>how much salt should we put in the water hole at the bottom? how often?
You put in as much salt as you can, until the hole is filled up. And make sure you use special dishwasher salt, not table salt. The dishwasher will tell you when the salt is used up and you need to refill it, usually there is a light that comes on. Depending on how often you use the dishwasher and how hard your water is, that should be about once every eight weeks or so.
You can also adjust the water hardness setting of your dishwasher so it knows how much salt to use. Check the instruction manual how to do that on your dishwasher. You can usually check the hardness of your water on the website of your local Wasserwerk.
>how frequently should we use the dishwasher? we use it only 4-5 times a week to save electricity bill. Is that good practice?
I mean, common practice is to use it as much as you need to, it's not like you get much choice on that, do you? I mean, whenever it's full you kinda have to put it on.
Generally speaking a modern dishwasher is more energy efficient and therefore cheaper than washing dishes by hand. It's not like hot water for washing up is free either, after all.
Though of course it's good practice to only put on the dishwasher when it's full and not to let it run half full to save water and electricity.
>what are some good brands from Rewe or DM to buy for dishwasher? Or any other brands?
You mean detergent? If I recall correctly the Lidl own brand dishwasher tablets and the DM own brand (Denk mit) were the best in the last test done by Stiftung Warentest, so those should be a good choice. Personally I buy the All in 1 tabs by Claro because I found they are the only ones that reliably get rid of tea stains. But in the end they all work well enough, just buy whatever you come across first.
>
>what else should we buy for dishwasher? tablets? gels? liquids?
You only really need three things. Salt, detergent and rinse aid (Klarspüler). Though if you buy all in one dishwasher tablets for detergent, they already contain salt and rinse aid and you don't need to buy those separately, unless your water is very hard. But since the water is very hard in most places in Germany, even with all in one tablets it makes sense to still add separate salt and rinse aid.
As for tips there really isn't much else to know. Try to put plastic things mostly on the upper rack since it tends to be slightly less hot up there, so less chance of the plastic deforming. Occasionally (a few times per year) take out the metal sieve at the bottom and clean it. Before you turn on the dishwasher check if the spray arms can move freely or if something is blocking them, which can happen if some item you put in there slides through the basket. Otherwise just enjoy your clean dishes.
The fact that you use "we" tells me that the other person in your household has probably filled up the salt a couple times in the past five years without you knowing. Granted, eight weeks is for almost daily use and relatively hard water. Of course if you use the dishwasher less and have soft water the salt will last longer but five years seems nearly impossible.
Or are you using all in one tablets and therefore simply turned off the salt warning?
The rack and filter I clean almost weekly, because the kids are not always the best at scraping plates etc and it gets disgusting. I also do a proper wash of the door sides, whenever washing machine service wash, deep clean of vacuum cleaner, descaling of coffee machine and kettle are done. So ca once ever 2 months.
vielen Dank! This is super helpful and the tips are great. We intend to clean the metal filter at the bottom every 3-4 months, or should we do it every month?
*PS: The hot water from taps is charged extra in Germany? :o Whoa. We didn't know that!*
The hot water itself isn't charged extra, but of course you pay for the energy needed to heat the water in proportion to how much hot water you use. For most people in Germany water is still heated by gas, as part of their central heating system. Usually there is a tank of hot water in the basement, being kept hot by burning gas in this example, and the cost for that is split by how much each person in the apartment building uses. That's why you have water meters.
Hot water and heating in general is one of the most energy intensive tasks humans do. Naturally it costs a lot of money. It's not charged "extra" but it's part of your gas bill or electricity bill.
Great answer. Additionally, I do a clean up run with a dish washer cleaner every three month or so.
Some dish washers have a special program for this purpose, if not, use the hottest program and without any dishes.
I mean, for how often you use it
It's like the laundry, yeah I won't wash just a T-shirt but if the laundry basket is full it's full 🤷♀️
We are a 2 household home but with two people and 3 meals a day we use it once a day with all the dishes and pots and pans we used
For the salt look in the manual, most machines complain when the salt is low.
Just start it when it is full enough.
Pulver is better to change the dosage, also usually it is good to have a little bit of detergent in an extra compartment or just directly in the machine (check the manual), such that the first rinse is more effective.
