Pro tip: Stop rinsing your dishes before they go in the dishwasher

I used to always rinse my plates under the tap before loading them, thinking it helped the dishwasher clean better. Turns out I was actually making things worse. My dishes came out with this weird white film and spots for months. Then my buddy who works at an appliance repair shop told me that modern dishwashers have sensors that detect how dirty the water is. If you rinse everything off, the machine thinks the loads are clean and uses less water and less detergent. So the food bits actually help trigger a stronger wash cycle. Last month I stopped rinsing completely, just scraped big leftovers into the compost bin, and now my dishes come out spotless. Has anyone else noticed this difference with their machine?

2 comments

2 Comments

keith9431d agoMost Upvoted

Same here. I was rinsing everything for years and my glasses always looked cloudy. Stopped doing it and now everything comes out way cleaner.

eva_hayes1d ago

Oh man, @keith943 nailed it. My friend Sarah had the exact same issue with cloudy glasses until her repair guy told her to stop pre-rinsing. She just scrapes plates now and her dishwasher's been running way better ever since.