The Great Dishwashing Debate: Pre-Rinse Or Not?

Earlier this week, when JD said he was going to write an article about getting his washing machine fixed, I responded saying that I'd see his washing machine story and raise him an article about whether washing your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher was still truly needed.

Well, I'm now writing the article.

Like a lot of people, I grew up washing the dishes and then putting them in the dishwasher for a second cleaning.  I never thought twice about it, because it was just something we did.  As I got older, my mom would (and still does) make comments about how silly she finds it to wash dishes twice.

So, I dug in to see if there is a point to it or not.  I found a lot of people saying not to, except for a couple specific situations.

Why not to pre-wash dishes

One article I found said a big factor is the age of the dishwasher.  Supposedly, for the majority of dish loads, a quick scrape to get rid of the biggest remnants of food is all that is needed if you have a newer dishwasher (new as in within the last 10-15 years), just because of the sensors and things that have been added.

The same article also pointed out that the dishwasher detergent plays a role.  The argument there is that the detergent is meant to work with food bits still on the dishes, so washing them before putting them in the dishwasher actually makes the detergent less effective.

Another article also pointed out that double-washing is a waste of water.  So not pre-washing could save money on your water bill.

Why you should pre-wash dishes

The obvious example is to deal with baked on food.  Washing dishes in that condition before putting them in the dishwasher means the dishwasher doesn't have to work as hard.

Here's one I never thought about until I started working on this article.  If the dishwasher does the bulk of the cleaning, the leftover food will just sit on the bottom and clog up the filter, so you have to clean it out or it can get really funky inside.

A third reason is that it isn't even that unusual to double-wash.  Cafeterias and restaurants will have someone wash the dishes by hand, then run them through a (admittedly commercial-grade) dishwasher to rinse off anything that was missed and sanitize everything with high temperature water.

Ultimately, it all comes down to what makes sense to you.  Personally, I think I'll be making some changes to my cleaning habits.