Wash Dish!

Here’s the dish on dishwashers: Some tips from a seasoned installer I recently met.

If you want to save some money and improve your washing efficiency, warm rinse your dishes in the sink closest to your dishwasher, then immediately run your dishes. Dishwashers run on hot water only. When you prime your hot water pipes by rinsing right before you wash, you get hot water immediately into the dishwasher and your dishes come out cleaner.

Take a look at how your dishwasher is mounted. The washer’s control panel should reach out slightly in front of your cabinetry. If not, the steam rising from the washer will expand the wood above the washer and/or stress the veneer of your Formica top. The steam vent should be allowed to breathe! In any case, a quick application of Thompson’s water seal or similar moisture proofing treatment to the exposed wood adjacent to the dishwasher will preserve its original appearance for years to come.

It sounds crazy, but run your dishwasher empty once a month substituting orange Tang for dishwasher soap. Tang is rich in citric acid and will clean off deposits from hard water and minerals and keep all your pipes and filters clean. It also says something about actually drinking this stuff! Believe it not, rinsing your machine with Tang is great preventative maintenance adding many more years of life to your appliance.