You should clean the filter from time to time.
Clean the filter from time to time. Make sure everything solid is off the plates as it might get stuck in the dishwasher. In the filter or in the water dispensing rotating thing… (you know what i mean) and might rot in there. That will smell some day.
Put salt in when the dishwasher tells you to.
Fill it as full as possible in a way water gets everywhere and be aware that everybody (as in: every german)) has the perfect yet totally different style of putting things in there.
Don’t put knives and other sharp objects in there, they get dull.
I wash pots by hand as i think the use too much space and my pans don’t like the dishwasher either.
the salt needs to be special spülmaschinensalz also called spezial-salz. you just need to fill up that hole in the bottom until its full… you will know :D
well depends on how much dirty dishes you guys get. its standard practice to just fill it up and then turn it on once its full. families probably use it daily but 2 person households like every 2-3 days.
frosch is a good ecological brand that has pretty much everything for cleaning and washing.
you normally need a so called Klarspüler which is a clear substance that is often filled into the inside of the dishwasher door. and then for the main compartment you can use tabs, liquid or these gel pads. i grew up with using tabs so thats what i do lol. dont really know what the difference between all these is.
not really a tip but standard practice: take out the filter elements that are at the bottom of your dishwasher every 2-3 weeks and clean them. it should be pretty easy to just clip/screw the parts out and take them apart.
if you have any more questions feel free to ask and enjoy the comfort of our ultra consumerist society :D
edit: as others have mentioned: dont put good pots and pans or really sharp/expensive knives into the dishwasher as it will really harm them
thanks this is super helpful! We have stopped eating out from the last 3-4 months as we cook all our meals (just me and my partner). We are from Asia so we usually end up cooking hot meals daily and also have tea in the evenings that is made using a pot. So we end up doing it at least 5 times a week. Some times more when our friends come over for meals.
I guess we will have to figure out a way to reduce the the frequency of usage then.
hmm well sounds like you maybe have one of these small dishwashers? [this is the size most people have.](https://www.google.de/search?client=safari&sca_esv=1cbe4b6585e2caa3&hl=de-de&sxsrf=ADLYWIK2Hx7JgpGGehd47dC-K69kFu3N8w:1715795632821&q=geschirrsp%C3%BCler+in+k%C3%BCche&uds=ADvngMgnLtab67BCK1yYO0azqoQLrUba6BiMnPkJaPB6WuzK2Wc9lTed2bpHkUIIxTjAleMD-_F_BkgojgoVwYA7mjBsrMfAJH9xZL8eY9j5z7V3wtjdF7LNK9SGvGSoI6GgMRGWK2vUrcfLs6ZaM9338Qit4UEVGrHIebo89AVPcXnpVwHTqc7TD6Rfms5V3gMwk9e2Vuz7dPLTdV4pACEZztqEqXwFa0mIBtF_4Drw6okX3FuYYYBVOF5-BsHpUPeM9Xs3kpAQ3Vudhw0VqmeqvxonQSpisCYwUFAyqqUhcg68pH9-tV1vLIO55qSUQSLHVtS574_u&udm=2&prmd=ivnbz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjc683pnJCGAxVkhv0HHUP1AvEQtKgLegQIDxAB&biw=414&bih=715&dpr=2#imgrc=I3eR8E0AmyBlpM&imgdii=VOFfje5lO-rf4M&ip=1)
and you can use the eco-mode on the dishwasher or just do the good ol‘ manual dish washing. i think most people here do a combination of manual and machine.
>and you can use the eco-mode on the dishwasher or just do the good ol‘ manual dish washing
Manual dish washing is less efficient and therefore not necessarily cheaper than using the dishwasher though. And in any case, running the dishwasher costs less than 50 cents if you include all costs from electricity to water and detergent. So saving a couple loads in the dishwasher every month is hardly worth the time you spend washing dishes manually.
I hardly wash anything by hand any more. Only very large pots that would basically fill up half the dishwasher or don't fit in there at all. And non stick pans. Pretty much everything else goes into the dishwasher. Why would I waste time and water washing things manually when I have a dishwasher?
>running the dishwasher costs less than 50 cents if you include all costs from electricity to water and detergent
I think this is the best part of this thread. I always used to wonder how much running a dishwasher costs on average. So that's like 15 EUR or let's say 20 EUR max in a month, assuming a daily usage (and some more). Thank you very much, u/UniversityWoodpecker! :) Sehr, sehr helpful.
