Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: unlorin vogel bomb, and look, I'm not here to start
Speaker 1: any fights among your family. Many people have very strong
Speaker 1: ideas about how to best tetris a load of dishes
Speaker 1: into a dishwasher, but I am here to give you
Speaker 1: some scientific advice, because if the dishes are not coming
Speaker 1: out of your dishwasher as clean as you'd like, you
Speaker 1: might be tempted to blame the appliance or you're a
Speaker 1: brand of detergent, but the problem might just be what
Speaker 1: and how you're stacking in the machine. When you're loading in,
Speaker 1: it's first important to consider what's dishwasher safe and what isn't.
Speaker 1: Some of the items on the no fly list are
Speaker 1: fairly obvious. A cast iron will rest and lose seasoning
Speaker 1: if placed in a machine. Fine china and crystal can't
Speaker 1: handle the intense heat, but you should also leave out
Speaker 1: insulated travel mugs. The high heat of the machine can
Speaker 1: ruin the vacuum seal and reduce the mugs ability to
Speaker 1: retain heat. Aluminum pots are very prone to scratching and
Speaker 1: can develop a dull finish or turn a blackish color
Speaker 1: in the wash, and wouldn't spoons are cutting boards can
Speaker 1: crack from the heat and humidity, allowing germs to set
Speaker 1: up shop. Also, although most nonstick pans on the market
Speaker 1: today are dishwasher safe, check the washing instructions first and
Speaker 1: limit dishwasher time. Even if it is allowed, Frequent high
Speaker 1: temperature washes can cause the coating to wear off. Secondly,
Speaker 1: either rinse all of your dishes before stacking them or
Speaker 1: none at all. Most modern dishwashers come with a sensor
Speaker 1: that evaluates the water to determine how long the cycle
Speaker 1: should be and how much water is necessary to produce
Speaker 1: a thorough clean. During an initial rinse cycle, it'll measure
Speaker 1: how cloudy the water is and run more or less
Speaker 1: thorough wash cycles Accordingly, if only some of your dishes
Speaker 1: are rinsed, it won't be able to properly evaluate how
Speaker 1: to run its wash cycle. Plus, on the side of
Speaker 1: not hand rinsing first at all, the dish detergent you
Speaker 1: use likely has compounds in it that are specifically designed
Speaker 1: to break up food particles. Basically, the companies that make
Speaker 1: those detergents assume you won't pre wash. If you do,
Speaker 1: those compounds may leave a powdery residue on your dishes,
Speaker 1: and because of that, we'd recommend that users of modern
Speaker 1: dishwashers and commercial detergents scrape off chunks or anything that
Speaker 1: might clogg the machine, but not be fussed about rinsing
Speaker 1: sauces or crumbs. A Third, you want to fill the
Speaker 1: machine to your best advantage, load the dishes to face
Speaker 1: the center of the machine. The spray arms sprays out
Speaker 1: in a circular motion, so plates that aren't facing the
Speaker 1: center will get a heavy cleaning on the wrong side. Also,
Speaker 1: because the heating unit is located on the bottom of
Speaker 1: most machines, heat sensitive plastics should go on the top
Speaker 1: rack to avoid risk of melting. Forks and spoons should
Speaker 1: face up to minimize the risk of nesting inside a
Speaker 1: packed utensil basket, and this also keeps the basket from
Speaker 1: getting in the way of the wash, making sure the
Speaker 1: head of the utensils gets nice and clean. If you
Speaker 1: have a ton of silverware to wash, try to spread
Speaker 1: out similar pieces to avoid nesting, or alternate them head
Speaker 1: down head up along the same lines. Resist the urge
Speaker 1: to overload the dishwasher. In general, if one item is
Speaker 1: completely blocking another, neither we'll get truly clean. Finally, you
Speaker 1: should run occasional maintenance on your machine. Your dishwasher likely
Speaker 1: has a filter that needs to be removed and cleaned
Speaker 1: out on occasion. Most soils like saucer crumbs will slip
Speaker 1: right through the filter, but any arrant chunks of food
Speaker 1: will get caught and clog it up. To clean, simply
Speaker 1: remove and rinse with a little bit of dish soap
Speaker 1: a b shure to rinse it completely, or it will
Speaker 1: cause sud saying during the next cycle. Also, limescale, especially
Speaker 1: in areas with hard water and grease, can build up
Speaker 1: in these spray arms and filter over time to prevent
Speaker 1: any problems from escalating. It's a good idea to clean
Speaker 1: your machine about once a month. There are dishwasher specific
Speaker 1: cleansers on the market, or you can google to learn
Speaker 1: how to run a cleansing cycle with vinegar. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Alia Hoyt and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other sparkling topics,
Speaker 1: visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com.