There are generally two types of people who use a dishwasher. One group whacks everything in just as it is, while the other group prefers to rinse all their pots, pans, plates, and cutlery before loading the machine and turning it on.
Appliance expert Ashley Iredale has a message for those in the latter camp: you’re doing too much. Ashley told Yahoo Lifestyle dishwashers are impressive machines that are designed to do a lot of the grunt work for you.
“You don’t need to pre-rinse,” he said.
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“If you’re pre-rinsing everything, you’re showing a lack of faith in the dishwasher’s ability to do the one thing that you paid all that money for in the first place.”
While it might make sense to get all your dishes, pots, pans, and glasses pretty much spotless before loading them in, Ashley said this actually “tricks” your dishwasher.
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“It will think everything’s cleaner than it actually is, so it might not actually wash as well,” he added.
This is because of a little-known device hidden inside most modern dishwashers called a turbidity sensor.
“It detects the amount of soiling present in the first rinse cycle and adjusts power and washing accordingly,” Ashley revealed.
“So, if you’ve rinsed everything off, it’s not going to pick up that there’s any dirt on the plates at all, and it just thinks, ‘Oh, great, they’re already clean. I don’t need to wash as hard.'”
You should still get rid of the big chunks of food and material as that can block the dishwasher’s filter and the drain hose.
Let’s get technical: what is a turbidity sensor?
A turbidity sensor measures the amount of light that’s scattered by solids suspended in water.
That means, if the light gets scattered every which way, the sensor realises that the water could be dirty.
If the light doesn’t get deflected, it means the water could be clean.
These sensors are used in loads of other settings like testing rivers, streams, and wastewater.
Sears Parts Direct called the turbidity sensor your dishwasher’s “quality control department”.
Loading a dishwasher with rinsed pots, pans, dishes, and cutlery could actually backfire on you. Picture: Getty
(Lucy Lambriex via Getty Images)
Ashley said dishwashers will typically perform at least two wash cycles when you flick it on.
The turbidity sensor will examine the water after the initial cycle to determine how intense the next few cycles will have to be to get everything inside nice and clean.
Imagine if you have 75 per cent of the items inside your dishwasher pretty much clean, and the remaining items needing a good rinse.
Those latter items might not get what it needs because the machine thinks the whole load is already in good nick.
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The machine might increase the number of cycles or the temperature for the wash if the sensor keeps detecting dirty water.
Alternatively, the dishwasher might cut the wash cycle short and conserve energy if it detects the water is clean early on.
If the water’s clear early in the cycle, the dishwasher might cut the cycle short and save you energy.
So not only does the turbidity sensor aim to get your dishes and items perfectly clean, it can also reduce water, detergent, and electricity.
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