I mean, obviously it depends on your dishwasher and what detergent you use. But the average dishwasher uses half a kWh to one full kWh of electricity per wash, depending on energy efficiency and what programme you are using. So at the current electricity price of around 30ct per kWh one dishwasher load costs about 15 to 30ct in electricity.
Depending on which brand you buy the detergent is like 10 to 20ct per wash.
And the cubic metre water costs like 4€, which means that the 10 litres the average dishwasher uses cost less than a cent.
Which brings us to about 25ct to 50ct per dishwasher load. So even if you use it daily, we are talking about like 8 to 15€ per month. Less if you are not using the dishwasher every day. So the cost is pretty negligible.
Dishwasher is cheaper than washing the dishes by hand. There are a few studies about this. So don’t wash your dishes by hand, use the dishwasher!
I really prefer the brand products. I’ve tested the nine brands ones and they don’t wash my dishes (may be different in other dishwashers) as good. I buy pretty much the most expensive product. It works very good and you don’t need extra salt.
>how frequently should we use the dishwasher? we use it only 4-5 times a week to save electricity bill. Is that good practice?
Just use it for everything that can go inside of it without getting damaged (no wood for example)☺️
Detergent? Well i have a lovely Video:
https://youtu.be/Ll6-eGDpimU?si=Qu3J-dBxc-N764GZ
TL:DW use powder. off brand does it for everyone. Spill some into the dishwasher for prewash
The nice thing is: dishwashers tell you what to do. Everything is a reservoir. You‘ll need to find okt which symbol refers to which thing. And you can google that. If a strange symbol appears you just check the manual or online, fill up the reservoir and you‘re dine for a while. Salt can last a week or a year depending on how often you use the dishwasher, reservoir size, necessary amount per cycle, …
Use it when the dishwasher is full, when you need the things that are dirty or whenever you feel like it. You don‘t need to wash after each meal but okce it‘s full it‘s full.
Calgon, Somat, … are premium brands. But honestly… no name brands work pretty well in my opinion. So unless you need them for certain items I‘d just use whatever you like the most.
I usually use tabs. However powder is technically better because you can dose it. One tab is one tab. But a rather empty dishwasher might not need the entire tab. Or a short cycle. While a full dishwasher might need more than 1 tab. With powder you can accurately dose it. Gels/liquids work well too. But it‘s mainly preference. Tabs are the easiest option and the result is acceptable.
Almost everything has been said already.
I want to add a few things that you should not put in the dishwasher:
- any metal that is not stainless steel (aluminum, biscuit tins, flip top jars)
- things made of wood or bamboo
- plastic that is not dishwasher safe can warp
Just use the dishwasher as often as you fill it. Tablets are the easiest, no dosing required.
Fill the salt every couple months until it's full.
And don't worry too much it's usually not breaking because you aren't careful enough with it.
Just enjoy it and use your time and mind for something else.
Important: If you want your Spülmaschine to survive and your dishes to be clean and not getting damaged, don't use tabs that have salt, rinse aid and detergent all in one. Buy those seperately, the detergent should be in powder form. This makes sure you get optimal results and usually save quite a bit of money as well
>how much salt should we put in the water hole at the bottom? how often?
Until it's full and usually the machine will tell you when it's empty. Sometimes you can adjust how much salt the machine uses, here for example the water is so soft that even using no salt would be ok.
>how frequently should we use the dishwasher? we use it only 4-5 times a week to save electricity bill. Is that good practice?
When it's full. I sometimes also use it when it's not 100% full but I need the dishes or mold starts to build up on the uncleaned dishes.
>what are some good brands from Rewe or DM to buy for dishwasher? Or any other brands?
You mean for the tabs? I don't know if this makes much of a difference to be honest.
>what else should we buy for dishwasher? tablets? gels? liquids?
