handled when removing them
@@DeRien8 doesn't bother me at all
Although I live alone, and always wash my hands prior to handling clean dishes
Wash sharp knives by hand. All the jostling around in the dishwasher can damage the blade. Also, any utensil that is made from wood or has a wooden handle should be washed by hand. The hot water and chemicals can ruin the wood.
if you have hardwater, putting spoons and ladles up can prevent rings
just put them in different sections
Between this video and Technology Connections' videos, I've actually been convinced. And although I still enjoy doing dishes by hand, I'm not worried about dishwashers doing a bad job anymore. :)
In industrial cleaning, aka CIP (Clean in Place) we talk about the sinner’s circle. Where you need 4 elements to clean. Heat, time, mechanical and chemical. Dishwashers operate on the same principle, and if you reduce one you will have to increase another. Just a random fact.
The spinning arms often can twist off to be cleared out if rice or small bits get stuck in them
Thank you! I was wondering how to clean the spinning arms. I always check and clean my filters (on bottom) but the arms-never thought about that. Not having one spin would diminish cleaning for sure. 😊
My thought about utensils up or down was based on newer models that mostly come with a movable slot-dividers on the basket to keep utensils from overlapping so the intended method to load utensils up and handles down.
My daughter's disgrees with me based on the utensils are likely touched by hands when emptied from the basket, especially for those handles are shorter than the depth of the basket.
The scars from the 5 stitches on my wrist remind me to place knives point downward in the basket.
Or never put sharp knives in the dishwasher to begin with. That is my role, having been injured in the past because of it.
My elderly father in-law fell on the dishwasher once. Only the forks and spoons were facing up. They cut a bunch of skin off his forearms and we had to take him to the hospital. It’s not just knives that are dangerous facing up.
Knives, especially good knives should be hand washed. Even the manufacturer of the knives say this.
@@CheMechanicalgood rule, I got the same one ❤
Remember the TV show Monk? There was an episode where they talked about how he wants his silverware washed. He runs it twice, once face-up and once facedown.
Monk is OCD and on the spectrum though.
Looking at the title, I thought this was going to be massively boring, but it turned out to be very informative! Good job, as usual.
In a strange twist you took forever to talk about the title point BUT I loved every minute.
Yeah exactly. TH-cam is full of this click bait stuff now.
I actually had this question for my dishwasher a couple years ago and so I found the manual for my dish washer and found out that the previous owner of my house actually bought a addon tray that is in the very top of the dish washer ( above the top tray ) I thought it was just for small things like chop sticks or maybe lids or something, come to find out it was a tray specifically for cutlery, so I place all my utensils in the top tray and they have dividers for each one, and after I found that out, I actually took out the cutlery basket and can fit a lot more stuff in the dishwasher. And for the rinsing the dishes before they go in the dishwasher, or what some people say "washing the dishes before washing the dishes" its actually better if you leave them dirty because the food that is on the dishes gives something for the detergent to grab onto with emulsifier's ( not sure if I spelled that right xD )
Delighted by the scientific approach, nicely done! Fun & funny video too.
I was a "who cares?" person for utensils until my wife made a very compelling point, which was, "Do you want to stab yourself by knife or fork emptying utensils?" Right, knives and forks down.
This whole video can be summarized by "Read the manual, everything is answer there and it's even specialized for your model"
I like the mock up of dirty crockery with ketchup and mustard just squirted onto the plates
😅
The wife and I always debated the silverware up and down situation as well and now I can comfortably face them down and not have a minor anxiety attack. Thank you!
If it's truly silverware rather than stainless, I think it would be better to hand wash it.
0:22 more like dishcourse
Banger comment
WHOA WE HAVE THE SAME NAME
Face down ass up is how I learned to wash dishes in the month of June
They may still recommend, prior to offering your home for sale, to install a dishwasher. I know the seller of our current home listened to that. They removed a very convenient cabinet to install a dishwasher, which we promptly removed and sold after taking possession. On a well/septic system made it impractical, plus handwashing/drying, for me, is a welcome zen experience.
We have a top utensil rack. Game changer.
I have that too and it is so much better than the basket!
