I was right about dishwasher pods and now I can prove it [video] • Hacker News Board

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

#461

Post by tguvot » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 5:09 PM UTC

1718627440 wrote: post #452

tguvot wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

when i used pods, i had open box under counter. i could with literally closed eyes to take one and put it in machine without looking. using spoon involves more actions and there are chance that some of the powder will end up on floor/inside cabinet/etc. now i use cartridge like this that is replaced once in 3 weeks https://www.mieleusa.com/c/powerdisk-automatic-dishwasher-de... it's even more convenient.

That's not my experience. When I use pods, I need to fiddle them out of the (small) box, remove the "self-dissolvable" plastic, open the bin, put it in, close it and put the pod into the dishwasher. With powder, I take the pot out, hold it over the dishwasher (no risk of putting powder on the floor) and put some in the dishwasher, with the custom spoon, that has exactly the right size, by moving my hand a few centime…

a) get a bigger box for storage

b) why remove self dissolvable plastic ? in 15 years the only time that it didn't dissolve for me was when i blocked dispenser with a plat and pod was stuck on it

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

#462

Post by devilbunny » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 5:21 PM UTC

ThePowerOfFuet wrote: post #251

teepo wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

often around here in texas, when the gas is turned off due to an issue, the gas company disables the meter, or even removes or bypasses it. And I live in gas land, where we have natural gas piped in to the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, outside for grills, as well as the furnace. We've seen it a lot, if you call the gas company about smelling gas, they come and remove your gas meter until you hire a plumber to go find…

What needs gas in the bathroom?!

Depending on the age of the house, it might have a gas-powered radiant heater in there. The one I grew up in did (built late 1930s).

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

#463

Post by seanmcdirmid » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 5:29 PM UTC

sgerenser wrote: post #457

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not true at all. Bosch is mostly heat pumps, and they are a top consumer brand in both the USA and Europe.

Bosch dishwashers are NOT heat pump dishwashers! They have a pump that also heats the water. They call it a “heat pump” but I find that terminology a bit strange, as its clearly not a heat pump (which is a term of art in appliances and HVAC). It’s just a resistive heater that is no more efficient than any other dishwasher heating element.

Crystal dry uses a heat exchanger for drying, so I guess that is what they are referring to. I guess you could try to claim that only the way HVAC's move heat around qualifies for being called a heat pump, not any other way of moving it should count right?

Here is what I got from Gemini:

Bosch does not refer to their dishwashers as having a "heat pump" in the same way the term is used for HVAC systems; rather, the part is often called a circulation motor and heating assembly or a combined "heater/pump" unit by users and repair sites. Bosch dishwashers use a flow-through water heater (a type of resistive element) to heat the water and a different, non-refrigerant-based system for drying. How the Bosch System Works

Water Heating: All Bosch dishwashers use a flow-through water heater, which is a heating element integrated with the circulation pump. This system rapidly increases the water temperature to the required level. It uses electrical resistance, not the reverse-refrigeration cycle of a true heat pump.

Drying: Bosch dishwashers (especially the higher-end models with features like CrystalDry) typically do not use a separate heating element for drying. Instead, they rely on a process involving a stainless steel tub and a heat exchanger or a mineral-based drying technology (like Zeolith for CrystalDry) to condense moisture and wick it away from the dishes. This is an energy-efficient method of moisture removal, not active heat generation for drying.

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

#464

Post by seanmcdirmid » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 5:36 PM UTC

sgerenser wrote: post #447

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern heat pump dishwashers will heat water on 110V just fine, but you are looking at 3 hour wash/dry times anyways. My Bosch isn’t connected to hot water and even has a sanitize mode.

Bosch dishwashers have something they call a “heat pump” that is a water pump that also heats the water with resistance heat. It’s not any more efficient than the normal heating coils in every other dishwasher, and it isn’t a “heat pump” that uses a refrigeration cycle (as one would use to e.g. heat their house).

Heat exchangers are used for drying, they don't have heating coils for drying.

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

#465

Post by asacrowflies » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 6:00 PM UTC

conductr wrote: post #299

This just leaves me wondering if I’m the only one manually wiping off the dishes before they go in the washer? I’ve never had a dirty dish issue and pods work just fine, the powder works just fine, etc. pods are just a little more convenient so I use them. Also, if you rinse your dishes first there’s no large food going into the washer and I’ve already got the warm water primed.

The entire previous context of this guy's videos is why that is actually bad from a water use aspect and defeats the main benefits of using a dishwasher.

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

#466

Post by sgerenser » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 6:17 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #463

sgerenser wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bosch dishwashers are NOT heat pump dishwashers! They have a pump that also heats the water. They call it a “heat pump” but I find that terminology a bit strange, as its clearly not a heat pump (which is a term of art in appliances and HVAC). It’s just a resistive heater that is no more efficient than any other dishwasher heating element.