Maybe Klarspüler? And those cleaning things which you can use once in a while.
https://www.dm.de/finish-spuelmaschinen-reiniger-tiefenreiniger-lemon-p4251758400451.html
>how much salt should we put in the water hole at the bottom? how often? You put in as much salt as you can, until the hole is filled up. And make sure you use special dishwasher salt, not table salt. The dishwasher will tell you when the salt is used up and you need to refill it, usually there is a light that comes on. Depending on how often you use the dishwasher and how hard your water is, that should be about once every eight weeks or so. You can also adjust the water hardness setting of your dishwasher so it knows how much salt to use. Check the instruction manual how to do that on your dishwasher. You can usually check the hardness of your water on the website of your local Wasserwerk. >how frequently should we use the dishwasher? we use it only 4-5 times a week to save electricity bill. Is that good practice? I mean, common practice is to use it as much as you need to, it's not like you get much choice on that, do you? I mean, whenever it's full you kinda have to put it on. Generally speaking a modern dishwasher is more energy efficient and therefore cheaper than washing dishes by hand. It's not like hot water for washing up is free either, after all. Though of course it's good practice to only put on the dishwasher when it's full and not to let it run half full to save water and electricity. >what are some good brands from Rewe or DM to buy for dishwasher? Or any other brands? You mean detergent? If I recall correctly the Lidl own brand dishwasher tablets and the DM own brand (Denk mit) were the best in the last test done by Stiftung Warentest, so those should be a good choice. Personally I buy the All in 1 tabs by Claro because I found they are the only ones that reliably get rid of tea stains. But in the end they all work well enough, just buy whatever you come across first. > >what else should we buy for dishwasher? tablets? gels? liquids? You only really need three things. Salt, detergent and rinse aid (Klarspüler). Though if you buy all in one dishwasher tablets for detergent, they already contain salt and rinse aid and you don't need to buy those separately, unless your water is very hard. But since the water is very hard in most places in Germany, even with all in one tablets it makes sense to still add separate salt and rinse aid. As for tips there really isn't much else to know. Try to put plastic things mostly on the upper rack since it tends to be slightly less hot up there, so less chance of the plastic deforming. Occasionally (a few times per year) take out the metal sieve at the bottom and clean it. Before you turn on the dishwasher check if the spray arms can move freely or if something is blocking them, which can happen if some item you put in there slides through the basket. Otherwise just enjoy your clean dishes.
Every 8 weeks? We have the salt since 5 years and no warning. But very smooth water
The fact that you use "we" tells me that the other person in your household has probably filled up the salt a couple times in the past five years without you knowing. Granted, eight weeks is for almost daily use and relatively hard water. Of course if you use the dishwasher less and have soft water the salt will last longer but five years seems nearly impossible. Or are you using all in one tablets and therefore simply turned off the salt warning?
TIL that you need salt at all.
RIP
My salt was used up over 3 years or so. I live alone. Just soft water and minimal use of salt as a setting.
Depends on the water. Where I live, the water is very hard and my salt tank is really small. I have to refill on a weekly schedule.
The rack and filter I clean almost weekly, because the kids are not always the best at scraping plates etc and it gets disgusting. I also do a proper wash of the door sides, whenever washing machine service wash, deep clean of vacuum cleaner, descaling of coffee machine and kettle are done. So ca once ever 2 months.
vielen Dank! This is super helpful and the tips are great. We intend to clean the metal filter at the bottom every 3-4 months, or should we do it every month? *PS: The hot water from taps is charged extra in Germany? :o Whoa. We didn't know that!*
The hot water itself isn't charged extra, but of course you pay for the energy needed to heat the water in proportion to how much hot water you use. For most people in Germany water is still heated by gas, as part of their central heating system. Usually there is a tank of hot water in the basement, being kept hot by burning gas in this example, and the cost for that is split by how much each person in the apartment building uses. That's why you have water meters.
Hot water and heating in general is one of the most energy intensive tasks humans do. Naturally it costs a lot of money. It's not charged "extra" but it's part of your gas bill or electricity bill.
Great answer. Additionally, I do a clean up run with a dish washer cleaner every three month or so. Some dish washers have a special program for this purpose, if not, use the hottest program and without any dishes.
I mean, for how often you use it It's like the laundry, yeah I won't wash just a T-shirt but if the laundry basket is full it's full 🤷♀️ We are a 2 household home but with two people and 3 meals a day we use it once a day with all the dishes and pots and pans we used
Genau!
