What do my buttons mean?

[Cjt110]

Finally, after almost a decade we've decided to plumb and use our dishwasher but I'll be buggared if I have a clue what the buttons mean... it's a Bosch slim dishwasher...

Any ideas? Have googled the model no but cant find a manual..

I'm a complete novice so even if you have no idea what the buttons mean... help!

Was it fitted when you bought the house?

Contact Bosch and they will send a manual.
When I moved into a rented flat in 1997 with a twin tub Hotpoint photocopied the manual from their archive for me!

Yes two hours is a standard wash time for mine.

You will soon get the hang of it Cjt, I love mine!

Weve used them on holiday before but didnr care... wasnt our water bill.

I have given up and gone to bed.

We bought the place in 2009 and with all its quirks didnt want to deal with the DW. It's an integrated job so weve just used it for Tupperware storage for nigh on 10 years...

My mum called at 9.30 and it was on then..

Perhaps as we leave in the morning (with the night/day before dishes in) is the best way forward

Any who... I'm off to bed. I will let you all know the results tomorrow AM!

Thanks for all your help.. x

It’s to prevent grease build up in your pipes. Doesn’t matter if hard or soft water

So it stopped... hurrah.

Husband opened to let it cool/dry overnight.

All dishes lovely and with that squeaky dishwasher feel.

These lights were on this morning ... do I need to be concerned?

You need to add rinse aid. There's a smaller, narrower compartment next to where the tablet goes. Open it and squirt rinse aid in. Close it. Job done. Light will go out.

You can probably find the operating manual online.

These are the compartments on the door

The left one lifts up and you pour the rinse aid into it (or white vinegar which works as well), and the right one is for the tablet, slides across- ours no longer works soo just put it into the cutlery basket

If you can see the make and model what with it being integrated (surely you can, otherwise that’s some design flaw 😄) just google and find the manual. Save it and even print if you desire!

@Cjt110 the manual can be downloaded here under documentation.

The one on the left has the matching symbol on it. Lift the lid and pour in the rinse aid

'Not our water bill' - the dishwasher uses LESS water than washing up by hand. Look on YouTube for a video of what happens inside a dishwasher.

Found the manual

I've asked 2 friends who only use all in one tablets in their machines. I will give that a bash til I'm next at the supermarket.

I need to fathom out which cycle to use for normal, rinsed off in the sink, dishes... The one last night seems to go on for HOURS

Don't rinse your dishes as the detergent needs something to work on. Scraping is perfectly adequate. Try the 35 cycle then and see if it's any shorter. Eco settings take longer but use less energy

And I leave mine closed to dry, no need to open it afaik

@dementedpixie even if the food is dried on - say 20 mins after finishing?

Really appreciate everyone's tips here. This is a WHOLE new ballgame to me.

It will have a drying stage as part of the wash cycle unless it is as quick cycle which doesn't dry them. (Mine has a quick 29 minute wash that doesn't dry them)

I don't always wash every day so dishes may have been in overnight without washing. Isn't usually a problem except for egg or cereal like weetabix

Dishwashers use less water than washing up by hand. Ours (also a Bosch) uses 11 litres of water per load, which is about half a sinkful. You can't wash a dishwasher full of pots in that amount of water.

Cheap all in one tablets are absolutely fine in a soft water area. On many occasion I've just used standard ones on their own, because I've bought them by accident and that is also fine, although things dry better if rinse aid is used. You only really need salt if the water is harder.

We don't rinse and don't put it on every day, so find that using the top cycle works best - if things have been sitting around for a couple of days and the middle or lower cycle is used, sometimes things aren't perfectly clean, so I just find it easier to wait until the dishwasher is full and then use the top cycle as a matter of routine.

I'd like to know how long the ACTUAL cycles are... the 50 that I put on last night was at least 1.5 hours... I gave up after I think was 2 hours and went to bed

It will tell you in the manual how long the cycles are. It is likely to be over 2 hours on the longest one, so you need to put it on earlier if you want it to finish before you go to bed (good idea due to the risk of a fire) or you could try the shorter cycle. Is there a delay timer?

I sometimes use the delay timer so it will finish just after I come home from work, or just after I get up, as I figure that the greatest risk of fire would probably be if something went wrong during the drying cycle.

You don't need to wait while it's on? Just put it on with dishes before bed, and then empty it in the morning while your tea or coffee brews! They usually take a couple of hours including drying, so they don't need to be opened up or anything really.

I cant find anything in the manual to say how long the cycles are... just which to put it on depending on dirt severity on p16