[quote]
Use The Normal Cycle: Consumer Reports tests dishwashers using the normal cycle. Dishwasher makers know this and make it the most efficient cycle. Skip past pots and pans.
[/quote]
I found this one fairly surprising. My parents were always telling me that nothing but the Pots and Pans setting would get the dishes clean. Shows what they know!

@WiglyWorm: lol BBCode does not work on blogs... too much time on the forums. Woops!

"Use The Right Detergent: Your dishes will come out cleaner if you use powder detergent over liquid or tablet detergent."

FYI for those with septic systems, the advice is the reverse. I was told by the septic service that did my inspection when I bought my house that solid soaps of all types should be avoided, since they tend to resolidify in the tank and can cause problems as they build up.

Go fig that just 2 minutes ago, I just loaded up the dishwasher ...

Of course, having been a CR subscriber, I knew these tips already. I just didn't buy any of the higher rated ones. I still ahead buying a one-year old $40 one that washes "good" instead of $350 for a very good.

The 20 year old one that was taken out ... I might repurposed as a car parts washer.

@Chmeeee: So one is best for washing dishes, while the other is best for not having sewage in your yard... Yum.

Wow, I feel wonderful now. My laziness when it came to rinsing my dishes has certainly paid off!

(...running to my phone and eagerly calling relatives who berated my dishwasher know-how)

I've got a 2004 Kenmore dishwasher. I load as directed above, use powdered detergent, etc. and it always leaves food on the plates. Because it is next to useless if you don't pre-wash, I end up doing my dishes by hand unless my RSI is really bad at the time or unless there's been a dinner party that has created too many dishes to deal with at one time.

"Use The Right Detergent: Your dishes will come out cleaner if you use powder detergent over liquid or tablet detergent."

I find the best detergent by far are the combo tablets - 2 colored items that both wash and rinse effectively.

I'll second that "use the right detergent" tip. For a long time, we used one of those phosphate-free eco-friendly brands. After awhile, funk started to build up in the dishwasher, requiring me to disassemble it and scrub it all out after a couple of years. A couple of years later, it did it again, and that was when I twigged to what was going on. We switched back to a standard earth-raping chemical-laden high-phosphate brand, and the dishwasher (and dishes) have been clean ever since.

My apartment has a whirlpool dishwasher, and if you don't pre-rinse, the dishes come out with food on them. It's almost not worth using.

@spidra: Have you ever cleaned your dishwasher? Do you have hard water? I have a 1 1/2 year old dishwasher that stopped cleaning well. In doing research, it's because of the hard water. Now I clean it with dishwasher cleaner (near the dishwasher detergent in the supermarket) at least twice a month and it is back to the way it was when we bought it.

i've never met a dishwasher that didn't leave food on all the dishes, except for industrial-style hobarts. my last apartment came with a dishwasher and it was worthless except as an extra dish rack.

I guess that my older sister was right: Parents are the root of all evil!

Yeah, as a lot of people have mentioned, I too have a dishwasher that, unless you scrub most of the food off, the dishwasher's not going to do any good.

@Chmeeee: thanks for the tip - about to buy a house with a septic system and none of the stuff i read on it mentioned that. i'd much rather have slightly less clean dishes [although the dishwasher in the house is brand new and should be fairly efficient] than sewage in the yard.

@WiglyWorm: prob depends on how hard the water is too...i would imagine

@Trai_Dep: If siblings are correct, I guess I'm adopted. T.T

I have a Frigidaire that was rock-bottom on the dishwasher ratings when CR tested it (came with the house.) I find that I have to use pots & pans along with temp boost on wash and rinse for anything to get actually clean. I think it's the extra rinse that makes it.

But since the dishes are raging hot by then I can do without heated dry and they come out fine.

@bikeoid:
I agree. We've tried everything and the combo tablets that contain both powder and liquid have worked by far the best for us.

The worst detergent I've ever used is Electrasol which always seems like it's sandblasting the plates and glasses in addition to cleaning them.

