How needy is your dishwasher?

We probably do dishwasher maintenance about once every 6 months 😳 We should definitely do it more often but it seems to mostly clean reasonably well.

We don't put anything scummy in there that will clog it up, but no we don't rinse things before putting them in. (At that point it feels like you might as well just wash up by hand?)

Wouldn't expect it to clean any major stains though - pans or anything with sticky residue or built up, we wash by hand.

I'm interested in what is getting 'burnt on' because we probably wouldn't put anything in there where that was even possible really. The dishwasher just does plates, glasses, mugs, cutlery.

We probably top up rinse aid every 7-10 days and salt monthly but our dishwasher runs 2 times a day, sometimes 3.
We used to use eco mode as a default but switched to intensive every other time because we thought it might help shift stubborn marks and it’s worked.
it drains okay and we don’t rinse plates (because it all clogs up the same waste water outlet regardless if it’s coming from the sink or dishwasher), we just use the bit of kitchen paper we used at dinner to remove all the actual loose parts from the plate (so wipe them into the bin).

I’m a first time dish washer owner. Mine wanted salt and rinse aid as often as yours, so I use the all in one tablets now and don’t both with either. Our dishwasher is full most nights and it all comes out perfect. Maybe don’t bother? But I am an amateur and didn’t research if it harms the machine 😬 I rinse the filter about weekly but that’s no bother (didn’t realise the whole thing came out until recently 🙃). The arms are always clean though after a cycle

Uh I don’t think I’ve ever put salt or rinse aid in. I do rinse everything before I put it in though.