Never had a dishwasher before and just got one. Need advice!

[RealLifeClanger]

We have finally got a dishwasher after years of wanting one. It's a Beko. The only thing is, I'm paranoid I'm not using it properly or it's not cleaning stuff properly. There's a sort of odd smell when it's finished. It's not a bad smell as such but just slightly odd. Is that normal? How do I know the dirty water is draining away properly?

We've not bought rinse aid as we're in a soft water area. Do we still need to use it? We're just using the Ocean Saver brand of tablets. Is there a better brand? We've put about 1.5kg of salt in it but I've no idea when it would need topping up.

If anyone has any tips or advice on how to use a dishwasher properly and be sure it's working properly that would be amazing. We've only used it twice so far. Pots seem clean but I still don't trust it! 😂

Those tabs get terrible reviews.

Ive got a water softner and still put salt in the DW - just not very often.

A quick strape and rinse is so much less effort than washing by hand though, and the time in the dishwasher isn't my time so I don't care about that (and DD empties so I don't have to smell that steady damp smell)

Industrial dishwashers work very quickly. They don’t really “wash” the dishes as much as sterilise them. That’s why you need to rinse first. Modern domestic dishwashers “sense” how dirty the load is and adjust accordingly. So if you rinse first they don’t think that the dishes are as dirty as maybe they are so they don’t wash as efficiently. Obviously you shouldn’t put solid bits of food in a dishwasher as it just gets sloshed around and blocks up the filter. With many tablets, you don’t need to use salt and or rinse aid, but you get better results if you do as a general rule. Dishwashers are also more hygienic than hand washing due to the higher temperatures