I watched a 25-minute video on how to get more out of my dishwasher. The most impactful tip is to run the hot water in your kitchen sink before starting the machine.
After a catastrophe where a dinner guest insisted on doing the dishes and jammed my dishwasher, I went down the YouTube rabbit hole of dishwasher maintenance, tips, and tricks. One thing I came across was running an empty load with a citric acid-based cleanser in it; it'll descale the heating element. Cascade makes a dishwasher cleaner. The other big tip is the one above. Start with hot water in the sink; the machine will have more time with hot water and spend less time heating water up.
In the world of "can clean almost anything," I suggest caution. Any debris there has to be washed out of the machine. If you've got a masticating pump that grinds up waste so it can pump it out, many things can jam it up.
Previously:
• Monkey washes dishes
• We are one RFID away from a dishwasher that rejects third-party dishes on pain of a 5-year prison sentence
• Revisiting the horrifically sexist Battleship game cover from 1967