I had a dishwasher with a utensil rack and thought I'd love it, but in practice it was fiddly to load and unload and took away vertical space that was needed for glasses and plates. It's easier to take all the utensils to their drawer in one go with a basket.
What did you do to unclog the spray arm?
There was a little old food stuck in one of the holes - I just poked it out with a toothpick.
Glad I saw this, I have a new dishwasher being delivered on Friday 10/25, so excited!
Pointy things down as not to hurt yourself or others and so it can be pulled out by the handle and not touching the eating surface.
Most dishwashers I've seen come with a utensil organizer that keeps silverware spaced out. Using it requires silverware be loaded facing up, but it gets your stuff clean and even saves you time when unloading.
It's the knives and forks penetrating the quick on your nails when facing up, also when dirty handed kids/grands grab the clean utensils with their dirty hands
The reason for placing utensils pointy side down is safety. When you reach in to get them out, you are likely to cut yourself if the utensils are points/edges up.
Saw a little kid nearly take his eye out taking half a kitchen scissor out of the basket because it was stuck and pointed up. I'm liking the newer trays for cutlery that lay them horizontally, but I am 100% team handles up and eating side down.
Technology Connections has a very good in depth video on dishwashers. Especially, he talked about the immense value of liquid or powder rather than pods because you can use them to pre-rinse much more effectively and efficiently. Apparently, it will significantly improve your dishwasher performance. Not going to debate it here (I don't remember enough of it anyway), but you should watch his video.
😮😮My 25yr old dishwasher still works but I pre rinse. Spoons up, forks and butter knives down. I also wash my hands BEFORE unloading.
Seriously? People are bat feces crazy over "germs". I took microbiology and I can tell you that 99% of all germs do not survive on hard clean surfaces. Even if you had some deadly ones, but then you would have already known that, eh? You can clean your hands, and in the process of moving your hands through the air you already picked up thousands of mold spores and much more. And don't forget your breathing on them. Your mouth is a cesspool of bacteria.
I basically understand how dishwashers work, where the only thing on noticed on our current dishwasher is that if I faced the bowls in one direction, the first bowl was hit or miss as to whether it would be fully clean, but facing the bowls in the other direction guaranteed success every time. I usually face my silverware down for safety reasons. I do rinse my dishes quickly under the faucet just to remove loose stuff and still amazed at really stuck on food being removed by the dishwasher with very few exceptions. I remember my mom's dishwasher from decades ago where it seemed like you had to wash the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher where the main purpose seem like sterilization back then. Dishwashers have made vast improvements since those days.
- No mention of egg smell?!? Egg yolk will make your glass smell (and other porous surfaces too). I hand wash or prewash yolk off dishes and cutlery. Never get "that smell" again.
- Excess grease will clog your basket and become unhygienic and smelly. Especially in large households (too long too explain). Wipe off grease with a small amout of detergent on moist sponge or dry wipe/scrape thoroughly. No need to waste water.
- Cuttlery up or down? This is the argument!?! Neither you fools... sharps down for safety, teaspoons down if handle narrow enough to slip through basket and damage spinning jets, forks up as tines get stuck in the basket, spoons and butter knives up (or down) as long as they are spread or splayed, avoiding e.g. peanut butter caught between two spoons perfectly lined up in same direction. So, sharps and teaspoons down, everything else up and splayed.
- Efficient stacking just makes sense and is less wasteful. It all depends on your dishwasher, dish types and . If something is dirty after wash. Rethink the positioning/stacking method.
- Tablet hopper should be dry or tablet might get stuck resulting in poor wash.
- Clean the removable catchers and filters in the bottom regularly.
Woah lol
The only thing I've found that consistently doesn't come off if it isn't pre-rinsed is oatmeal, grits, and other hot breakfast cereals. I just wind up with oatmeal grains stuck on random dishes all throughout the dishwasher.
If you use gel or powder detergent, try adding detergent to your dishwasher's prewash phase(your detergent dispenser should have a section for this). This usually gives better results for edge cases such as yours, but it still is recommended to dislodge food chucks, as shown in the video, before running the dishwasher.
Usually I'll soak a bowl in the sink for a couple hours before placing it in the dishwasher.
