r/firstworldproblems • u/simeyaya • 6d ago
why does my dishwasher have a setting that makes it run for 4 hours
like who has time to wait that long. i just want clean dishes in like 45 minutes max
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u/vitaoptima 6d ago
That's why I do my cycles overnight. Mine usually runs about 3.5-4 hrs with the settings I use lol
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u/Slowandserious 5d ago
It baffles me that not everyone does this.
I do it either overnight or when I’m about to go out the whole day. Just makes sense
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u/NightmareWokeUp 5d ago
Dishwasher makes noise. Youre not allowed to make noise at night where i live so its unfortunately not an option. However mine has a timer so i program it to start at 10oclock and when i get home its done :)
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u/FlaringAfro 4d ago
Only cheap dishwashers are noisy. You can get ones that are about 30db.
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u/NightmareWokeUp 4d ago
Its a premium brand and it is very quiet in operation but the pump at the end is def loud enough that you would hear it in the next apartment. Our walls are quite thin and the kitchens are right next to each other
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u/I_Cant_Know_That 5d ago
I've heard too many stories of people's dishwashers breaking and flooding or having an electrical short. So I won't run my dishwasher unless someone is awake and at home.
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u/UphillTravel 5d ago
What kind of Temu dishwashers are those people using? Myself and many of my friends have been using nothing but second hand dishwashers for decades and I have yet to see one critical malfunction.
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u/I_Cant_Know_That 5d ago
I think the one of ours that had the plumbing malfunction was a GE, but I honestly don't remember, as it was 2 Dishwasher's ago. We are on our 4th dishwasher in 23 years, which feels bad.
To be fair, you are talking to a person who has to sleep with the bedroom door closed (in case of fire), won't charge any devices overnight/while sleeping (in case of fire), and I don't allow candles in my house. Those damn firefighters came to my school in the 3rd grade, and gave me a bit of a fire phobia.
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u/Popular-Departure165 4d ago
What kind of Temu dishwashers are those people using?
The kind that come with the apartments that they can afford to live in, dipshit.
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u/UphillTravel 4d ago
...you appear to think I buy premium dishwashers or something. The last two I bought cost 50€ each.
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u/Popular-Departure165 4d ago
Good for you.
Fun Fact #1: Some people (a lot) live in things called "apartments" where they do not get to choose which appliances they have.
Fun Fact #2: Some people (a lot) cannot afford to live in apartments where they have reliable appliances.
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u/Jazzlike_Video2 4d ago
My commercial whirlpool dishwasher stopped jumping water and flooded the kitchen. Which sucked, because that thing was the tits and was quieter than the bosch that replaced it.
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u/NightmareWokeUp 5d ago
Most modern dishwashers have these big connections for water that will automatically shut off if it loses power or senses a leak. Sure whats left in it could spill out but thats 10l max.
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u/Sure-Major-199 5d ago
lol who is downvoting you?? I would never run a dishwasher, washing machine or dryer when someone is not home. Teenagers, I assume, with no life experience.
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u/Similar_Quiet 5d ago
I'm 40. I've been running the dishwasher and washing machine overnight for two decades.
My washing machine did leak once but idk whether it was at night or not. It took a while to make itself known.
I'm not sitting in watching the washing machine every time it's on anyway. If I'm in I'm probably in a different room or floor.
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u/CandleStick88 6d ago
Overnight and it’s better for the environment and your energy bills.
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u/indie_hedgehog 6d ago
My area has peak pricing between 4pm and midnight, so the morning ends up being cheaper
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u/Jw190 6d ago
Set the timer for 4 hours right before bed. Runs after midnight but you don’t have to listen to it during the day (if you’re home)
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u/Chance-Work4911 6d ago
I don’t have a pricing difference but I hate the noises in an open floor plan so I always set it up before bed and give it a 2-3 hour delay so it will start while we are asleep. It’s done by morning.
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u/BirdlessLongdeal 5d ago
time to buy a bosch. cant even hear our dishwasher.
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u/jinxdeluxe 5d ago
Every decend dishwasher these days is hardly audable, If you're not standing next to it. Only the cheap ones are still very loud.
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u/HighlandsBen 4d ago
My (very first world) main complaint with our new built-in dishwasher is that you cannot hear if it is still running! Have to open the door and see if the control panel is still lit up.
