Guess what I discovered about dishwashers??

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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!

I had a Kenwood. Note HAD. We fell out on a regular basis. Most things had to be washed at least twice.

If I run out out powder or tablets I just chuck in a bit of vinegar. Always works well for me. I also buy the powder but get the tablets when they are on offer and half them.

To the poster upthread, you break them in half. What are you, some sort of martial arts fundi.

I have to cut all of mine with special kitchen scissors as even a knife doesnt do the job....

margot i have only had mine a few months. So I know I COULD live without it. But I don't WANT to!! I love my dishwasher.

tinty

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.

This happened with ours and I was forever forgetting to put the tablet in at the appropriate moment, as it has water fill rinse at the beginning before the maini wash

Until we had a washing machine man round and he said you could put the tab in the bottom at the beginning as it wouldn't dissolve until the water heated up anyway.

It was a flippin revolation at Raver towers

Oh yes to the Asda tablets that dont need unwrapping just dont pick any form the box with wet hands as they will all melt into one another

We had been using Aldi (or Finish on offer) and unwrapping the little packet was my nemesis.

I have a 26 year old basic three programme dishwasher...it wont die. Ive had a spare door in the house for 20 years now for when I eventually get a built in one

I discovered this Christmas that I hadn't actually emptied my dishwasher since LAST Christmas, as that was where I found most of the 'wedding present from George' cutlery when trying to lay the table for 14 and found the box mostly empty!
There's only 3 of us and I do it by hand normally.

I've run the dishwasher without the tablet by mistake a few times. Dishes very much do not come out clean - there'll be tea stains on mug, dried food on plates and cutlery, and possibly a pervasive greasiness.

I also don't understand how anyone can wash and dry a full dishwahsher's worth of pots in the same few minutes that it takes to load and empty it.

reallybad where are you getting all in ones for 5 pence each from? I'm a pretty enthusiastic bargain hunter, but the cheapest I've seen these are around 8 pence each.

But I don't live that far from Bike and usually just use the plain ones although I think the plastic things dry faster if you use rinse aid.

Soft water is the best thing ever and your appliances last so much longer with it.

My DP didn't realise for a few days that he had been using anti limescale tabs meant for the washing machine. Turned out fine, though I wouldn't do it on purpose.

There's probably enough product residue to run the machine without tabs once in a while. Gives it a chance to de-gunk too, I guess.

@BarbaraofSevillle

Apologies, it appears that I'm talking shit about the price! I could have sworn that they were 5p each but maybe they went up in price when I wasn't looking: Sainsbury's value ones - £2 for 30 which works out as 6.7p each I think.

A level dessertspoon of biological washing powder works if you run out of tablets.

A colleague, after several years of owning a dishwater, discovered that they had a fat trap. It had years worth of shit in it...

I have discovered, after years of washing up my big plates by hand, that you can actually move the level of the shelves in the dishwasher and adjust the spray arm thus giving you different heights than it’s preset to

Revolutionary honestly

Top tip from me is to get a partner who always did the washing up and who now does all the emptying and sorting of the dishwasher. And vinegar instead of rinse aid. I rarely go near it.

Cjt I've heard about this fat trap mentioned many times on mumsnet- where is it?? I want to find mine because I reckon that's why my dishwasher is so rubbish!

I have to regularly take the bottom.out and clean all the gunk off otherwise it seems to coat the crockery. I'd love mine to have a fat trap!

Odd thing I discovered late last year. If you live in a hard water area you shouldn't use the all in one tablets. Apparently they don't have the right balance of detergents / water softeners for hard water.
This was printed LARGE in the manual that came with the dishwasher. ( Which also came with a trial pack of 3 in 1s)

I had a smeg dishwasher that was amazing but new place had a built in (slimline tiny shit) one. I miss my beloved smeg, it powered through everything and didn't beep at me in an accusatory fashion if not pandered to immediately upon finishing.

Don't get me started on the washing machine that beeps 4 times every 42 seconds once it's finished. I hate that machine with every ounce of my being.

I've heard about this fat trap mentioned many times on mumsnet- where is it??

Seconded. Our dishwasher has some filters in the bottom that I rinse out every few months, they only get a little bit of debris and grease on them. So is there somewhere else nasty gunk is getting stuck?

I agree they're not really a labour saving device
washing by hand is quicker

Top tip from me is to get a partner who always did the washing up

I have this. He has never had dishwasher and always washed up. So when I go there, i remind him that I am not accustomed to hand washing and will do a really crap job at it. . So bless, him he washes up every time. I do help, with other parts of cleaning though. I keep hinting that he needs a dishwasher though. Do get his point, its just him (we dont live together) so it is a bit pointless really.

Should the relationship take step further and we do live together, this is non negotiable.

Love love love my dishwasher even more after having spent two weeks house sitting for him whilst we had to go away for work....

I agree they're not really a labour saving device
washing by hand is quicker

No it is not. Take it from me, I've timed him doing it. And he is a fantastic washer upper.

Plus the kitchen is tidier as all the dirty stuff is hidden away.

Top tip from me add the tiniest drop of washing up liquid to the dishwasher tablet. Wouldn’t have believed it myself but glasses in particular come out really squeaky clean

Oh and I bought the cheapest of the cheap Beko dishwashers. Still going well with not one problem ten years on

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.

I didn't know my husband had another wife. I have a StABLE of dishwasher tablets in the cupboard. ( Stash Acquired Beyond Life
Expectancy)