Pre-washing is generally not needed unless you have leafy greens on a plate. Those tend to become dried out and practically cemented to the plate.

I have the bottom of the line GE dishwasher in my apartment, doesn't even have a washer arm on the top shelf just this thing that pops up and sprays the top rack.

Since I switched to powder with enzymes (phosphate free ALDI store brand)the dishes come out perfect almost every time, I never pre-rinse anything and only do a load 2-3 times a week so the stuff drys on.

I bet that in many cases the water is to blame, I heard that hard water can make many detergents less effective.

It takes forever for hot water to reach my kitchen, so I always run the water in the faucet until it gets hot and then start the dishwasher, maybe that helps some.

@MonkeyMonk: Well it says to not pre-wash, but definitely to scrape, so scrape all that sort of stuff into the garbage first (it also tends to clog up the arm thingy faster if you don't).

@spidra: Early 1990s GE. Have to prewash unless I want food left. Am finicky so I usually use the dishwasher after I prewash. Tablets actually seem to work best.

One word: spaghetti-o's

Nothing gets spaghetti-o's off your dishes except for pre-rinsing in the sink. Pasta of any kind is second only to epoxy for its stickiness.

@catastrophegirl - manic first time home buyer: Ive never heard of the soap theory. Common sense would say that if you dissolve soap into water and than put that water into a bigger container with more water Its not going to re-solidify. But maybe they know something I dont... The biggest issues I know of are water softeners that discharge their backwash into your septic system, over-use of bleach and or antibacterial soaps, dont flush antibiotics or other medicines down the toilet, excessive paper products (not toilet paper). Just remember that the bacteria in your tank are your friends and anything you do to disrupt their environment will not be good for your leach field.
Also never use any kind of additive that claims to clean you septic tank so it doesnt need pumping. Not good.

Also did the inspection service check the condition of the baffle in your tank? Its very important that its there and in good condition.

Any questions let me know.

@catastrophegirl - manic first time home buyer: I'm not sure what the basis for saying "less clean" is. I use only liquids, because they're simpler. My dishes aren't less than clean. They're cleaner than hand-washing, anyway.

Anyone have any further details on why liquid soaps would be "less clean"?

@narf: I gave away the 20 year old one. Absolutely free. On Craigslist. It worked, but it was noisy. The replacement is absolutely quiet. It's bliss.

@nitro.and.acetylene: Do you wash right away, or wait a week while it fills up?

@nitro.and.acetylene: ...and here is where real-world experience proves so-called experts to be irrelevant yet again. Maybe if you're someone who can buy a dishwasher every five years, this is on target. My experience with every dishwasher I have used since I lived with my parents 15 years ago completely contradicts this report.

@baquwards: Dishwater is supposed to be hooked to the hot water line, because it's more energy efficient to heat already hot water than cold water. That said, the dishwasher is also supposed to heat the water. Maybe your dishwasher is broken, and not heating the water?

@sponica: also how old your dishwasher is and or quality. If you live in an apartment you end up with the cheapest oldest piece of crap dishwasher you can get. Rinsing is a must.

@chris_d: Mine is exactly the same. Not sure of the brand without getting off my ass and checking, but I don't even bother using it unless I have time to "pre-wash" the dishes.

If the trade off is the detergent "attacking" my dishes, I think I'll live.

I don't understand the powdered-versus-liquid soap advice. In my experience, pre-dissolved detergents tend to finish dissolving and do their job better, be it for dishwashers or clothes washers.

Now, those powdered soaps are cheaper because they come in more-easily-shippable containers (cardboard boxes instead of wacky shaped plastic jugs), and because I'm not paying for the water that's dissolving the soap. But working better? I'm surprised.

@Aladdyn: My guess is that it's a temperature issue. Water in your dishwasher is well over 100F. Water in your septic tank will likely stay near 50-60F. I don't know what's in detergent, but it would make sense if it solidifies as it cools.

