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  • Unfortunate that he's advertising an expensive powder...

    That said, based on his advice in a previous video, now I run the hot water tap until it's hot. I put a pod in the dispenser, and I sprinkle some powder into the dishwasher. My issues with the dishwasher getting the dishes clean went away.

    by cameldrv
  • I remember watching this[0] video by the OP a couple years ago. Never would have thought I could listen to someone talk about dishwashers for 30 minutes but it was surprisingly fascinating!

    [0]: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBO8neWw04

    by codethief
  • One surprising thing I got from this is that the "Energy Saver" mode used just as much energy, and even more water.

    But he said that almost as a throwaway, with almost no explanation of his methodology in determining this, nor discussion about how common this problem might be.

    by CWuestefeld
  • Maybe it means energy as in human effort.
    by brikym
  • My dishwasher came with a booklet that showed energy and water consumption for each setting. Eco mode is about 20% - 50% more efficient in comparison to the other programs.
    by tgv
  • He made a follow-up video in which he explains his testing methodology and what the dishwasher is doing in heavy detail:

    https://youtu.be/WnBb3DLlVPwsi=1fW2qg8_Y1SmxkKo

    Tl;dr He actually tested each cycle, timed what it did, and measured the energy with a Kill a Watt. He also found the repair manual, which included a diagram of each cycle that matched his tests.

    His ultimate finding was that all of the cycles and modifiers did wildly different things, none of which correlated in any way to their name.

    by Bratmon
  • I inferred a trick from his original video. Dish soap and dishwasher detergent are not the same; the latter contains an enzyme that breaks food down. If you have something that is completely wrecked, fill it with piping hot water and put a dose of dishwasher detergent in it. Leave it overnight.

    I strongly doubt the stuff is good for your skin, so I've only done this a few times.

    by zamalek
  • Depending on what thing you’re talking about, often the easiest way to clean various pans is to just fill them with water and bring them to a boil for a few minutes
    by iamacyborg
  • This works for cleaning a lot of things. I regularly clean the coffee maker (a Bialetti espresso thing) by putting some powder detergent in the water compartment, then „make coffee“ without actual coffee and leave it in overnight. Neutralize with white vinegar (which has the added benefit of descaling) and rinse thoroughly. It‘s as new afterwards.

    And yes, it’s not good for your skin, so avoid immersing your hands in it or wear gloves.

    by UnserMannInK
  • Pods work great for me, and I love not having crumbs of powder under the sink, or a bottle of liquid detergent with encrusted drips down the side. It's just gross.

    They are more expensive, but I buy them on sale at Costco for about $16/100, so at $0.16 per load I really don't care if powdered detergent is only $0.03 per load or whatever.

    There is clearly a revealed preference for pods among consumers for these things, and "proving" that everyone is wrong for liking them is just not a very interesting exercise imo.

    by emtel
  • I used an old container with a 3" lid and a handle, and fill it regularly with the cheap dishwasher powder that I buy in bulk. I put a whole in the screw on lid so I can just pour out the powder. 98% clean and much much cheaper than any pods and much better for the environment because the packaging is all paper.
    by barbazoo
  • With pods you can’t add some detergent to the prewash while adding the rest to the main wash cycle. That’s the thing that makes one of the biggest differences.
    by orev
  • if you have powder crumbs under your sink you might need to improve your technique.

    This reminds me of how some of my house guests will accidentally splash water all over the bathroom counter and even the mirror when they wash up in the morning. I don’t say anything, to be polite, but they clearly lack technique lol.

    This works for me:

    0. store the dishwasher powder (box) under sink.

    1. Open dishwasher door

    2. grab box, place OVER the opened door.

    3. dispense powder into cartridge in door (with spoon, tilting box, etc)

    4. put spoon back in box OR fully tilt box back upright. “Crumbs” will drop onto the door, that’s OK.

    5. move box back under sink.

    Even if I was messy, I personally couldn’t make myself spend 5x on pods to avoid cleaning crumbs under the sink once a month. When i think of convenience i think of a dishwasher saving me hours every month. Not saving 10 seconds a month to wipe crumbs under the sink. :-)

    We clearly all have different preferences and ideas of “convenience”. I respect that.

    by lurking_swe
  • I'm 1.5 minutes in and I already learned to purge cold water from the pipes before running the dishwasher. Assuming this is evidence based and true, I mean come on! Is it really so alarming to see someone deep dive hard and do the work to mass educate the public?
    by apsurd
  • His specific thesis is that pods fundamentally clean worse than powder because they're inherently single-stage releases of detergent in machines designed for two-stage releases. Despite this, he still explicitly says that pods have their uses. So I'm unclear on how his goal is "proving that everyone is wrong." Did we watch different videos?
    by a_wild_dandan
  • The issue of letting consumers choose the worse product is that the good products get pushed out of the market.

    Grocery floorspace that was once primarily staples and whole foods is mostly now junkfood.

    Proper razors have been replaced with disposables.

