I finally stopped pre-rinsing every plate with hot water

I used to scrub every dish under the faucet for like 30 seconds before loading the dishwasher, making sure no food bits were left. Then my machine started leaving cloudy spots and my repair guy told me the detergent needs some gunk to work right. Now I just scrape big chunks into the trash and load it straight - anyone else find their dishes actually come out cleaner this way?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_thomas1mo ago

The repair guy told you the truth. Most people don't realize that modern dishwashers use sensors to figure out how dirty the water is. When you pre rinse everything, the machine thinks nothing needs cleaning so it uses less water and detergent. That's where the cloudy spots come from. It actually works better with some food particles because the sensors pick up on the grime and kick into a longer heavier cycle. Once I stopped rinsing, my glasses stopped looking foggy and everything comes out way hotter too.

paul_morgan1mo ago

My repair guy basically told me the same thing and I felt so dumb, like I'd been fighting my own dishwasher. Now I just let the machine do the dirty work, literally.