I must add GRITS to this! (Yankees feel free to ignore this post.) Just today my partner didn't rinse/scrape the bulk of grits off of anything, and every single item came out with grits here and there (even the glasses). Worse, they were now thoroughly dried on. (CR "Better" rated DW using powder.)

Funny, my non-clean dishes when I don't pre-wash or use powdered soap says otherwise.

@Kevin L. Hudson:
YES. It's starch in general for me. Potatoes, rice, pasta has to go before getting into the dishwasher.

Clearly you haven't met my apartment complex default dishwasher.

Pre-rinsing/pre-washing is absolutely necessary. If I had that Maytag that you could put a whole chocolate cake in and it would eat it all up, I wouldn't pre-wash. But, alas - I do not.

@chris_d: We had an ancient and cheapo dishwasher in a house we were renting. We called it the dish dirtier. Things actually came out dirtier than they went in even if everything was pre-rinsed.

We found that the dish cubes worked better in our 1980's Kitchenaid that came with the current house. When we got a new one we switched to Electrasol powder per the manufacturer instructions. It is cheap and does a great job. We use distilled vinegar in the jet dry dispenser and that solves the water build up on everything.

@Vanilla5: Now why would you waste a chocolate cake like that?

@WiglyWorm:

You need to use blockquote, not quote, and in less than or greater than symbols, not square brackets.

@balthisar: Although a dishwasher is connected to a hot water source, there may be several feet of pipe between the hot water source and the d/w. This water cools when it is not flowing through the pipe. Therefore you may have several gallons of cool water in your hot water pipe. A d/w doesn't use a lot of water, so the dishwasher will fill with cool water. Cool water may not dissolve powdered d/w detergent and won't clean greasy dishes well. Many dishwashers do not automatically heat water. Some may have a temperature boost cycle, but it must be turned on, and it increases electricity use. For these reasons, the Cascade website recommends, before turning on the d/w, to run the hot water at the sink nearest the d/w until it is warm.

@jstonemo: Eat your SpaghettiO's out of the can. Heating them makes no difference. No electricity use, only a spoon to wash.

@ajlei: ditto that. And what's worse is that some of that food ends up stuck in my glasses and gets baked on there. So then I have to soak them to pry the food off and rewash them.

This is what I do: the minute I am finished using a dish, I clean it. It's very easy to clean that way and you don't get that stuck on grease. When I cook, I clean the utensils I have used to cook before I eat and as soon as I finish eating, I wish my wishes thoroughly. It takes less than a minute per dish.

@Jesse in Japan: I mean I wash my dishes thoroughly... man my head is messed up today.

Our Bosch dishwasher practically demands powdered detergent: it has a rinse agent reservoir, so there is no need to have that included with the detergent.

After some experimentation, we found that it runs best on half a coffee scoop of Electrasol powder. We are only on the third box of detergent since we bought it: the previous box lasted 16 months.

I was all set to tell Mr. Pi he could stop slaving over the sink, scrubbing every dish as if there was gold underneath...but a) he wouldn't listen to me and b) the wealth of evidence from all of you saying that pre-rinsing is the only way things get done shows me that we will always be scrubbing dishes.

@Pasketti: We use BioKleen's unscented powder, and so far after 8 months, no problems. I just don't fill up the detergent cups all the way, per advice given last year on this site. It might also help that instead of a rinse aid (like Jet Dry or something else) I use vinegar in there. Same for my clothes washer in the fabric softener dispenser.

My clothes washer is about 15 years old, and when we got it from the in-laws when they got their new one, it was covered with hard-water deposits, grime and soap crust. After a few months of using vinegar in there instead of softener, the tub looks brand-spanking new. Wow.

@ajlei: I wondered the same thing when I saw the Maytag commercial.

If you put dishes in most washers without rinsing them off with the sprayer in the sink you are asking for trouble. Did a plumber write this article? Gee I wonder why that garbage disposal is under my sink? A quick rinse of bulk food in the sink then into the washer is the best advice. The dry heat during the "dry cycle" kills any bugs which might be sticking around on the dishes. Sanitize....