Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5

Original poster

To think the dishwasher should be run when it is full?

120 replies

CruCru · 08/10/2014 15:54

DH is taking some time off work and today has proposed that we only run the dishwasher when we go to bed, regardless of whether it is full or not.

If it fills up in the day then he wants us to leave all the dirty stuff on top, run it overnight and then fill it up again the next day.

If we forget to run it overnight, he wants us to only run it the next night.

AIBU to think this is going to be a nightmare? We'll have dirty dishes sitting around like in my old house share. It isn't as though the dishwasher is noisy.

OP posts:

PinkSquash · 08/10/2014 21:36

My husband seems totally sensible after reading this thread- a first and probable last

No appliances on overnight- I've heard too many tales of woe of house fires started from domestic appliances. If you do do it please shut all doors before bed

itis he needs to get one of those one cup kettles, fabulous.

gamerchick · 08/10/2014 21:38

Doesn't it invalidate your house insurance if you have a fire from unattended machines?

In any case wouldn't It make more sense to make him wash any extra dishes by hand before bedtime rather than just have them lying around?

MajesticWhine · 08/10/2014 21:44

When our last dishwasher died, DH found a "good deal" on a totally shit dishwasher. It has rubbish capacity and I have to run it more than once a day. Grrr. We also apparently have to have an annoying and very noisy hot water dispenser (as well as a kettle, and a coffee machine), and I always get new kitchen gadgets for presents. The place is overrun.

Bogeyface · 08/10/2014 22:56

I always get new kitchen gadgets for presents. The place is overrun.

May I suggest you get him a new handbag for Xmas? Or a nice new dress?

I really fucking hate it when people give gifts that they really want for themselves. If you want a gadget, ask for it as a gift, dont buy it and pretend it is for me when you full fucking well that I dont want it, wont use it and you will co-opt it! AARRGGGHHHH!

Sorry....flashbacks.....

ushiemama · 08/10/2014 23:31

Never leave a dishwasher on overnight. A colleague had a fire in the house with terrible consequences.

Purpleroxy · 08/10/2014 23:35

Do not ever run a dishwasher overnight.

skyeskyeskye · 08/10/2014 23:40

Repeating, but just this week a friends dishwasher caught fire and the fire brigade were called. If she had been out or asleep it could have been fatal.

Apparently it's a Hotpoint model that had been recalled but she never heard about it.

Her downstairs rooms were covered in little bits of melted plastic.

cooki3monst3r · 08/10/2014 23:45

A big thank you to everyone who has posted stories of fires. I know not to leave on the dishwasher/washing machine/tumble dryer but sometimes I am guilty of being a bit slack and taking the risk.

I am literally off to bed now and will turn off the dishwasher mid cycle!

I'm going to turn off DH's phone on charge too. I'm sure that can't be a good idea.

ThinkIveBeenHacked · 08/10/2014 23:56

Im loving a pps "Schrodinger's Dishwasher"

ozymandiusking · 09/10/2014 00:22

My husband also has a flask jug thing next to the kettle. Now, even though we are careful not to overfill the kettle, if there is any water left after making cups of tea, the remaining water is then poured into the flask, then into the kettle and if necessary more added and then boiled! This drives me insane. I flatly refuse to do it.
We have a very small kitchen and it takes up precious space on the worktop.

ShadowStar · 09/10/2014 00:36

I don't like running dishwashers / tumble driers / washing machines unless it's daytime and we're in. The fire brigade gave a fire safety talk at my work a few years ago and had some chilling stories about those causing fires.

If my dishwasher or whatever goes wrong and starts a fire while we're awake then we'll all have a much better chance of getting out alive. Although no-one I know personally has had an appliance fire.

ShadowStar · 09/10/2014 00:39

ozymandiusking - I'm confused. He pours water from the kettle into a flask, then puts it back into the kettle and reboils it? Why not just leave it in the kettle?

