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I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

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Re: I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

#171
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the summary. American dishwashers don't have their own heater? All dishwashers I've seen in Australia only have cold water supply.

Same in NZ, never seen a dishwasher with a hot water connection.

The video explains that dishwashers sold in 110V countries often has a hot water connection as it's too slow heating water off a 110V/10A circuit so it is more efficent to utilise the hot water pipes. However we live in NZ, a 230V country so we get dishwashers that can heat water from cold fine off a 230V/10A circuit so no need for a hot water connection.

Re: I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

#172
post #127
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

his dishwasher detergent videos are a good example of an "improved" product being more expensive and less effective (like disposable razors). With better understanding you can achieve far better results. I no longer rinse or even scrape dishes. with the right approach my dishwasher performance has been stellar. The user manual also includes proper tuning to local water hardness levels. Poor dishwashing also discourag…

I find his videos to have quite a bit of hand waving and poor methodology together with being overly verbose. For example, he kept on saying that pods are not better in previous videos, but in the study he presented in this video, it showed that pods are performing significantly better than powders in every category. The study (which was not linked and I couldn't find it) was sponsored by a powder maker which the vid…

He does mention that a number of manufacturers aren’t making powders at all anymore, and also suspects out loud that they just aren’t trying with their powder detergents anymore, or are not bothering to apply improvements to their formulae to the powder form because manufacturers would rather sell the powders anyway.

He also specifically calls out Great Value brand powder as one he finds to be consistently on par with pod performance

Re: I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

[Several citations needed]

Household usage levels are probably fine [1]. That being said, we don't use rinse aid and I don't see any issues with glasses. I can see how it could be a problem in areas with harder water.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36464527/

Re: I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

#174
post #3
post #2

summary: The creator argues that most dishwashers are designed to use a pre-wash dose and a main wash dose of detergent, a fundamental often ignored by single-dose pods, and presents independent ASTM testing confirming the new powder matches or exceeds the performance of a leading premium pod. The video also features a detailed demonstration using temperature logging and peanut butter to stress the importance of purg…

Thanks for the summary. American dishwashers don't have their own heater? All dishwashers I've seen in Australia only have cold water supply.

I can’t speak to Australian dishwashers, but trying to skip the video by catching a summary has failed you. Heating is discussed extensively in the video

Re: I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

#175

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.

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!

Re: I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

#176
post #3
post #2

summary: The creator argues that most dishwashers are designed to use a pre-wash dose and a main wash dose of detergent, a fundamental often ignored by single-dose pods, and presents independent ASTM testing confirming the new powder matches or exceeds the performance of a leading premium pod. The video also features a detailed demonstration using temperature logging and peanut butter to stress the importance of purg…

Thanks for the summary. American dishwashers don't have their own heater? All dishwashers I've seen in Australia only have cold water supply.

traditionally (in household washing machine time) US houses were large and had a lot more hot water capacity for the whole house, and putting a heater into individual appliances was not necessary/cost effective.

retrofitting old traditional houses (especially stone) with higher capacity plumbing was expensive and infeasible, so putting heaters in appliances was a cope for markets that needed it.

Re: I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The guy in the video disagrees with you. From his other video, 23 mins in, > next, rinse aids. use them. this isn't a scam. I'll trust the dishwasher expert until there's some proper citations. You have to realize that every time you sip a glass or eat off a surface that's provided by a commercial entity, you're getting items that have come in contact with industrial appliances that dispense rinse aid. I have a diffi…

"This isn't a scam" means that rinse aid works. It doesn't imply anything regarding its safety.

There is some research (see my other comment) hinting that industrial level use can be harmful (households dilution levels are probably fine).

Re: I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

#178
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the summary. American dishwashers don't have their own heater? All dishwashers I've seen in Australia only have cold water supply.

Some US washers don't but many do. However, US washers tend to not heat water as quickly or to as high of a temp. The video cites two reasons: 1. US power being 110V vs 220v. 2. US dishwasher heating elements being limited to 800 or 1000 watts because many are designed to potentially share one 20A residential circuit with an oven and/or fridge due to possibly being retrofitted into a kitchen built before built-in dis…

in traditional times it was customary to buy a few outfits high quality clothing that would last, and wear the same clothes for a week at a time, and then really boil them clean. This is the European market.

post world war 2 consumer choice culture in the US led to people buying cheaper clothing but varying their outfits every day and cleaning them (with copious availability of water) with less intensity.

once these patterns are established in the market, they become more like customary and it's what consumers expect of their appliances, detergents, etc.

Re: I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

#179
post #130

I love that there are people who will go into this much detail on stuff. It's really cool that they do. But the whole thing is that if you follow some sequence of steps, powder will clean as well as or better than pods for a third the cost. All right, this isn't a significant portion of my expenses so I'll pay the 3x cost since my dishes come out clean anyway. I wish the description of the video was like an abstract.

My kids would routinely put in too much powder, which would gunk up the dispensing mechanism, requiring my time and effort to clean it out and fix it. Eventually the dispenser broke entirely and had to be replaced. We since switched to pods and haven't had any problems with the dispenser. The pods are worth every extra cent.

My process is to use cheap Walmart powder for prewash and Kirkland pods in the dispenser. Avoids any over filling issues.

I used to just use the Kirkland pods and they worked fine too. The reason I started using powder in prewash is to get any loose fat dissolved so that it doesn’t clog over a period of time, not sure if that’s a valid concern. And yes, I do run hot water before starting the dishwasher.

Re: I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video]

#180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My kids would routinely put in too much powder, which would gunk up the dispensing mechanism, requiring my time and effort to clean it out and fix it. Eventually the dispenser broke entirely and had to be replaced. We since switched to pods and haven't had any problems with the dispenser. The pods are worth every extra cent.

My issue is the pods fail to dissolve ~5% of the time and leave a gunk that clogs the dispenser which again requires time and effort to clean. I'm convinced by the video to try powder again but I've had the filming issue with almost every powder I've tried. So, we'll see what happens...

I'm convinced pods broke my dishwasher. I switched to powder years ago and haven't had a problem since.
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