    Skincare & toothpaste products contain sodium laureth sulfate , which lathers well, but causes mouth sores and skin irritation.

    Letting consumers choose usually ends up optimizing superficial and sometimes harmful traits.

    by tonymet
  • I wonder if that's why my now something like nearly 40-year-old dishwasher is so bad for leaking, on certain cycles? Maybe the pods foam up too much, because it seems hell of a foamy inside.

    At some point, I'll maybe post up the pics of repairing the door hinges - previously it was leaking badly because the chunky metal hinges had cracked and bent, pushing the door up enough to not squash the bottom lip seal. Unobtainable parts now, but if you have a welder...

    If you don't use a JTAG cable and a MIG welder on the same project in the same day, can you really call yourself "full stack"?

    by ErroneousBosh
  • MIG is for hobbyists. Real programmers use TIG.
    by ash_091
  • Anecdotally we started using these dishwasher sheets and the dishwasher started erroring during the cycle and also leaked slightly. On observation when it errored it looked very foamy inside.

    Simply changing back to powder completely stopped the error and the leaking and this was in a 1 year old dishwasher

    by NoPicklez
  • At 40 years, there is an expectation that the rubber and most plastic components have become embrittled. The hinges likely only wore out after the spring had reduced function (and lack of lubrication)

    After your weld, I hope you consider replacing all rubber with silicone, and add lubrication to at least an annual list.

    by smileysteve
  • > Maybe the pods foam up too much, because it seems hell of a foamy inside.

    Dishwasher detergent doesn't make suds. Dish soap does. Are you sure you're using the correct stuff? Or prewashing the dishes for some reason and not getting all the soap off?

    by basscomm
  • I've found it harder and harder to find powder dishwasher detergent in my country. I think they intentionally pull them off the market, I used to buy a large Finish container and now I can barely find a place that sells _any_ sort of dishwashing powder.
    by RealityVoid
  • Interesting, here in New Zealand every supermarket has at least one brand of powder. Normally Finish is one and competing brands includes locally made and/or eco-friendly ones. Hopefully that practice doesn't reach here!
    by kiwijamo
  • Yeah, in Poland two "premium"-ish brands stopped selling powder in favor of tablets, and the cheaper brand is often missing from shelves, I need to order it in delivery separately. Situation is funny, since salt and rinse liquid are still widely available along with supposedly 3-in-1 tablets :) . I guess they are not so 3-in-1 as the ads say. But I will continue buying powder for as long as it will be manufactured. It's cheaper and more efficient. Same with washing machine power.
    by Yizahi
  • I, too, went through like 18 months in the UK with the big stores not selling any until one reintroduced it recently. Alternatives on the internet were like 3+x the price, at least. It was incredibly frustrating. I now stock up and have 2-3 boxes of the stuff, in case it does vanish again.

    Doubly frustrating since mine is a small, single-drawer dishwasher, so pods are even worse since I can't break them down. It leads to me having way too much detergent in the dishwasher and I end up with residue on the dishes.

    by NamTaf
  • Not to just bandwagon on Alec but he is the epitome of a hacker. He is always tearing things down and explaining how they work. An absolute gem.
    by cr125rider
  • Hah! I had watched this just last night. I have a Fisher & Paykel Dishdrawer so this prompted me to check the instruction manual and sure enough, I had been putting Rinse Aid in the pre-wash area. I don't even really know what Rinse Aid is honestly but it's fun having some things be a black box. Turns out the correct spot is turning a knob, pulling it out and pouring it down a hole containing a glowing red light. I had assumed there was just some sort of circuitry down there and doing so would be a horrible idea. Thanks Technology Connections!
    by spondyl
  • I wouldn’t use rinse aid. It’s not good for you - damages your gut and may contain dioxane byproducts. I also would avoid detergents with ethoxylated alcohols (AEs).

    What to look for is any powder or powder-filled pod with a) no AEs and b) does contain amylase and protease , two food-eating enzymes that are often omitted for who knows why.

    365 Whole Foods brand pods are my go-to

    by hammock
  • It's a volatile surfactant. Thus, it allows water to drip off your dishes before drying, so you don't get spots, but also doesn't produce a residue of its own.
    by analog31
  • His prior dishwasher videos rescued my parents' 30-ish year old dishwasher -- one they had previously been advised to avoid replacing as long as possible, as modern units don't have the same construction quality.

    Following his cleaning instructions and, subsequently, his usage advice, did the trick.

    Regarding the latter, notably adding the recommended prewash dose of detergent in addition to the main dose, and running the kitchen sink's hot tap until the water is fully hot before starting the dishwasher. Here in the US with our lower power capacity, resulting in dishwasher heating elements being restricted to lower power to avoid circuit breaker trips, when the dishwasher is correctly connected to the hot water line (typically, of the kitchen sink), doing this results in a hotter prewash and often also wash.

    This all really does make a substantial difference.

    Take the time to watch his dishwasher videos. If you struggle at all with the performance of yours, you won't regret doing so.

    by pbnjeh