Why You Don’t Need to Rinse Dishes For The Dishwasher

To rinse or not to rinse? Whether we should be rinsing our dishes before we put them in the dishwasher is a much-debated subject. So, what is the answer? In short, if you scrape away any food, bone fragments, pips or olive stones which could cause a blockage, and invest in a good quality dishwasher and detergent there is no need to pre-rinse your dishes. Here’s some of the detail on why this is the case.

Most modern dishwashers will have a sensor wash programme. When this programme is selected soiling sensors will determine how dirty the load is and will then alter the wash accordingly. At Miele we take this one step further to provide unique levels of accuracy. If you select the Automatic Programme, our dishwashers will take the soiling reading at several points during the wash cycle to ensure that even dried on food that doesn’t start to dissolve until later in the wash is detected. Depending on the readings, the parameters of the wash will be individually altered - extra time added, the temperature increased or introducing more water to get every load exceptionally clean. At the same time, Miele’s sensor technology can also reduce all of the above if the load isn’t dirty enough to warrant a full wash. With the Automatic Programme you leave your dishwasher to make the decisions to ensure the best wash results but always whilst using the least amount of energy and water.

The detergent you use plays an important role in getting your dishes sparkling clean as the active agents will break down food residue and stains. Miele’s UltraTabs Multi offer the highest quality active ingredients to ensure a fantastic wash result. They are also designed to dissolve in a fraction of the time of normal multi-tabs and therefore will get to work quicker. This means that even with our popular QuickPowerWash programme you can be assured of exceptional results in less than one hour.

To make your life even easier, you could opt for one of our new G7000 dishwashers with a unique AutoDos system. Combined with our patented PowerDisk detergent capsule, the dishwasher will automatically dispense exactly the right amount of top-quality detergent into the wash depending of the programme you select. If you opt for the Automatic Programme, the amount of detergent used will be based on the readings taken by the soiling sensor, giving that programme an extra dimension of convenience and precision. One PowerDisk lasts on average for 20 washes and contains everything you need such as salt, rinse aid and silver and glassware protection.

If you do find that items are not properly clean after they come out of the dishwasher there are a few things you can check.

• Is the water hardness setting correct on your machine? The dishwasher will dispense the amount of salt depending on this setting and if it’s set too high or low it can impact the results over time. You can check the water hardness in your area by contacting your water supplier and your manual will tell you how to set this correctly on your machine.

• Is your rinse aid dosage correct? If items appear smeared it may be that your rinse aid dosage is set too high, follow the instructions in your manual for how to check this.

• Are you overloading the machine? If the machine is overloaded, the spray arms may not be able to rotate properly or the water may not be able to get to all the items, make sure items aren’t touching and that the spray arms are not impeded.

• Are you using the correct wash cycle? If you don’t opt for a sensor wash, you need to ensure the wash programme you choose is appropriate for the load. Low temperature, gentle wash cycles will not be able to remove stubborn, burnt on food. Hotter washes with a more vigorous wash action will be needed for those types of loads.

• Have you carried out regular maintenance? Check that the holes on your spray arms aren’t blocked, that your filter is clean and periodically run some of our dishwasher cleaning solution through the machine on a hot wash to break down any residue or build up in the machine and drain system.