Dishwasher care

-
pishta

pishta

I know I'm right....
Joined
Oct 13, 2004
Messages
23,884
Reaction score
13,737
Location
Tustin, CA
If yours is in the garage or the kitchen.....mine wasn't draining the last 1" of water so I thought the discharge pump was shot. Stuck a fork in the interlock mechanism so I could see what it was doing. Filled fine, pressure pump worked, just a hum on the drain cycle. Pulled the discharge hose out of the disposal and nothing but a trickle. Pulled the aerator, shop vac'd the water out then the screen with its 90 degree turn of the lever, whole screen lifted out...totally clogged with hard water lime! Cleaned it out (1st time in 14 years) and ran the pump again with no screen. Same weak stream. Hmmm.....must be clogged? Manual says pull dishwasher out and lay on its face to access pump on bottom. F that, I'll just pour a gallon of vinegar in there and let it soak overnight. Next morning I took the discharge hose and put it in a bucket and ran the drain cycle again. With a pop and a flood of what looked like gravel, I had a full stream of vinegar flowing out! Put it all back together , ran a cycle and I was able to observe a full flow into the garbage disposal. So....every year now I'm going to do a vinegar soak overnight to keep it flowing. These make nice parts washers too, just get a 2-5 gallon tank and fill with whatever solvent. Don't go crazy on strength or flamability. Place tank above unit or above the fill line and plumb the discharge hose back into top of rank. Disconnect heater coil if running flammable solvent or else keep it working if your using dollar tree 'totally awesome' yellow solvent (stronger than it's worth!!).
 
Iirc the water level never gets higher than the bottom pan, so about 1 gallon of working water is being used at any time. A 2 gallon tank would probably work just fine.
 
We have a nice stainless dishwasher that came with the house when we bought it. Karrin has never used it once. I bought her a new vacuum for doing such a good job on the dishes.
 
jeff alder said:
We have a nice stainless dishwasher that came with the house when we bought it. Karrin has never used it once. I bought her a new vacuum for doing such a good job on the dishes.
Click to expand...
Our house had a new fridge, stove and dishwasher when we bought it in 2013. The stove crapped out twice and was replaced by 2023, the fridge I just ordered a new light switch and door bushing for, and the dishwasher is still like new, probably only been used once a year, maybe. :BangHead:

I also had a Navien tankless water heater installed shortly after we moved in, have had it cleaned a couple times so far, need to get off my *** and get a pump so I can do it myself instead of paying someone else. I did have to replace the o-ring on the condensate filter last week, but it's been a pretty good unit so far.
 
missing linc said:
Our house had a new fridge, stove and dishwasher when we bought it in 2013. The stove crapped out twice and was replaced by 2023, the fridge I just ordered a new light switch and door bushing for, and the dishwasher is still like new, probably only been used once a year, maybe. :BangHead:

I also had a Navien tankless water heater installed shortly after we moved in, have had it cleaned a couple times so far, need to get off my *** and get a pump so I can do it myself instead of paying someone else. I did have to replace the o-ring on the condensate filter last week, but it's been a pretty good unit so far.
Click to expand...
I installed an on demand tankless for an older welder friend of mine. I'll never have one. I still am sold on the 80 gallon tank infinite hot water heater. Some people love the tankless and I'm glad it's working out for you. I am too old to begin the training...LOL
 
jeff alder said:
I installed an on demand tankless for an older welder friend of mine. I'll never have one. I still am sold on the 80 gallon tank infinite hot water heater. Some people love the tankless and I'm glad it's working out for you. I am too old to begin the training...LOL
Click to expand...
Wife loves it, I have no real preference, but am not unhappy with it, the 40 gallon tank that was there had done it's time.
 
:)
1751310027353.png
 
missing linc said:
Wife loves it, I have no real preference, but am not unhappy with it, the 40 gallon tank that was there had done it's time.
Click to expand...
Ours is in the basement so no one really knows what it is except me...LOL Our house was built by a contractor for his personal family so it has an 80 gallon tank, lift pump jet system for the septic system and a bunch of other fancy crap. There are 3 electrical panels in the house and one in the barn...3 bathrooms in the house one in the basement and one in the barn. This guy built a lovely 2 bedroom ranch with an extra small bedroom for a babies room. His wife got pregnant 3 times so he cut the roof off and added 3 bedrooms to a second story. Then she left him for the neighbor. True story.
 