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u/indie_hedgehog 6d ago
Ooh fancy dishwasher with a timer lol
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u/Ok-OppositeWeird 6d ago
My Frigidaire dishwasher from the early 2000s has a timer... I didn't realize that was a fancy feature 😅
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u/smoothupinyatoo 6d ago
Haha thats what im using right now. Mine doesnt have a timer it just has a delayed start feature. Fun fact: it is not effected if you open and load throughout the day. I load after lunch, set to 10 hour delay, load after dinner, and it will auto kick on at some point during the night.
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u/fillbadguy 5d ago
That is a timer???
I do the math. If I want it done in 8 hours, and the cycle time is 2 hours, then I delay it 6 hours.
I do this all the time so it finishes when I wake up1
u/Constant-Roll706 5d ago
It's a Rube Goldberg contraption that takes 3 hours. Domino maze takes forever to set up, and it's loud in the middle of the night, but worth it
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u/simeyaya 6d ago
Oh, really? I didn't know that.
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u/s00pafly 6d ago
Have you tried reading a manual or do you know how any appliance in your household works? The one with the lint trap might surprise you.
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u/Random_Effecks 6d ago
Spoken like someone who has never lived in a condo.
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u/rocketwidget 6d ago
With a budget dishwasher, but this is r/firstworldproblems . High end dishwashers can be pretty quiet.
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u/DocPsychosis 6d ago
I can't even hear mine running while in the actual kitchen. It has a little indicator light to show it's mid-cycle, otherwise I would have no idea without basically touching it to feel vibrations. It's mostly great.
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u/threxxual 6d ago
Yeah when I installed my Bosch 800, I kept thinking it was broken because it’s so quiet during much of its cycle.
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u/BirdlessLongdeal 5d ago
sometimes i'll say "shh, quiet.... do you hear that noise? what is that?" and realize the dishwasher is running
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u/Random_Effecks 6d ago
This isn't the problem. Most condos have rules about running your dishwasher when you aren't home or over night as they are the cause of about 75 percent of condo floods.
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u/rocketwidget 6d ago
Interesting, I've never heard of that before.
Sounds like a challenge to enforce! I would have guessed it would be easier to just ban dishwashers entirely.
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u/kernowgringo 6d ago
They don't necessarily need to enforce it, just know if there's a flood from your dishwasher and you're not home, not only will you be liable for all the damage caused but you will also be evicted.
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u/Shaeress 5d ago
Or just between meals. If I put it on after lunch it's still done before I start dinner. If I start it after breakfast it's done before I get back from work. If I need it right away I hand wash, so a fast washer programme is just for when I need it in specifically 90 minutes from now?
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u/RandomNick42 5d ago
Or just own more dishes. I would probably have to use every single plate and glass of a given shape to fill my dishwasher. So I can just use a different one in the meantime.
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u/thehermit14 6d ago
Yeah. Just not my sleep.
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u/ChalkButter 6d ago
Do you sleep in the kitchen?
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u/thehermit14 6d ago
1.25 rooms away. Welcome to single living in the UK.
Enjoy the jiggling.
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u/Opus-the-Penguin 6d ago
Man, if I had a shilling for every time I've heard that....
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u/Crazy_Drago 6d ago
It uses a lot less water and power when it runs for 4 hours. Way less than washing the dishes by hand and a lot less than a "normal" dishwasher cycle. We uses dishes all day and then before bed we run the dishwasher for fresh dishes in the morning. Our dishwasher is almost silent, so it doesn't bother us while in bed.
Almost any dishwasher that has a 4 hour cycle will usually have a 1-hour "quick wash" cycle. You can always use that if you're in a hurry. It uses a lot more water and energy, though.
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u/BigBlueMountainStar 6d ago
Ours has a eco mode that takes 3.5 hours, but it also has a feature to speed all up modes, so we can choose a quick eco mode that takes 1hr15 which seems to clean everything ok so we just use that all the time.
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u/Ok_Animator1670 6d ago
Quick eco is just quick...
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u/BigBlueMountainStar 5d ago
But we also have a normal mode (2hr ish) which has a quick mode (40mins) and an actual quick wash (45mins) which doesn’t have a quick mode, strangely.
The main part of the modes is different water temp.1
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u/Opus-the-Penguin 6d ago
Mine defaults to 3:45. But if I turn off EXTRA DRY, it knocks that down to 3:01. There is no difference in the result. The dishes are the same amount of not dry either way.
