NFRC: Do you pre-rinse your dishes before washing them in the dishwasher?

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
Consumer Reports says you could be wasting 6000+ gallons of water per year. (see link)

I don't currently use a dishwasher, but I'll admit I did pre-rinse. I have one friend with an old Kenmore I covet as it seriously requires no pre-rinse. Not even with dried on eggs or pancake batter. I know someone else with a new GE one that came with her house that seems like you must pre-*wash* the dishes.

So do you pre-rinse?

http://news.consumerreports.org/appliances/2012/04/you-dont-need-to-rinse-your-dishes-before-loading-the-dishwasher.html

 
I had a Whirlpool with a food disposal in it. Never rinsed, never needed to. Evenutally I dumped my

35 yr-old KA that was working fine because I wanted a food disposal (and because I knew a SS machine would help sell my house) and because I got it for making a complaint. It worked wonderfully. Never rinsed. I loved that machine. That was 2 years ago.

I now have a 2-year old JennAir here and don't love it. I do need to rinse and in fact scrub some. And the type of detergent does not seem to matter. And the water is scalding hot.

 
I'll admit it; I do. My parents' didn't have a disposal; our current one doesn't, either.

And the less I see of our incompetent maintenance man, the better.

 
I pre-rinse. Always done it. Never questioned it. How much water did you say I'm wasting agiain?

 
I do because since I live alone it only gets run about once a week.

If they are not prewashed the dishwasher stinks to high heaven. It is more truly a dish sterilizer than a dish washer.

 
I do a quick rinse under running water. Also, Melissa, I run the rinse and hold cycle any evening

that I'm not going to run the dishwasher. Works well. I only run a full cycle every 3 days or so.

 
No pre-rinse here. I rinse under faucet before loading my KitchenAid

and we only run one load every-about-five days or so. Have done this for many, many years.

 
Cathy - that is a pre-rinse. They say one should scrape and put directly in the DW

My friend does this (she stands over me so I don't forget and reach for the faucet) and I am amazed how clean everything gets. The old one we grew up with could never do that - we always had to rinse first.

 
NOpe. Wouldn't buy a dishwasher if I needed to rinse them first!-- our dishwasher gets operated ...

almost always EVERY day and sometimes twice a day, full loads even if I have to load pans and pots--and it handles those too.

We purchased our current dishwasher a couple of months ago, and we made sure it had a "grinder" in the bottom just like our former dishwasher. The only problems with it are finding a dishwasher soap that works with our hard water and training my kids how to load for maximum water-dish contact! My husband did the research on the thing and pushed to get it. I guess he was tired of fighting the kids to get the dishes done.

I don't rinse before loading, I always run hot water to the faucet just before turning the dishwasher on and always run on "pots and pans setting," which pretty much means that I rarely have to deal with not-clean dishes after a load runs. Our pots and pans setting just runs longer, but does not use all that much more water than a regular load setting.

For the price, which was about 350$ out the door, we have a reliable, well working, QUIET piece of household machinery. And FYI, our washer has spraying arms under the bottom rack and under the top rack.

 
And all this time I've dared to call myself an environmentalist!

Here in dry Southern California water=energy.

 
On the subject of dishwashers....

we will probably be getting one in the next 3 months - now, I tell you, deciding what to get is worse than brain surgery

Consumer Reports are a good source, but the more you read reviews placed in various sites, the less you trust anything!

I see horror stories from Bosch, AND from Miele, two brands that are considered top of the line - and great reviews from other brands, but mixed with terrible feedback too.

I would like to splurge for a Miele because thats the brand we had in our apartment in Paris and it was simply spectacular: silent, efficient and fast

but, I also heard that the MIele made in the US doesn't have the same quality of the European made models

I swear, I simply don't know what to get. My Kenmore Elite looks cute, but takes over 2 hours to wash the dishes, sometimes closer to 3, and it doesn't clean well. I clean the filters, I take excellent care of it, run vinegar sometimes to clean it inside, check the rubber band around the door for proper sealing, but... the darn thing is not performing to my standards.

what to do? what to do?

and, don't get me started on stoves... we might get a new one in the next 6 months too

 
Interesting about Bosch and horror stories. Loved the one I just left. Very quiet and did

a good job of cleaning. I sure hope the Bosch dishwasher that's in the house we're buying is as good. There's also a Bosch cooktop with range hood and oven. I wasn't aware they made cooking appliances. I hope they perform well. They're 7 years old.

With Bosch, you have to use the rinse agent to not have spots on glasses and follow the manual on setting the adjustment correctly. They use steam, not heat for drying. You can put plastic in the bottom of the dishwasher.

 
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