3 Mistakes to Avoid When Using a Dishwasher

Using a dishwasher can make the chore of dishwashing a lot quicker and less tedious. However, using it incorrectly will only add to your list of chores by having to repeat the process over again. In order to get the most out of your dishwasher, check out these three quick tips for avoiding mistakes when using your dishwasher.

1. Overfilling

One of the most common mistakes that people make is overfilling their dishwasher. While dishwashers are made to do a lot of heavy duty cleaning, they also have a maximum load amount. Once that maximum load amount has been met, you can expect the quality of the cleaning to be significantly lower. This will mean that food will probably still be caked to some of the dishes and you will either have wash them again or wash them by hand.

In order to avoid the disaster of overfilling, trying staying within the lines; literally. Dishwashers are made with handy placement shelves which are designed to hold different types of utensils, such as plates, cups, bowls and silverware. What you want to try to do is slide the dishes into their proper places and not add any more dishes than the placement shelves will hold.

2. Not Rinsing

Another common mistake that people make is not rinsing their dishes before throwing them into the dishwasher. While the manufacturer may market their product to satisfy intense amounts of heavy duty cleaning, there is still a limit to how much food can be removed from your dishes if it has been caked on there for awhile.

Dishwashers are certainly handy, but they are not the complete solvent for dishwashing. If a dish has been sitting with food on it for awhile, it will be very difficult for your dishwasher to clean it all off because it does not have the ability to scrub the dish as it probably needs.

What you should try to do is it make it habit to rinse every dish or piece of silverware before you toss it into the dishwasher.

3. Not Performing Regular Maintenance

Most people think of their dishwasher as being what it is and don’t realize that it actually requires maintenance. Most manufacturers’ informational guides will tell you that you need to perform monthly maintenance on your dishwasher. They are not talking about tools and labor maintenance, but rather cleaning maintenance.

After your dishwasher has been used so repeatedly, the tiny bits of food can actually get stuck in the sprayer and make your dishwasher less efficient and use much more water than is needed.

In order to avoid this, try running a regular rinse cycle without any dishes and add one cup of baking soda and one and one half of a cup of regular vinegar. Both vinegar and baking soda are natural cleansing agents and they can free up any of the debris that has been left behind.