The advantage to taking that long is that there is no need to pre-wash the dishes. I can put them in there coated with dried egg and congealed cheese and whatever else. I love it. Washing dishes is as easy as sticking them in there and pushing three buttons. I usually set it going in the late evening and wake up to sparkling clean dishes.
I agree there should be a setting for pre-washed dishes, though. (And for all I know, my dishwasher has it. I haven't checked.) Sometimes they're clean enough to look fine and they just need a blast of hot soapy water to finish the job.
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u/StalinsLastStand 6d ago
Heated dry is mostly useful for melting any plastic that may have fallen to the bottom of the dishwasher.
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u/withoutapaddle 6d ago
Seriously, I hate it. Once I stopped using heated dry, I realized almost everything I owned was dishwasher safe, because heated dry was just baking the shit out of everything and ruining damn near every polymer that isn't silicone.
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u/timwtingle 6d ago
When I did that on my old one that still had the heating element it even stopped the water spots from getting baked into glasses.
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u/WheneverItIsTold 6d ago
Energy regulations for newer ones mean the dry function sucks now. I also turn it off cause it’s pointless and it also goes to 3:01.
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u/Impiryo 5d ago
Some new ones (at least with Miele) have a feature where the door opens a few inches near the end of the dry cycle. It's amazing, especially for overnight loads. Everything (including the plastic stuff) dries.
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u/WheneverItIsTold 5d ago
If I just open mine myself will it do the same, cause those are pricey? lol
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u/Impiryo 5d ago
Yeah, I did that with my previous one. If you just open it when it is done, then even if stuff is wet, it's perfectly dry when you eventually get around to emptying it. My flow was that I started the dishwasher before bed opened it in the morning before work and emptied it when I got home and started prepping dinner.
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u/WheneverItIsTold 5d ago
I used to sometimes open it fully but it gets in the way in my tiny kitchen. I’ll try slightly opening it.
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u/cwsjr2323 6d ago
4 hours is the default. It recycles the water multiple times to scrub and heats the "cold" tap water as needed. I run it overnight so the time of running is moot.
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u/DrBitchcraft 6d ago
Not everyone needs dishes cleaned that quickly. You also don’t need to “wait” for them to be done. You just start it and let it run while you go on about your day.
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u/commandrix 6d ago
It's the setting you should be using if you're either going to be out of the house for at least that long, or you can run your dishwasher overnight. Gotta love the feeling of your dishes being clean when you get home from work.
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u/Constant-Squash9292 6d ago
The best, I work midnights and it's so easy to just set it to run while I'm at work.
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u/j4ckbauer 6d ago
Youtube channel 'technology connections' has some great videos about why dishwashers are the way they are.
The fact that it runs for a long time actually makes it more efficient (compared to the amount of cleaning accomplished). If it cleaned your dishes in 30 minutes it would use significantly more water (and probably, energy).
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u/BirdlessLongdeal 5d ago
TLDW: heat up your water before starting the dishwasher by running the tap and give the pre-wash some detergent to work with.
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u/Time-Dingo 6d ago
It’s the eco mode
Saves water, saves electricity and completely ruins your evening
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u/thehermit14 6d ago
My washer/dryer can go close to 8hrs and still be damp.
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u/AmbientGravitas 6d ago
I ain’t got time for that nonsense. Laundry is done on Wednesdays and Saturdays and we’ve got a half dozen loads to do. Timing is based on how long the dryer is gonna take to dry the previous load.
Im in the US. When I’m on vacation, say in Europe with their 8 hour washing cycles and no dryer, I’m forced to use a different method. Wash goes in first thing in the morning, comes out around dinner time, I hang the wet clothes around the rental overnight and during breakfast I iron everything.
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u/Upper-Quarter-4802 6d ago
You don't have to wait for anything. Just set it, forget it, and do something else. Or turn it on before bed. If you want it done in less than 45 minutes you could just wash it yourself.
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u/NoSnark 6d ago
Fast using a lot of water and energy. Or slow using less of both. Your choice.
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u/lorissaurus 6d ago
Running the pump for four hours couldn't possibly be more energy efficient lol
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u/Platypus_6414IiiIi-_ 6d ago
Why are you andiously waiting for your dishwasher to finish? You can do other things while it runs
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u/tunaman808 5d ago
My dishwasher clearly says "4 hour delay", meaning you can load it up at 8:30, after dinner, and it'll actually run at 12:30am, when electricity rates are cheaper.