ChippingInLatteLover · 09/10/2014 00:54

cru WHY is he taking time off of work? How long is he going to be at home being 'helpful'?????

Bogeyface · 09/10/2014 00:54

shadow just missed an Xpost because I was thinking exactly the same!

It doesnt make any sense at all! I could understand if he kept in in a flask to use for washing up or something, that would make sense, saves gas in heating more water and saves water too. But boiling it twice and adding more so he has some over for the "flask system" defies all logic!

ChippingInLatteLover · 09/10/2014 00:55

Cos it stays warmer in the flask, less time to re-boil.

and he needs shooting

Surfsup1 · 09/10/2014 01:24

LittleprincessinGOLDrocks
Do you watch all your appliances or are you just freaked out by your dishwasher? You're aware that this is not a rational fear aren't you?

MrsTerryPratchett · 09/10/2014 02:26

I just want to share my fire fighter story. I always come on these threads and tell everyone not to run appliances when they are; out; asleep. This is because I regularly work with fire fighters and they don't.

However, my favorite stories are the fire fighter fail stories I hear. I asked one if a slow cooker was OK. He replied, "I think so, at least they are much better than doing what I did". He was cooking for his watch, they were called to a fire, he left the rice on and the fire hall almost burnt down.

Surfsup1 · 09/10/2014 03:00

MrsTP firefighters are always going to have a skewed view on those sorts of things, though. Think of all the people you know (non-emergency services) and think of how many of them have actually had a house fire due to an appliance fault (I know of one person). Then think of all the people you know who've had a car accident (a good proportion of the people I know) and then consider why you'd worry about appliances but not worry about hopping in your car.

Pobblewhohasnotoes · 09/10/2014 04:09

I also know of someone whose dishwasher caught fire whilst it was running at night and their kitchen burnt down.

Surfsup1 · 09/10/2014 05:14

Sure, but does that mean that it is a big risk? No. It's a very low risk, and treating it as a high risk is simply not rational. Understandable if it has happened to you personally, but still not rational.

HoVis2001 · 09/10/2014 06:08

Honestly, Mumsnet so often makes me think that all young people should be given a handbook before leaving home. I am not so many years out of flying the nest and had no idea running dishwashers / washing machines at night could be problematic. Indeed, the only snippet of education I can recall is being told in school that due to Economy 7 lots of people ran such appliances overnight.

I know it sounds stupid to not have thought of it myself but I genuinely hadn't gone through the thought process. Obviously Surfs point about balancing the risk is relevant, but I had no idea there was a risk to balance.

I am absurdly paranoid about bedside lamps and things on charge, though... which in the case of the former is probably silly as they have much less ways to go wrong than a dishwasher.

HoVis2001 · 09/10/2014 06:10

Am also going to have to figure out how to read our Hotpoint dishwasher's label, which is conveniently on the side of the dishwasher which is flush with the wall. Rented house, so it's entirely possible it could be the right age for one of the problem models...

Dolcelatte · 09/10/2014 06:10

I spoke to an insurance claims manage a while ago, who advised me that one of the main causes of house fires were domestic appliances such as washing machines being left on overnight. He had dealt with a number of claims involving fatalities.

Why would you take any risk which could be fatal for you and members of your family, when it is an unnecessary risk? I don't follow Surfs analogy of driving a car - presumably you need to be at work or drop the children at school by a certain time, but the washing etc can more or less be done anytime.

Surfsup1 · 09/10/2014 06:17

HoVis - there's a reason you were not aware of the risk.

Surfsup1 · 09/10/2014 06:22

Dolcelatte the point is that people make unnecessary car trips ALL THE TIME without giving it a second thought even though most of us can think of someone we know/know of who has had a serious car accident. Using the dishwasher at night is one of those tiny risks where the risk is SO small that it's simply not worth thinking about. Get some smoke alarms installed and chill out!

Flip

1 2 3 4 5