obligatory Technology Connections video on dishwashers
Was gonna say, someone’s not subscribed to Dishwasher and Christmas Lights Rants.
You forgot about the heat pumps! The man LOVES his heat pumps!
Chest freezers
Really anything that involves a bi-metallic strip.
Anything that the budget says can be bought in pairs.
Through the magic of buying two of them…
They’re dope as hell. I got one on my dryer. Shit works fine and uses so much less energy.
For good reason. I don’t live in the family home anymore, but last winter when I did move back in for a while, I had approximately half as much work to do keeping the damn place warm, thanks to the heat pump. But I mean sure, I could also just buy one of those fancy newer automatic furnaces to replace the old furnace, and there’d be no work at all! Except that costs at least 5x as much as I paid for a single air to air heat pump that also makes summers bearable.
All this for a relatively modest cost in terms of electricity because yo what the hell, heat pumps are more than 100% efficient when heating. It seems like we hacked physics, honestly.
My parents have a heat pump and they hate it. It can either provide hot water or heating, but not both at the same time. If someone has just had a shower then the heating switches off for hours while it refills the hot water tank. Bullshit in winter.
How big is their accumulation tank? Or did they skimp on getting one?
Technology connections would like to know your location
One of the most useful videos on YouTube that EVERYONE in the world should watch.
- The money saved. I bought a pack of tablets for 10$ a month, now its 15$ a year for the powder. That’s 6.300$ saved in a lifetime
- The amount of waste reduced since there is no individual packaging of the tablets
- The dishes are cleaner than ever
- NO downsides. It’s less work to pour some powder than it is to grab a tablet. Well at least almost no downside: It’s hard to find powder, there are like 15 different tablets in the supermarket and maybe 1 package of powder.
Still, this video improved my dishwasher-life soooo much.
A cheap liquid also works just fine.
That though his episode about can openers also has had improvements to my life
I watched the video and was not really convinced
- 5€ pack of tablets lasts about 3 months for me
- The tablets I buy don’t have a wrapper. They are covered in a clear, plastic like material that dissolve in water
- Can’t comment on this
- Tablets are zero effort compared to powder
Powder is objectively cheaper though.
- Powder is still cheaper. Just less cheap for you since you probably don’t use your dishwasher that much, but it’s cheaper
- The dissolved material is still waste material, the waste is just in the sewage and not in your bin
- I just add this point because of the formatting
- This is subjective, but I think it’s slightly less work. You either have to make sure your hands are dry to not dissolve the wrapper or you have to throw away the wrapper. Either way it’s not a lot of difference
Such a good episode! Or…entry into his YouTube series? Idk what to call it. Just “video” seems wrong.
Additional advice: Clean the dishwasher filter regularly.
the what?
You may want gloves for this one…
Not all of them have one, if yours does and you’re just learning about it, I’m very sorry. But you have a truly terrible job ahead of you.
Ooooooh! Do the washing machine filter next!
Assuming you don’t have a manual to read: First, start with a freshly -emptied clean dishwasher, no spills in the bottom. Wear rubber gloves if you’re easily grossed out. Pull out the bottom drawer. Look in the bottom, you see anything that looks like you could turn it 🛞, with maybe a couple arrows ▶️ ◀️ to line up? Lefty-loosey it, pull it out and take it to the sink, along with any screenlike thingamabobs that come out with it. Run warm water and use hands, sink brush, or scrunge to gently remove all the gunk. You don’t have to abuse it, you want it to last the life of the machine. Also feel in the hole, removing any gunk left behind. If the filter pieces come apart easily, do that, but put them back as they were before reinserting into the machine. Fit it back into the hole and righty-tighty to match up the arrows. Don’t over-tighten! Go rinse out your sink, dry your hands, and set a monthly notification on your phone. It’s much less gross if you do it monthly.
Oh no
Don’t forget about the seal ring around the washing machine door!
And the HVAC and cabin air, huge laundry list of them it seems
angry Alec noises
Powder detergent is much better.
Unfortunately it’s getting hard to find at this point
It makes it really easy to add the tablespoon of detergent to the tub for the prewash as well as the needed dose for the dishes (which is really not much unless you have it loaded with greasy plates)
Technology Connections on YouTube has several relevant videos
I’m getting more and more concerned about microplastics coating the dishes afterwards: powdered detergent helps me feel better about that.
The dissolvable packets of a dishwasher detergent are very different than the forever microplastics that people are worried about. Those are designed to be durable and last while the detergent pods are made to dissolve.