Crystal dry uses a heat exchanger for drying, so I guess that is what they are referring to. I guess you could try to claim that only the way HVAC's move heat around qualifies for being called a heat pump, not any other way of moving it should count right? Here is what I got from Gemini: Bosch does not refer to their dishwashers as having a "heat pump" in the same way the term is used for HVAC systems; rather, the pa…

CrystalDry is an “upsell” feature on the high end versions of their dishwashers for more efficient drying. It’s not the thing that they’re calling a heat pump, that’s the water pump that also does resistive heating. Bottom line is, Bosch (nor anyone else afaik) does not make dishwashers that are more efficient due to using “heat pump” technology.

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

#467

Post by sgerenser » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 6:18 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #464

sgerenser wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bosch dishwashers have something they call a “heat pump” that is a water pump that also heats the water with resistance heat. It’s not any more efficient than the normal heating coils in every other dishwasher, and it isn’t a “heat pump” that uses a refrigeration cycle (as one would use to e.g. heat their house).

Heat exchangers are used for drying, they don't have heating coils for drying.

We’re talking about heating the water, not drying. The discussion started with regards to energy used to heat water vs. using water from the hot water tap.

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

#468

Post by hebelehubele » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 6:52 PM UTC

red-iron-pine wrote: post #362

hebelehubele wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For long videos, I have a script that fetches the transcript using yt-dlp and pipes it to an LLM for keypoints. If the content sounds interesting, I watch it; if not, I save 45 minutes.

sweet jesus share that script. there are a lot of YT vids that can be summed up essentially in 2 sentences and I don't need to see 4 ads first. YT's actual AI summary is useless, arguably net negative

This is the script that uses yt-dlp to print the English transcript. I pipe it to Simon Willison's `llm` tool.

https://gist.github.com/abdusco/118a6a3ab41a0a1d2a5f8813f789...

https://github.com/simonw/llm

    > youtube_transcript.py 'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAX2_mPr9W8' | llm 'give me keypoints, ignore promotions'
    Certainly! Here are the key points from the detailed discussion about dishwasher detergents, washing cycles, and hot water use:
    
    1. **Dishwasher Detergent Basics:**
       - Most dishwashers have a detergent dispenser designed to release detergent in two doses: a smaller pre-wash dose and a larger main wash dose.
       - The pre-wash helps remove easily dissolvable food residues before the main wash.
       - Oils and fats do not dissolve well in plain water; putting some detergent in the pre-wash water helps emulsify and remove these soils early.
    
    2. **Why Use Loose Powder Detergents:**
       - Loose powders allow flexible dosing: users can adjust detergent amounts based on load dirtiness.
       - Pre-dosed pods force a single, fixed dose which can be excessive or insufficient depending on the wash.
       - The dispenser’s design supports splitting detergent dosing; powders are better aligned with this system than pods.
    
       ... you get the point

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

#469

Post by MattSayar » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 6:56 PM UTC

dundercoder wrote: post #200

hammock wrote: post #137

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

We absolutely need rinse aid here, even with a water softener. But we make our own with ethanol and citric acid. For us works just as well as the pricey stuff and costs us…. A large bottom shelf bottle of vodka (sorry, don’t drink and don’t buy this enough to remember) and about $0.50 in citric acid will last me 6 months.

Say more! Are you just squirting lemon juice into the bottle? How much? How often are you refilling the rinse aid reservoir?

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

#470

Post by dundercoder » Fri, Nov 07, 2025, 8:07 PM UTC

MattSayar wrote: post #469

dundercoder wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We absolutely need rinse aid here, even with a water softener. But we make our own with ethanol and citric acid. For us works just as well as the pricey stuff and costs us…. A large bottom shelf bottle of vodka (sorry, don’t drink and don’t buy this enough to remember) and about $0.50 in citric acid will last me 6 months.

Say more! Are you just squirting lemon juice into the bottle? How much? How often are you refilling the rinse aid reservoir?

I ordered citric acid off of Amazon (it’s great at getting out hard water stains in bathrooms and toilets and helps keep my water softener going well (I add some to the salt tank), also can add some good kick to lemonade)

For every cup of vodka (40 or 60% can’t remember, but prolly 40. Though scientifically 60% would be better) I add 1 to 2 tsp of powdered citric acid. Takes a surprisingly long time to dissolve so you’ll get a quick workout shaking it. I’ve added blue food coloring before to make it more visible in the dispenser to see the level but it’s not necessary at all so I usually skip it.

I make it in a 1 liter bottle which will last a couple months. We have a Bosch dishwasher, refill it… every couple of weeks maybe? I’m not the only one filling it. We do 1-2 loads of dishes a day (4 kids who can’t ever seem to find the cup they JUST used. Probably a parenting problem)

I have no idea if that’s helpful. But I did just lookup a cost by fluid volume- I live in a state with high alcohol tax rates and my cost per fluid oz of my DIY rinse aid is around $0.19 (mostly from alcohol, per fluid oz of citric acid is less than one cent. ) for reference, the small bottle of Jet-dry is $0.58/flOz.