Guess what I discovered about dishwashers??

[PrivacySetting]

I have learnt through messy experience that you can't use Fairy Liquid when you run out of dishwasher tablets

But but but....

YOU DONT NEED DISHWASHER TABLETS!!! THINGS COME OUT PERFECTLY CLEAN WITH JUST PLAIN WATER WASH!

but you can do that not very often (everything will get covered in a greasy film)
occassionally it's ok not to use anything.
btw. separate powder (& salt and rinseaid) is much much cheaper than tablets. plus you can use less if you use a short cycle

and if you do end up with a foam party like my 'friend' a glug of oil or a small piece of butter sorts that out.

I didn't know you could buy separate powder?

I know you can buy dishwasher liquid and fill up the compartment

I pay 5p for an all in one dishwasher tablet; difficult to see how anything can be much much cheaper than that.

My only tip is to not run out in the first place - I always have a spare box in the cupboard. Definitely don't use washing powder for clothes like my friend's teenager did

If you use the all in ones ... you don't need rinse aid! I still use it though. The angry button annoys me

My "tip" is to have a DH who is obsessed with watching out when mega bags of tablets are on offer, and buying them whether we need them or not... I think we have enough to last a lifetime.

My tip is that when the little compartment for the dishwasher tablet breaks, you can just toss the tablet in the machine and it works just as well if not better.

Well mine has for nearly 10 years now.

The angry button annoys me

On my dishwasher you can tell it that you're using combi tabs, and it suppresses the rinse aid and salt warnings.

If you live in a soft water area, you just need the simplest, cheapest tablets possible and nothing else.

If you run out of dishwasher powder ordinary washing powder will work.

Asda smartprice all in one tablets work perfectly and don’t need to be unwrapped (so less faff and waste!). They are dirt cheap.

We have a very snobby dishwasher that only puts in around 10% effort if we don't use Finish tablets, and keep the salt/rinse aid reservoirs at full capacity.

Bastard thing is the bane of my life. We have a very mutual hate hate relationship.

I snap the tablets in half and just use half a tablet per cycle. Everything is just as clean as it was with a full tablet.

Mines been out of action since November and I tell you what I'm not in a hurry to replace it. Ive rediscovered that hand washing dishes takes minutes, not much longer than loading and unloading the bloody thing and no annoying beeping! There are just three of us though so your mileage may vary!

I secretly think they are a bit of a con, and we've been convinced they're a necessity when they're actually a pain in the arse!

I use powder instead of tablets, put half the dose in the compartment & scatter the rest on the door, it distributes the detergent better for me that way.

@CatnissEverdene

We also have a dishwasher that doesn't wash properly if we don't use Finish tablets. It's not a kenwood by any chance?

I have discovered that dishwasher tablets are crap for washing clothes. I discovered this when I was bedridden for a week and my mum decided to be helpful and wash some clothes for me, but she used the box with the dishwasher tablets in, to be fair they were fairy tablets so I can see why she was confused.

They do not wash clothes well.

@MargotsFlounceyBlouse

For boring reasons I know that it takes me under 3 minutes to unload the dishwasher. It definitely takes me more than 3 minutes to do the same amount of washing up!

I have never had a problem using a quick glug of Fairy liquid when I've run out of tabs. The trick is to squirt it directly into the machine (aim for back of bottom shelf) and only use a wee bit.

Surely if you run out you just wash up?

Ours only cleans if the racks are only half full. Any more than that and everything has a fine layer of red sandy sludge on it. It is a kenwood, but I don't know if it only works with finish because I never buy finish. It does work marginally better with fairy but I only buy if they're on offer. It also has a bad habit of throwing its arm off mid cycle so there's no water on the top level.

Choccy that's because all that happens to the little tablet compartment is that it flaps open and the tablet falls into the water at the bottom. If you stand by the dishwasher you can hear it. The compartment is just for show!

I killed a workplace dishwasher 20 years ago using washing up liquid. Learned that lesson the hard way.

I have discovered more recently that newer is not necessarily better. Reliable workhorse Bosch eventually gave up after ten years of daily use. New replacement Bosch is a delicate flower which can only think about cleaning dishes properly if fed the most expensive Finish Quantum tablets and given one to one stroking/setting up from the engineer who came out under warranty. If its next fit of the vapours comes out of warranty, I may not replace it. It requires more nursemaiding than my children.