I don’t know about you but I love my dishwasher. Any appliance that saves me from having my hands in a sink definitely has my vote.
What if I told you that there’s one dishwashing sin that we’re all committing that’s making your machine work less effectively and shortening its lifespan?
Don’t Overload Your Dishwasher
Squeezing one last plate in may very well clear your bench space, but the water jets won’t be able to get in between the dishes during the cycle meaning – you guessed it – you’ll have to run the load again.
Aside from the inconvenience, overloading adds extra pressure on the appliance’s working parts and may clog up the filter.
Here’s some more mistakes you may be making …
Not Remembering the Rinse Aid
While dishwashers have certainly come a long way, they will find it hard to do their job if food is caked on the dishes. Scrape food off your crockery and pots. Give them a rinse and use rinse aid in the cycle.
Why is rinse aid important? It will reduce water spots and give you shinier, less foggy-looking dishes
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Fun Fact: White vinegar can be used as a rinse aid. There are many decent rinse aid products on the market but vinegar will work just as well. |
A Dirty Dishwasher
Pull food scraps out of the bottom of the dishwasher and pay special attention to the filter. Most filters are placed under the bottom tray but you may need to refer to your dishwasher manual for instructions on how to clean it.
Once a week, fill a cup with vinegar and run an empty cycle. It will help your machine run more efficiently and help to remove odours as well.
Other Cycle Sins
The general cycle button should be sufficient for most cycles but it’s worth researching what the other buttons do – sometimes you need a little more power.
A quick rundown – a slightly hotter temperature will target stubborn grime and is a great idea if someone at home is unwell. The hotter temperature will kill off any bacteria. A quick wash is also handy for a smaller load but avoid if you’ve got crusted marks to remove off your dishes.
It’s also worth running just a rinse cycle if you’ve got greasy plates in there that you don’t want to dry up.
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