This isn't about pre-rinsing, though, this is about scraping off. If you make sure there are no oats in your bowl after a yummy bowl of muesli, there's nothing to get stuck on...
I make a pancake batter out of ground up oats and cottage cheese, and that stuff is like cement once it has had time to harden. Same deal, they have to be washed off right after use.
You probably shouldn't be eating too many of those foods, anyway. They're better used as livestock feed.
woooo @renduh! love that you included one of my fave creators!
My dishwasher is original to the house built in 1985 and I have lived here since 1989 and followed the manufacturer’s recommendations for loading it. Dried food never was completely removed so I always rinsed well. I had essentially clean dishes so just ran it on china and crystal cycle for the higher temperature and heated dry. At 15 years old, it was having an issue and the repairman said it was a high end model and it was better than many on the market. It’s been going strong ever since.
A super important step that people always forget is that you need to CLEAN THE FILTERS inside your dishwasher every time you use it.
Every. Single. Time?!
Dude. You're supposed to at least scrape your dishes. Are you loading them with leftovers still on them?
How?
Once a week is fine unless you’re loading them with tons of food. The filters are usually found on the bottom pan under a twist cap
Ummmmmmm yea idek how to clean the filters on mine…indicating I’ve never done it lol
Fantastic video! I love seeing what's actually going on inside the washer. My own mom believed that the dishwasher was basically a sanitizer not a an actual washer. The washing was my job. Good to know I can let the machine do it's job. Now we'll see if my kids let their kids in on the secret! Lol 😊
The quickest way to get responsibility for a household task is to tell your wife how she should be doing it.
I actually took it away from her because she loads the dishwasher like a raccoon on meth.
😂😂😂
So true, as loading the dishwasher is my job as I kicked that responsibility away from my wife and I would have no other way and in return I get no forking and no spooning.
conversely, do a consistently terrible job of it.....
Some dishwashers (mine for example) has a second small reservoir with a grate to allow water to get in and enable that first cycle to have detergent as well. Makes sense to have soap present for the bulk cleaning at the beginning.
Dishwashers Explained #1 [Technology Connections] : th-cam.com/video/_rBO8neWw04/w-d-xo.html
Dishwashers Explained #2 [Technology Connections] : th-cam.com/video/Ll6-eGDpimU/w-d-xo.html
The reason for pointing the business end of utensils down is safety, pure and simple. You're unlikely to slice your hand open on a spoon, but any other configuration is simply not worth the risk of someone slicing their hand open on a knife when they're groggily unloading the machine the next morning.
I was going to comment on safety. It's more than just slicing your hand - you could actually fall on the utensil rack. I'm sure people have died in accidents like that.
Thank you. I was going to mention safety. A co-worker told us that a family member had tripped over the opn dishwasher drawer and would have to have multiple plastic surgeries as a result. Their family member, in this case, was their 4 year old. The forks had been tines-up. That was 30 years ago. I've made sure that my loved ones load utensils spear/sharp-end down
One thing about utensils to think about - depending on the shape of you utensil sometimes it can hang down below the basket that holds them and stop the moving around that spraying out the water. It happened with a dishwasher that I had in one of the places I live at. We actually had the repair person come in to take a look at it and neither of us could figure out what was going on. I finally looked carefully at the basket while putting utensils in and realized certain ones hung down below the basket and the arm from moving.
Most have a utensil basket on the lower rack too. extra along ones can lay sideways in the top rack
@@MattStMarie-bm5sq This was a few years back and, although it was a new dishwasher, the ability to put utensils on the top rack was limited. An easy work around is to flip the utensil so the and tines are pointing up.
0:01 garbage disposals and fridges/freezers as well
Garbage disposals are actually really problematic appliances. The implication is that we can throw anything down there and it will magically break down into drain-safe and water-treatment-safe material. But that's not the case. We should be composting instead, especially for anyone with a septic tank. Anything that can't compost should just go in the trash bin.
No, silly...You don't put those in a dishwasher. _Or do you..._
*Technology Connections has entered the chat*
That was fairly entertaining 😁. I watched because I just unclogged my dishwasher by watching another video on dishwashers, so i said, what the heck, let's just watch this one😂😂😂. Low and behold, I found it very interesting. Thanks for sharing.