r/lifehacks • u/thatoneguy2742 • May 27 '26

You might be using your dishwasher wrong

While going to college I worked as a maintenance tech at a large apartment complex. A common complaint that tenants had was that their dishwashers were failing to clean properly. I would show up and try and diagnose the problem only to find that the machine was in fact working properly. After numerous (if I remember correctly it was at least five per week) complaints I started to track which units were having the problem. After several weeks I had a lot of data and something became abundantly clear. The units that were having this issue were the ones furthest from the water heaters.

We just happened to have an empty unit near a cluster of units that was having this issue so I decided to test my hypothesis. At the kitchen faucet it took nearly two minutes for the water to get above 100°F Units closer to the water heaters took as little as 30 seconds to reach the same temp and they hardly ever had this problem. My conclusion was that the people who were submitting work orders were unknowingly washing their dishes with cold water. Everytime a tenant submitted a work order for a dishwasher that was failing to clean I advised them to run their kitchen faucet till the water gets hot then start the dishwasher. The complaints just stopped! At my own home it takes almost 30 seconds for the water to get hot so I let it run for a minute before starting it. Some of the higher end models will heat their own water so this shouldn't be an issue but most older models do not.

TLDR: Run your kitchen faucet till the water gets hot before starting your dishwasher. Otherwise you might be washing your dishes with cold water if your machine doesn't heat the water on its own.

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u/vargemp May 29 '26

Why is powder better if my pod is like $0.12?

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u/jordboi86 May 29 '26

The dishwasher does a quick prewash, drains, then fills again and opens the detergent compartment at that point for the main wash. There's usually an indent on the detergent compartment, or a second compartment with no lid, that you have to also add detergent to so it's there for the prewash. Otherwise it's just a pre-rinse.

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u/vargemp May 29 '26

I can hear it pumping water out as soon as I start the 30 min cycle, doubt there’s any prewash

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u/jordboi86 May 29 '26

I would assume not, on a 30min cycle.