That said the powder detergent is great and SO much cheaper per wash. Also you can put some in the prewash for better washing.
I agree that powdered is better and cheaper.
The microplastics issue is more contentious, and while many say it’s bad that it enters the water supply, I suspect the smallest of the particles do not wash away so well
What is the material coating the pods?
That makes zero sense. Powder is obviously much better, but not because of microplastics.
Target has a store brand detergent that works well. But I find it’s easier to use too much with powder. Compared to gel, It’s harder to control the pour, and if you have too much it leaves a residue.
I’ve never even heard of powdered detergent for the dishwasher. Where does it go in the machine?
the little compartment. and ideally a little just in the machine for the prewash.
as others noted: check the technology connections video(s)
Pretty much every dishwasher has a little door that opens mid cycle.
Plus a little indent for pre-wash detergent
Walmart
If that fails
Amazon, tons of brands for about the same price (yeah yeah I know, Amazon)
I get one with dried goats milk to help with smells edit- this is my laundry soap I am a silly lad sometimes, but the rest applies
I’m confused about what possible reason you could have to say “yeah yeah I know” about Amazon that doesn’t apply at least as much to Walmart.
On a related note, I would like to switch to powdered dish detergent after watching the Technology Connections video, but have stuck with liquid because Costco doesn’t carry powder.
The Bezos make the Walton’s look like good people. That’s not saying much for the Walton’s. It’s saying a lot less for the Bezos. Like grading on a curve and the class was already dogshit but then somebody else came a long and somehow scored negative points on a test.
I’m confused about what possible reason you could have to say “yeah yeah I know” about Amazon that doesn’t apply at least as much to Walmart.
Internet behaviour. Ime people hate Amazon more by default, but they’re both terrible
Yeah Walmart usually has just the one box of Cascade
The one by me (rural) and by my parents (city) both carry Great Value powder, though my local one only carries the smaller box with a pour spout and not the scoop box you can get in the city
Just RTFM?
I read somewhere that around ⅓ of people (at least in my country) are effectively illiterate. They can read but they can’t really understand what they read. They can’t solve logical tasks and would fail for example to take medication according to written instruction. It does explain a lot.
Is your country the USA?
This is a way broader phenomenon than just the US, though granted the US educational system might skew things a bit in a negative direction versus most other supposedly “Developed” Nations.
IMHO, in general very few people have to really think things through in their life or work and most people can live life in what’s pretty much an auto-pilot of habits most of which were picked up in childhood, teen and early adult years, and such people simply don’t have any “training” on figuring complex things out by themselves and will have trouble understanding complex subjects.
Further, the instructions for advanced domain stuff (for example Medicine and some kinds of Tech) are often riddled with domain specific language that people without a broader vocabulary won’t understand.
that people without a broader vocabulary won’t understand.
That’s why dictionary exists.
Which other country believes Earth is Flat?
That’s a tiny minority of people and an ultra-specific belief.
I would say that the prevalence of the belief in fairy stories being real (aka Religions, Cults and so on) would be a pretty good indication of just how common and widely spread the Comprehension Handicapped are all over the World.
I think the modern flat earth idea started in the UK but I don’t actually know of anyone who believes it, it’s still very much a “village idiot” thing.
The ones I know have been born-agains.
Which kinda tracks.
If believing one thing with every fibre of your being is your new foundation stone, dismissing another belief that doesn’t contradict your first one can become tricky.
Your username 🥺
For the love of God, and all that is holy…
Even of the literate people, far too few bother reading instructions. People who can read and interpret law texts, but they still click away a pop-up unread when setting up a new phone for example. The only people who I’ve only ever had a good experience with when it came to diligently reading and following instructions + escalating the problem when the instructions were unclear, were professional accountants.
Call communists, they are good at illiteracy elimination.
This guy clearly doesn’t subscribe to technology connections
…or has much common sense—what did he think that thing on the door was all about.
Wait till this guy discovers he should probably use rinse aid and salt too
Edit: oh…and he’s definitely never cleaned the filter
I have a friend who does this. I tried explaining to her that she’s doing it wrong. She told me I’m wrong and she won’t discuss it further. I don’t get some people.
Most people hate being wrong, or corrected. They seem to see it as an affront to their very existence, and will often fight back tooth and nail when confronted with any evidence that the things they believe about the world might not be 100% correct.
Source: Any substantial comment thread on any social media platform, ever.
People who are readily willing to admit they’re wrong and learn why, and on the flip side be able to correct others in an educational/non-condescending way, are the best people.
I love those people.
