New dishwasher owner! Help!

[puttyandslime]

I finally have one and I'm overjoyed!

Is it worth paying for the branded tablets? I've got rinse aid and salt. Old MN threads tell me Fairy Platinum is very popular. Shall I get the original, or all in one (assuming I don't need all in one since I've got rinse aid and salt?).

ALSO! The top shelf only fits 4 cereal bowls. There's only me, DW and DS so it'll take 2-3 days to fill the bottom shelf with plates. Should I run it when it's half empty? Or wait til it's full?

Should I rinse plates before putting them in?!

All help appreciated.

Remove food debris from plates but there's no need to rinse them.

No need to buy branded tablets.

You can put bowls in plate area. It's obviously more efficient to wait til it's full. You may need to buy a little more crockery and cutlery.

I use supermarket own brand all in ones. Do you have a lighter load option as a programme?
Scrape as much debris off the plates before they go in. Waste of water to rinse first, you may as well wash up at the sink.

I buy the fancy ones when they're on offer, still use rinse aid, but we have very hard water. Never heard of not using salt, so don't know about that. My dw instructions say not to rinse first, but I give everything a really good scrape! If I leave it too long without washing, it starts to get really smelly, so I tend to run a quick wash every day. Just sit down with the manual, and then have fun playing!

Is it worth paying for the branded tablets? I've got rinse aid and salt. Old MN threads tell me Fairy Platinum is very popular. Shall I get the original, or all in one (assuming I don't need all in one since I've got rinse aid and salt?)

No need to pay for branded tablets - Aldi ones are excellent, probably the same for other supermarkets. I aim to pay no more than 10 p per tablet for an all in one.

Whether you need all in one, or just detergent ones depends on your water softness/hardness. We have very soft water and generally use all in one tablets, but once I bought normal ones by accident, used them with no salt or rinse aid and didn't notice until months later when the box had nearly finished. If you have very hard water, people say that even the all in one type need extra salt.

ALSO! The top shelf only fits 4 cereal bowls. There's only me, DW and DS so it'll take 2-3 days to fill the bottom shelf with plates. Should I run it when it's half empty? Or wait til it's full

You could do either of these. You could also put cereal bowls on the bottom shelf if there is room.

Should I rinse plates before putting them in?

No, not necessary, total waste of water. Just scrape of any leftovers.

Aldi all in one. Definitely the best tablets.

as all in one tablets are a lie and aldi dont sell salt or rinse aid, find a wilkinson for the cheapest set of tablet, rinse aid and salt.

dont forget to clean filters often and spray arms sometimes.

You need to work out the best way to fill it, my DH is a master which he needs to be as we only have a slimline as its all we have room for. Bowls are a pain but just put them on the bottom if you have more room there.
I use Fairy Platinum but only buy when it's on offer but will use Lidl or other own brands if required but I honestly don't find them as good(for reference I use Aldi washing powder so I'm not a brand snob).
Scrap but only rinse if it's egg fish or mash as they are like glue/stink if left.
Only do a full load unless you really need to do less otherwise it's a bit of a waste.
If you buy more crockery make sure your new plates will fit as some are too big to fit easily.
I've had one for 40 years (not the same one obviously) and I hate being without one. Added bonus is the kitchen is always tidy. Enjoy!

We use fairy platinum, but there's no real reason for it. We buy loads of tablets when they're on offer.

Get the food off the plates, but no need to rinse. By the time you've rinsed them, you might as well hand wash them!

We put mugs, spatulas and measuring jugs in the top. Everything else goes in the bottom.

I will run my dishwasher half empty on Eco (don't tell DH!) but try to get a full load in where I can :)

I got my first ever dishwasher a year ago.

Following advice on here I got Aldi own brand tablets. I have since moved to Fairy Platinum which I find much better. Buy them in Savers, a quarter of the full price in supermarkets.

I didn’t think we could fill it as there is just two of us but I find that a full days washing is enough for a full load.
We fill it during the day and put it on to wash after dinner. Then empty before going to bed ready to fill up the next day.

How quickly you fill it depends more on what sort of food you eat. A couple eating/preparing most meals from home and cooking from scratch will fill a dishwasher more quickly than a family who eats out a lot, eats lots of freezer food or takeaways as you have the same number of pots and pans whether cooking for 2 or 6 and that's what takes the room up, rather than a few extra plates and cutlery items.

I only rinse if we have had porridge and any form of eggs. Tablets I use Lidl own brand or Finish from the pound shop, rinse aid and salt also finish from the pound shop or Lidl

i think you'll be surprised if there is three of you how quickly it can fill up...my mother is on her own and runs hers full every day, sometimes twice if she is baking!

get more cups/mugs/glasses though...if you are possessive about using the same mug then you'll be rinsing that out all the time and not getting the benefit of the dishwasher!

Agree with PPs, why buy branded ones, and what difference does it make what they smell of (lavender, lemon etc).
I do run a cleaning wash each month with it empty and as other's have said, give the filter a good clean.

If you're in a soft water area then don't bother with salt or separate rinse aid - they're not necessary. I found the perfume in the Fairy stuff tainted plastic and silicone so after buying it once on special offer have avoided in ever since.

Ah...love a dishwasher thread

1. No need to rinse. If heavily soiled, your dish washer might have a pre-rinse option. Never bothered with mine

1. Put bowls on the bottom.

1. You can probably run a half load cycle. Even if not, I would run it at least once a dsy rather than having dirty plates sitting in it

1. After trying probably every brand on the market, I would say the Asda own brand of fairy is the best with their own brand rinse aid.

the rinse aid and salt ARE required in a soft water area. Unless you really want to clog your pump and spend your days polishing your glasses.

I use fairy or finish, whichever is in offer.

Never put anything with raw or cooked eggs attached, even minute trails, into the dishwasher. It will stink!

We put bowls, plates, pots & pans etc on the bottom. Cups, plastic cups/bowls, spatulas and other long utensils on the top rack. I run when we need to (so sometimes half full if we're doing a big evening meal and I know I'll fill it up then, I don't like to leave dirty stuff overnight!). Our dishwasher has a short cycle which I use if it's half full of not very dirty things.

We have used Lidl tablets but our dishwasher uses salt if it needs to even with all in one tablets. I currently buy Finish All in One Max tablets via Amazon Subscribe and Save. They work out at 10p (Lidl are 5p each), however I do get a 15% discount on all the other Subscribe and Save items too. Lidl rinse aid and salt are also good. I expect Aldi brands are very similar if not identical.

Remember to run a monthly clean cycle (just like in your washing machine) and to clean out the filter (it should just pop out of the bottom under the bottom rack). Ours has a maintenance cycle, but your manual should tell you what to do.

If you didn't get a funnel to fill the salt reservoir, I'd suggest buying one (or a scoop). The salt goes everywhere if you're not careful, especially as I practically have to get inside the dishwasher to fill ours up!

@MsHomeSlice - not when the water testing kit supplied with your machine gives a result which correlated with, "very soft water, salt not required" on the interpretation sheet, which is what happened with ours. I've never had issues using all in one tablets either.

we're in a very soft water area, I use salt and rinse aid and I can tell when they're on their way out from the state of the dishes and glasses.

Within a couple of days of me spotting a streaky glass or feeling that the cups are not "squeaky" clean one of the refill lights will come on.

I use both, it's not that dear and it does help maintain the machine imo.

Lidl tablets, cheap and cheerful. No need to break the bank with Fairy etc.