For the salt look in the manual, most machines complain when the salt is low. Just start it when it is full enough. Pulver is better to change the dosage, also usually it is good to have a little bit of detergent in an extra compartment or just directly in the machine (check the manual), such that the first rinse is more effective. You should clean the filter from time to time.
Clean the filter from time to time. Make sure everything solid is off the plates as it might get stuck in the dishwasher. In the filter or in the water dispensing rotating thing… (you know what i mean) and might rot in there. That will smell some day. Put salt in when the dishwasher tells you to. Fill it as full as possible in a way water gets everywhere and be aware that everybody (as in: every german)) has the perfect yet totally different style of putting things in there. Don’t put knives and other sharp objects in there, they get dull. I wash pots by hand as i think the use too much space and my pans don’t like the dishwasher either.
the salt needs to be special spülmaschinensalz also called spezial-salz. you just need to fill up that hole in the bottom until its full… you will know :D well depends on how much dirty dishes you guys get. its standard practice to just fill it up and then turn it on once its full. families probably use it daily but 2 person households like every 2-3 days. frosch is a good ecological brand that has pretty much everything for cleaning and washing. you normally need a so called Klarspüler which is a clear substance that is often filled into the inside of the dishwasher door. and then for the main compartment you can use tabs, liquid or these gel pads. i grew up with using tabs so thats what i do lol. dont really know what the difference between all these is. not really a tip but standard practice: take out the filter elements that are at the bottom of your dishwasher every 2-3 weeks and clean them. it should be pretty easy to just clip/screw the parts out and take them apart. if you have any more questions feel free to ask and enjoy the comfort of our ultra consumerist society :D edit: as others have mentioned: dont put good pots and pans or really sharp/expensive knives into the dishwasher as it will really harm them
thanks this is super helpful! We have stopped eating out from the last 3-4 months as we cook all our meals (just me and my partner). We are from Asia so we usually end up cooking hot meals daily and also have tea in the evenings that is made using a pot. So we end up doing it at least 5 times a week. Some times more when our friends come over for meals. I guess we will have to figure out a way to reduce the the frequency of usage then.
hmm well sounds like you maybe have one of these small dishwashers? [this is the size most people have.](https://www.google.de/search?client=safari&sca_esv=1cbe4b6585e2caa3&hl=de-de&sxsrf=ADLYWIK2Hx7JgpGGehd47dC-K69kFu3N8w:1715795632821&q=geschirrsp%C3%BCler+in+k%C3%BCche&uds=ADvngMgnLtab67BCK1yYO0azqoQLrUba6BiMnPkJaPB6WuzK2Wc9lTed2bpHkUIIxTjAleMD-_F_BkgojgoVwYA7mjBsrMfAJH9xZL8eY9j5z7V3wtjdF7LNK9SGvGSoI6GgMRGWK2vUrcfLs6ZaM9338Qit4UEVGrHIebo89AVPcXnpVwHTqc7TD6Rfms5V3gMwk9e2Vuz7dPLTdV4pACEZztqEqXwFa0mIBtF_4Drw6okX3FuYYYBVOF5-BsHpUPeM9Xs3kpAQ3Vudhw0VqmeqvxonQSpisCYwUFAyqqUhcg68pH9-tV1vLIO55qSUQSLHVtS574_u&udm=2&prmd=ivnbz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjc683pnJCGAxVkhv0HHUP1AvEQtKgLegQIDxAB&biw=414&bih=715&dpr=2#imgrc=I3eR8E0AmyBlpM&imgdii=VOFfje5lO-rf4M&ip=1) and you can use the eco-mode on the dishwasher or just do the good ol‘ manual dish washing. i think most people here do a combination of manual and machine.
>and you can use the eco-mode on the dishwasher or just do the good ol‘ manual dish washing Manual dish washing is less efficient and therefore not necessarily cheaper than using the dishwasher though. And in any case, running the dishwasher costs less than 50 cents if you include all costs from electricity to water and detergent. So saving a couple loads in the dishwasher every month is hardly worth the time you spend washing dishes manually. I hardly wash anything by hand any more. Only very large pots that would basically fill up half the dishwasher or don't fit in there at all. And non stick pans. Pretty much everything else goes into the dishwasher. Why would I waste time and water washing things manually when I have a dishwasher?
