Unpopular opinion: hand washing dishes before loading the washer is a waste of time

I used to scrub every plate clean before putting them in, but after my GE started leaving gunk in the filter anyway I just scrape and load now. Anyone else stop pre-rinsing and see better results?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan_rodriguez2d ago

You said "unpopular opinion" but I used to be one of those people who rinsed everything spotless before loading. I honestly thought I was helping the machine work better or something. Then my wife got tired of my system and just started scraping the big stuff off and tossing things in. After a few months I noticed our dishes were coming out just as clean and I wasn't wasting so much water. Now I only pre-rinse if something has been sitting with dried egg or rice stuck on for a while.

patricia_hayes2d ago

Exactly, your wife basically proved what the dishwasher manufacturers have been saying for years. The soap needs something to cling to, so if the dishes are already clean, the detergent just slides down the drain and does nothing. That's the part that always got me - people scrubbing everything perfectly clean and then wondering why their dishwasher leaves residue. The dried egg and rice thing is totally fair though. That stuff basically turns into concrete if it sits too long. I do the same thing with oatmeal bowls, just a quick scrape and soak for ten minutes before loading. Also, the water savings is real when you stop pre-rinsing. I'm on a well, so every gallon counts. Even just cutting out the rinse step dropped my usage noticeably. The detergent pods nowadays are way more powerful than the old powders too. They have enzymes that actually eat food particles, so they need something to work on. If there's nothing for them to eat, they just dissolve and go to waste. Point is, you were definitely one of many people who got taught wrong. The instruction manual for most machines even says to scrape only. Took me years to unlearn that habit too.