Dishwasher question

We had the Bosch repair people out last week to repair our bosch oven. I had him look at our bosch dishwasher at the same time. The soap dispenser broke down about 30 days after we bought it. I have been just putting soap into the machine willy nilly assuming everything would work out ok.

Not so, according to the repair man. He said if the dispenser was not working properly then the soap residue might not be completely rinsed off at the end of the cycle. My wife has been getting sick now for some time... she claims that it is due to the soap left on the dishes. She now washes each dish and utensil in boiling hot water before she uses it. I somewhat doubted this thought until last week I forgot to wash a tin bowl that I used for a salad... sick again... and I mean not just sick but really sick. Good Grief... I have been trying to bump my wife off for almost a year now. I can just see the headlines now... husband bumps off wife with innovative use of dishwasher.

Ok, we will try again. I am only using 1 tbl of soap detergent now and the dispenser is working. However, it will be many moons before she stops running all the utensils through a boiling hot water bath. I am now doing the same before I use any dish for dinner. It is like dish washing heaven. I am toying with replacing the dishwasher with a wine rack or something.

My question is this... should I be looking for some other type of detergent other than the typical supermarket type. Is there anything on the market that won't accelerate a person's demise to the afterlife.

Tim

My dishwasher has a 4 minute rinse-only option. You could try just running an extra rinse rather than the boiling the water wash.

Jim has a good suggestion re rinsing.
But I'm having trouble imagining how putting detergent directly into machine rather than dispenser would lead to more residue (assuming you used same amount). The dispenser door is designed to let the bulk of detergent out LATER in the cycle. The idea would be the first cycle gets food off, then soap opens and is used in cleaning cycle, and then a couple rinse cycles. If you put detergent in at beginning, you might not get dishes quite as clean (as most of the soap would drain out before the longer main wash cycle) but not sure how it could lead to more residue. Maybe my understanding of process is off.

Jim has a good suggestion re rinsing.
But I'm having trouble imagining how putting detergent directly into machine rather than dispenser would lead to more residue (assuming you used same amount). The dispenser door is designed to let the bulk of detergent out LATER in the cycle. The idea would be the first cycle gets food off, then soap opens and is used in cleaning cycle, and then a couple rinse cycles. If you put detergent in at beginning, you might not get dishes quite as clean (as most of the soap would drain out before the longer main wash cycle) but not sure how it could lead to more residue. Maybe my understanding of process is off.

No, Dale, you echoed my own thinking. Perhaps incomplete cleaning of the dishes leads to the wife's sickness?

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

What Dale and Mark said. But as to soap: Tim, I have a Bosch dishwasher and I do NOT fill up the soap dispenser; rather, we use only about a tablespoon. All dishes are rinsed before going in, and we use the Quick cycle (about 30 minutes). We're happy. And not sick!

What Dale and Mark said. But as to soap: Tim, I have a Bosch dishwasher and I do NOT fill up the soap dispenser; rather, we use only about a tablespoon. All dishes are rinsed before going in, and we use the Quick cycle (about 30 minutes). We're happy. And not sick!

Apropos of that, there's this advice from your friends at the NY Times.

Mark Lipton

We don't have a quick rinse option just a rinse and hold. I wish we had a quick cycle as the regular cycle seems to take somewhere between 1 and 2 hours. I do rinse all dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. The comment in the article about leaving some food residue on the dishes was exactly what the Bosch repairman told me. He said the soap needs something to work against.

I used to use too much soap but now I am only using a tbl or even less. There is no way now that either of us are going to stop boiling every dish because the only way to test that approach is for her to get sick if that doesn't work. At this point we are stocking up on paper dishes and plastic silverware. Not really all that bad as we don't generally entertain. If the wine is good then the paper dishes matter even less. Easier clean up for sure. Btw, I do not use soap at all on wine glasses... just very hot water.

I suspect that the detergent may be the guilty party here. I don't get sick and that fact leads me to look at some ingredient in the detergent that she may be allergic to. I need to get on Google and do some research.

Tim

“The soap needs something to work against to get the dishes clean,”
I thought this was only for enzyme based detergents like Cascade Complete?

Two nights ago my wife got sick again but this time a clue was born. The only things she had to eat was some yogurt, some fresh blueberries and some crackers. None of these items were in any way connected to the dishwasher. So what now...

A little google research turned up the fact that a lot of people, mostly female, had the exact same symptoms and reactions that she has been having. A number of them had consulted a doctor, mostly GP, with mixed recommendations. Most discarded the recommendations when they seemed to have no positive effect on the condition.

Some women had lived with this condition for a number of years. It did not develop into a more serious situation but never got any better either.

So the mystery continues... At least it is a good thing that I got my soap dispenser fixed and am not using so much soap these days. Because we have not identified a new and better culprit for this condition we will I suppose continue to rinse all dishes in boiling hot water before using. There are worst things I suppose.

Tim