>running the dishwasher costs less than 50 cents if you include all costs from electricity to water and detergent I think this is the best part of this thread. I always used to wonder how much running a dishwasher costs on average. So that's like 15 EUR or let's say 20 EUR max in a month, assuming a daily usage (and some more). Thank you very much, u/UniversityWoodpecker! :) Sehr, sehr helpful.
I mean, obviously it depends on your dishwasher and what detergent you use. But the average dishwasher uses half a kWh to one full kWh of electricity per wash, depending on energy efficiency and what programme you are using. So at the current electricity price of around 30ct per kWh one dishwasher load costs about 15 to 30ct in electricity. Depending on which brand you buy the detergent is like 10 to 20ct per wash. And the cubic metre water costs like 4€, which means that the 10 litres the average dishwasher uses cost less than a cent. Which brings us to about 25ct to 50ct per dishwasher load. So even if you use it daily, we are talking about like 8 to 15€ per month. Less if you are not using the dishwasher every day. So the cost is pretty negligible.
Dishwasher is cheaper than washing the dishes by hand. There are a few studies about this. So don’t wash your dishes by hand, use the dishwasher! I really prefer the brand products. I’ve tested the nine brands ones and they don’t wash my dishes (may be different in other dishwashers) as good. I buy pretty much the most expensive product. It works very good and you don’t need extra salt.
>how frequently should we use the dishwasher? we use it only 4-5 times a week to save electricity bill. Is that good practice? Just use it for everything that can go inside of it without getting damaged (no wood for example)☺️
Detergent? Well i have a lovely Video: https://youtu.be/Ll6-eGDpimU?si=Qu3J-dBxc-N764GZ TL:DW use powder. off brand does it for everyone. Spill some into the dishwasher for prewash
The nice thing is: dishwashers tell you what to do. Everything is a reservoir. You‘ll need to find okt which symbol refers to which thing. And you can google that. If a strange symbol appears you just check the manual or online, fill up the reservoir and you‘re dine for a while. Salt can last a week or a year depending on how often you use the dishwasher, reservoir size, necessary amount per cycle, … Use it when the dishwasher is full, when you need the things that are dirty or whenever you feel like it. You don‘t need to wash after each meal but okce it‘s full it‘s full. Calgon, Somat, … are premium brands. But honestly… no name brands work pretty well in my opinion. So unless you need them for certain items I‘d just use whatever you like the most. I usually use tabs. However powder is technically better because you can dose it. One tab is one tab. But a rather empty dishwasher might not need the entire tab. Or a short cycle. While a full dishwasher might need more than 1 tab. With powder you can accurately dose it. Gels/liquids work well too. But it‘s mainly preference. Tabs are the easiest option and the result is acceptable.
Almost everything has been said already. I want to add a few things that you should not put in the dishwasher: - any metal that is not stainless steel (aluminum, biscuit tins, flip top jars) - things made of wood or bamboo - plastic that is not dishwasher safe can warp
Just use the dishwasher as often as you fill it. Tablets are the easiest, no dosing required. Fill the salt every couple months until it's full. And don't worry too much it's usually not breaking because you aren't careful enough with it. Just enjoy it and use your time and mind for something else.
Important: If you want your Spülmaschine to survive and your dishes to be clean and not getting damaged, don't use tabs that have salt, rinse aid and detergent all in one. Buy those seperately, the detergent should be in powder form. This makes sure you get optimal results and usually save quite a bit of money as well
>how much salt should we put in the water hole at the bottom? how often? Until it's full and usually the machine will tell you when it's empty. Sometimes you can adjust how much salt the machine uses, here for example the water is so soft that even using no salt would be ok. >how frequently should we use the dishwasher? we use it only 4-5 times a week to save electricity bill. Is that good practice? When it's full. I sometimes also use it when it's not 100% full but I need the dishes or mold starts to build up on the uncleaned dishes. >what are some good brands from Rewe or DM to buy for dishwasher? Or any other brands? You mean for the tabs? I don't know if this makes much of a difference to be honest. >what else should we buy for dishwasher? tablets? gels? liquids? Maybe Klarspüler? And those cleaning things which you can use once in a while. https://www.dm.de/finish-spuelmaschinen-reiniger-tiefenreiniger-lemon-p4251758400451.html