Shut up, nerd.
/s jk <3.
She might be right, it depends on the type of the dishwasher.
Maybe she thinks it’s just vibes.
My previous diswasher had the compartment just for powdered detergent. Tablets were supposed to go directly into the dishwasher, per the manual. So the approach works with some machines.
Mix both worlds. Like I have learned from a very investigative YT video. He tested and measured dishwashing in many different ways, and came to the result that a) tablet in that place in the door is the thing to do, but also b) a bit of dishwasher powder into the little compartment right next to it under the flap. This is for the first cleaning stage, and since we use this trick, our dishwasher runtime (which is dynamically depending on cleanlyness of the dishes) has gone down by about 20 minutes.
Are you referring to Technology Connections video on dish washers? This video
If so, it’s a bad summary. The video advocates against tablets
because they don’t do prewash, if you’re putting a tablet in main wash and powder in prewash, should be fine.
Nope, the one I’ve seen is way older than just six months.
Obviously.
how was that obvious? do you know how much information is on YouTube with 29 different ways to do something?
Tongue in cheek
Yeah exactly, that guy above you is a fucking idiot who brought nothing to the discussion. I’d hate to be related to them, or even use the same brand of cigarettes
How does a machine know whether the dishes in it are clean?
Ask the machine, I don’t know, but it works.
They do come with a manual. (Says the guy who has never read his dishwasher’s manual.)
Houses typically include the appliances, so unless you buy from one of those rare boomer types that filed everything away, you probably don’t have it. I guess you could search it online, now I’m typing this out…
Every home I toured when I was buying had a manual stack laid out for the appliances.
I thought it was weird.
Now I own a home and when I get an appliance I just toss the manual on the stack.
Or maybe you buy a house and later renovate the kitchen, adding in a brand new dishwasher because there never was one to begin with.
Or maybe you buy a new development and it either has no kitchen appliances or furniture, or it has brand new appliances so the manuals and other documents are kept.
Lots of ways to still have the manual. Where I live, the cost of a new development is maybe 20-30% more per unit of area than a condo in a 40-60 year old commie block, but they look way nicer inside and out and they keep heat way better, which is important when you get really damn cold winters. Plus you can get better loan terms if it’s certified C energy class or above usually. For some banks it has to be A. Downside is you have to wait while they build the damn thing.
Or maybe like me, buy a house that had a dishwasher, pull it out and throw it away because you’re a single man.
Get married wife wants a dishwasher, buy a new one go looking for the manual one day and find the original dishwasher manual in the boomer folder of things left behind by the previous owner
You should get connected with the guy who has the dishwasher but no manual left by the previous owner, maybe it’s the same model
I can only imagine what his dryer vent like.
Vent?
Oh god, Roger had okra farts again
I read that it’s an American thing. Americans have dryer vents in the house that need to be regularly cleaned or they are a fire risk, while the rest of the world has a dryer lint compartment in the dryer, that also needs to be regularly cleaned or it’s a fire risk. FYI so that nobody gets butthurt: I don’t think either of this solution is better or worse, they are just different. This is no “muuuh America Bad Europe Good” comment.
Notable exception: dry/wash combos, they just rinse out the dryer lint with the next wash cycle
I live in North America.
My dryer has a lint trap.
My vent line needs to be cleaned regularly to clear lint.
Lint traps are not 100% effective and if you haven’t checked your dryer vent for lint recently, you should. If the heat from the dryer builds up enough, the lint can very easily start a fire.
Be safe out there folks.
Do you guys not vent your air externally?
Do you just vent the wet air back into the home?
If not you should get your dryer vent cleaned, your lint trap (which we have in ours also … ) is a first stage filter and does not catch everything.
Hope this helps you not burn your house down!
Neither. The dryer either collects the water or it is connected to the sewage and dumps the collected water.
I had a dryer for a while that vented into the room. It didn’t just spew damp air though. There was a condenser and collector tank for water that had to be emptied between runs.
why I always read the manual like 2 or 3 times
I can’t wait until they discover rinse aid. If your dishes still look dirty no matter how many cycles you run the machine for, then you probably should have refilled the dispenser ages ago.
It’s a shame that the dishwasher the landlord installed has a shitty soap compartment that sometimes failed to open during the wash. When I tried to take it apart to see what the issue was, I couldn’t get it back in. So now I just chuck the puck in.
My parents were really adamant about not leaving any food on plates, so it really doesn’t make a difference to me.
Same. If I use the compartment it has like a 50% success rate. So I Chuck it in and it works well enough