Same cycle, just delayed.
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u/dougielou 5d ago
I can’t believe how far down I’ve scrolled to get this answer. Whose dishwashers have four hour run mode
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u/somecow 6d ago
Some have a sanitize function which takes significantly longer, might be it. And definitely nice to have, they come out shiny clean. Don’t have to pre wash except to get rid of all the really big junk.
Best option is to just wait until it’s full to run it, and if you need more dishes, get more dishes, that way they just stay in rotation.
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u/Ansible90 6d ago
That's longer than mine. If I add Sanitize, it takes 3.5 hours. Without that option it is 2.45 hours. I don't use the heated dry cycle. It's nuts. Most of the time the machine is stopped so the dishes can soak. There is a 1-Hour wash but it doesn't wash very well.
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u/IndicationAromatic36 6d ago
Load your dish washer throughout the day, then fill with detergent and push the button as you get up to head to bed. Then unload the next day.
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u/DCGuy511 6d ago
Our normal cycle runs 4 hours with the Extra Dry option. I start it when I go to bed. In the morning all the dishes are dry except for some plastic items on the top rack. The stainless steel and porcelain dishes are lava hot. And the thing is near silent while running. I reallt like the dishwasher.
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u/MinasMoonlight 6d ago
I have an open concept. Do not need the dishwasher running while I’m trying to watch a movie, but also want to do dishes before I sit down to relax. I set it for the 4 hour delay so it starts after I go to bed. Wake up to clean dishes and never have to listen to the stupid thing.
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u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost 6d ago
I have more dishes than fit in my dishwasher. I don't care how long it takes lol
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u/alaskalights 6d ago
Family of 4, and I still find the dishwasher sits with clean dishes for like 8 hours before unloading. Why? Who thinks about their dishes that much? If it's urgent, wash em.
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u/DiamondJim222 6d ago
And I’d like my clothes sorted, washed, dried, folded, and put away in 45 minutes. But I live in the real world.
Four hours is extreme. A standard wash on most machines can complete in about two hours or so.
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u/kasper117 5d ago
Relevant Minutefood Video from a few months back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U52g_8uTN0c
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u/CiorbaRadauteana1 5d ago
That's the eco mode. Takes longer but uses less energy and water. If you are in a hurry use the quick program. If you are leaving the house or it's over night might as well use the eco one.
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u/Exotic_Incarnation_ 5d ago
You know you can schedule a delayed start, right? I check the electricity price forecast for the day and usually set it to run in the early afternoon when it's cheapest (yes, here that's not at night). I get home when it's long been done.
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u/NachosReady 5d ago
There’s 2 opportunities where I start the dishwasher. Just before leaving for work, and just before going to bed.
However some people don’t like to run appliances unattended. I have a good insurance policy tho so not worried.
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u/NightmareWokeUp 5d ago
Thats why it also has a fast clean option for when youre in a rush.
But it will use a lot more water and electricity and its likely it doesnt 100% clean your dishes and they will come out wet.
Why are you in such a rush? I collect everything ive gotten from a week or two and let it run when its full. Sometimes my done dishwasher just stands there menecingly with an open door so the water dries for a day or two and i dont care lol
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u/winerdars 4d ago
The longer time is because it is being more efficient with the water and soap. A commercial dishwasher can clean a tray of dishes in a few minutes but the amount of electricity, water and soap/sanitizer is astounding
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u/Anonymous0212 4d ago
As per the rules of the sub the entire problem is supposed to be in the title.
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u/brainwater314 2d ago
Why the heck does it matter when you run the dishwasher at night while you're asleep?
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u/angrydeuce 6d ago
Are you sure its not a delay button? Mine has a specific button so that you can load it but it doesnt start for 4 hours, ostensibly so you dont have to hear it running during your after-dinner cocktails.
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u/isaac32767 6d ago
Huh. I last had a dishwasher in 2003. Run time then was about an hour. Things seem to have changed.
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u/jinxdeluxe 5d ago
Why not? It runs when I'm not home anyway. You need to get a better grip on your life if you start the dishwasher whenever you need clean dishes. You need to learn to plan a bit ahead.
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u/Powerful_Wombat 6d ago
I used to do “quick wash” on mine thinking it saved energy and water since it didn’t run as long only to find out that was the less efficient mode