Last edited:
jeff alder said:
Ours is in the basement so no one really knows what it is except me...LOL Our house was built by a contractor for his personal family so it has an 80 gallon tank, lift pump jet system for the septic system and a bunch of other fancy crap. There are 3 electrical panels in the house and one in the barn...3 bathrooms in the house one in the basement and one in the barn. This guy built a lovely 2 bedroom ranch with an extra small bedroom for a babies room. His wife got pregnant 3 times so he cut the roof off and added 3 bedrooms to a second story. Then she left him for the neighbor. True story.
Click to expand...
Probably the neighbors 3 babies :rolleyes:
 
RustyRatRod said:
I am the dishwasher. I am fine
Click to expand...
This is funny.....
If Pishta put about two drops of the plain old diswashing detergent like you use in his dishwasher about twice a year, it would look brand spankin new like the day he bought it, and would not likely need the vinager trick. Worth a try i swear.
 
Lefty71 said:
This is funny.....
If Pishta put about two drops of the plain old diswashing detergent like you use in his dishwasher about twice a year, it would look brand spankin new like the day he bought it, and would not likely need the vinager trick. Worth a try i swear.
Click to expand...
Huh? We've only use the tide pods.....are these clogging my system up?
 
pishta said:
Huh? We've only use the tide pods.....are these clogging my system up?
Click to expand...
Maybe. Notice the plastic wrapped around the detergent in the pods? That has to melt and go down the drain. We were having trouble with our pods not opening all the time (don't know why) and switched back to liquid dishwasher soap. My wife assures me the dishes are cleaner. Didn't find much on the filter, but I put it on the 3 month cycle on my phone, along with the filter on the washing machine. Didn't know we had a filter on that until it told us to clean it.
 
pishta said:
Huh? We've only use the tide pods.....are these clogging my system up?
Click to expand...
I couldnt say that for sure....and im not a dishwasher guru. I am a plumber tho, so not TOO far out in left field.
I do know that pods and powder type dishwashing detergents are very low suds and have a tendency to leave cake like residues on the inside of the units... probably some calcium deposits depending on your water type as well. Thru experience i have found that a couple drops of plain diswashing liquid soap ( only done periodically ) will clean the interior and flush a whole lot of crud buildup out of the unit.
 
The issue I have with the pods is microplastics. At my house we have thrown out plastic cutting boards and I have preached to everyone not to use plastic food containers in the microwave. We use liquid soaps in the dishwasher and clothes washer; I even use bar soaps and not the liquids. Time to stop using so much plastics I wish we would go back to glass bottles and jars.
 
Oh, are we talkim' 'bout dishwasher detergent? Yeah, let's:

Years ago, I suspected the new dishwasher detergent tablets and pods being heavily pushed were a ripoff. I put a tablet in a Ziploc bag and crushed it with a hammer, then measured the resultant powder: about 2 tablespoons. That struck me as grossly excessive, in line with the "always fill all detergent cups to maximum for best results" instrux on detergent powder boxes (and then liquid/gel bottles).

So I bought a box of regular ol' normal ol' boring ol' Finish (formerly Electrosol) dishwasher powder and started experimenting. 1 tablespoon: dishes completely clean. 2 teaspoons: dishes completely clean. (I scrape off loose leavings, but almost no dishes get rinsed before they go in the dishwasher.)

The math quickly showed that yup, the pods and powders are a complete scam. So for years now, we've had this what you see here under the sink, with a teaspoon measure in:

c3c69e25f02cc599.jpeg


The dishes consistently get perfectly clean, but I've never liked that dishwasher-detergent smell they have after. It occurred to me awhile ago I'd stopped the experiment at 2 teaspoons, so I tried 1 teaspoon (5 mL — probably more like 6ish; I don't level off the teaspoon, just scoop-shake-dispense).

Result: dishes perfectly clean. They couldn't possibly be any cleaner, so all the marketing babble about the pods unlocking whole new levels of Ultra Platinum Extreme Clean are bulk wrap. And the dishes now come out smelling of…nothing. Had to edit that yellow label on the lid, tho.

I'm not gonna retire on the savings, but every bit helps. There's a whole lot less waste this way, in money and detergent and packaging and production. Also, no PVA (that "dissolvable" plastic the pods are made of) clogging up the pipeworks because no it freakin' isn't anywhere near as dissolvable as all that.

As far as periodic maintenance goes: every time I clean the dishwasher filter, I chant the accompanying magic incantation, which goes like this: "'I can't tolerate the barely-audible hiss of the self-cleaning filter on this dishwasher, and I certainly hope my next dishwasher has one I have to remember to periodically remove and scrub by hand!', said nobody ever".
 
House fires do a GREAT job of "fixing" older dishwashers. You just load 'er on the trailer 'n take 'er to the dump!!
 

OK, so I think you all convinced me that Tide pods are a waste, that the plastics may not completely dissolve, that the powder in the pods is too much, and the powder is not the greatest either for scale build up. Might try the 'ol $6 Cascade liquid again.
 
pishta said:
OK, so I think you all convinced me that Tide pods are a waste, that the plastics may not completely dissolve, that the powder in the pods is too much, and the powder is not the greatest either for scale build up. Might try the 'ol $6 Cascade liquid again.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what I use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-
Back
Top Bottom