Best Way To Load A Dishwasher

We all are trying to save money every way we can, we try to weatherproof our homes with weather stripping, and we put up window insulators to help keep the heat in. There are other great ways to save money on a daily basis and not just in the winter months. We can save money on our water bills and our energy bills by simply learning how to effectively load our dishwashers.

This may sound crazy but how many times have you loaded up your dishwasher only to load it and have to put back at least a quarter of the dishes that did not come out clean. There is a way to load your dishwasher to the fullest and have your dishes come out clean on the first try.

There is a way that this can be done but we have to put more effort into loading the dishwasher. Sometimes we take the dishwasher for granted, we just simply load the dishwasher without carefully considering what is going to get clean and what will go back on the second wash. One of the best ways to conserve water is to use the dishwasher to the fullest. It is recommended that you load your dishwasher to the fullest and not when it is half full or less. So, make sure that you have a full load of dishes before you decide the run the washer.

One misconception about dishwashers is that those who have them sometimes think that you don’t have to rinse the dishes before using them because why not just wash them if you are going to rinse them. But the key to getting clean dishes is to scrape off the dishes. You don’t necessarily have to rinse with water but using a fork scrape off the excess food and condiments left on the plate. Often dishes that have to go back for a second wash is due to food particle left on the plate.

Before you load plates and bowls into the dishwasher make sure that there are no piece of spaghetti or piece of meat stuck to the plate. If you choose to do a quick rinse in the sink the choice is yours most dishwashers have a rinse cycle already programmed into the wash cycle. If your dishwasher has one, take advantage of it and set your washer to rinse before wash, you will notice a big difference.

Once you have scraped the plates, you are ready to load the dishwasher. Believe it or not there is a science to loading a dishwasher. The first is to load the silverware. Make sure that all knives are facedown and the forks and spoons are face up. If you have been loading forks face-down and they are not coming clean it is because they are not getting enough of the water spray that cleans the dishes. Try turning then right side up and you will see a difference.

The next thing you want to load are your plates. If you have an adjustable height rack, make sure that you adjust to the size of your plates so that your plates can get clean. Make sure that you rinse off all of the excess food and rinse if desired. Try to have one plate per slot; sometimes we try to over stuff the dishwasher by having two plates to the one slot. This way the water can jet into the slots and properly clean the dishes.

The next thing is to load bowls and glasses. Glasses are simply to load, there are glass holders along the top rack, try to keep the glasses in the holders. If there are more glasses than there are spots, you may want to wash the additional glasses by hand. Once you have loaded all of the plates, bowls, glasses and silverware and the dishwasher cannot fit any more dishes comfortably then you can set and wash, Try using a Jet Dry packet, these help get your dishes cleaner.

Now, if you have pots and pans you should rinse them well if you plan on putting them into the dishwasher. You should try not to place a pot or pan over a dish or glass that is already in there. This will cause the covered up dish to stay dirty. If we all simply take some time and methodically load our dishwashers and not just throw them in there just so we don’t have to wash any dishes it will cause your loaded dishes to stay dirty and you will either have to run another load or wash them and this would defeat the purpose of conserving water and energy. You want to be sure that you buy a good brand of dishwasher soap, it doesn’t have to be expensive but a brand like Cascade or Electrasol are just two of the best and they are affordable too.