Having a dishwasher can be a big bonus - saving the monotony of washing up after a meal. But sometimes glassware, cutlery and crockery comes out of a cycle looking less than sparkling.
It turns out that the reason for this is a common mistake that many people make. Now, experts at AO have said that pre-rinsing items in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher could actually be doing more harm than good.
AO says that pre-rinsing is what's making things like your glasses cloudy, reports the Mirror. In a video on TikTok, AO - which posts under the username @ao - said: "Don't rinse your plates.
"Pre-rinsing means detergent can't attack any food, so it goes after glasses and makes them cloudy."
The appliance shop experts also said you should never use the little lines that stick up to stack your cups over, as all cups and glasses should go "in between the lines, not over them". And the final tip involved the direction in which your plates face.
AO says they should "all face toward the centre sprayer", which means making sure every plate, bowl, and dish is facing inwards toward the middle of the dishwasher before you start a cycle. Meanwhile, many of us will likely be cutting back on our dishwasher usage amid the rise in energy prices, as the appliance is one of the biggest energy drainers in any household.
Putting your dishwasher on for a two-hour cycle will use around 2.55kWh of electricity, costing 71p per use or £110.76 a year if used three times a week. To save energy, it's best to wait to use your dishwasher until you have a full load.
Try to wash by hand if you only have a few dishes, but make sure you don't fill the sink or leave the tap running, as this could cause your water bills to rise instead.
