1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,179 Hello and welcome to No Effort November, 2 00:00:03,179 --> 00:00:08,016 a series of videos for the month of November where no effort is made. 3 00:00:08,016 --> 00:00:11,221 And you know where I never make any effort? 4 00:00:11,221 --> 00:00:12,826 Washing my dishes. 5 00:00:12,826 --> 00:00:17,298 That's because I have an automatic dishwasher at home which does that for me! 6 00:00:17,298 --> 00:00:21,654 And when it comes to the detergent products which are sold for use in home dishwashers, 7 00:00:21,654 --> 00:00:23,354 I would like to say the following: 8 00:00:23,979 --> 00:00:27,046 I was right! 9 00:00:27,046 --> 00:00:29,605 And thanks to the work of a bunch of cool people, 10 00:00:29,605 --> 00:00:32,111 today I can prove it. 11 00:00:32,111 --> 00:00:33,450 How? 12 00:00:33,450 --> 00:00:35,002 With this. 13 00:00:35,002 --> 00:00:38,436 That's right. There's a new dishwasher powder in town! 14 00:00:38,436 --> 00:00:43,609 And I was... very slightly involved in its development. 15 00:00:43,609 --> 00:00:47,307 Now, of course, I will tell you where  and how you can get your hands on this, 16 00:00:47,307 --> 00:00:51,428 but this video isn't just to announce the existence of a new product. 17 00:00:51,428 --> 00:00:58,343 You see, sending this formulation to an independent testing lab has vindicated all of my hot takes 18 00:00:58,343 --> 00:01:04,429 and crotchety Midwestern stubbornness when it comes to pre-dosed dishwasher pods and tablets. 19 00:01:04,429 --> 00:01:09,039 And because of that, I would very much like to tell you the story of how this came to be 20 00:01:09,039 --> 00:01:15,257 and what we have learned through sending it and some big name products through blind ASTM testing. 21 00:01:15,257 --> 00:01:21,879 I'll also show you why it's so important for those of us in North America to purge the cold water from the pipes 22 00:01:21,879 --> 00:01:28,074 by running the kitchen faucet until the water comes out piping hot before starting the dishwasher. 23 00:01:28,074 --> 00:01:32,061 I've only ever explained that and never demonstrated the difference it makes. 24 00:01:32,061 --> 00:01:34,440 And I've cooked up a great demo to show you. 25 00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:38,621 It involves temperature logging and copious amounts of peanut butter. 26 00:01:38,621 --> 00:01:40,000 So, stick around for that! 27 00:01:40,334 --> 00:01:42,939 But first, let's talk detergent. 28 00:01:42,939 --> 00:01:49,352 For those of you who may not be familiar with why I strongly prefer loose powders for dishwashers, 29 00:01:49,352 --> 00:01:55,447 well, quite simply, that's because the standard washing program in the vast majority of dishwashers out there 30 00:01:55,447 --> 00:01:59,934 is designed to accommodate two separate doses of detergent. 31 00:01:59,934 --> 00:02:03,662 A small one first and a bigger one later. 32 00:02:03,662 --> 00:02:05,111 Why might that be? 33 00:02:05,111 --> 00:02:08,859 Well, you know that little compartment you're supposed to put the detergent in? 34 00:02:08,859 --> 00:02:17,069 The entire reason your dishwasher has that thing is so that it can delay when detergent gets added to the washing water. 35 00:02:17,069 --> 00:02:20,640 It wants to do that because when the machine starts washing, 36 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:24,651 food particles which dissolve easily in water like sugars and syrups, 37 00:02:24,651 --> 00:02:30,661 or that are easily knocked off your dirty dishes, like those chunks of tomato and the sauce from your pasta dinner, 38 00:02:30,661 --> 00:02:35,288 will cause the water inside the dishwasher to get dirty very quickly. 39 00:02:35,288 --> 00:02:40,629 And this means your dishwasher will have to drain that water out and replace it with clean water 40 00:02:40,629 --> 00:02:46,503 after a relatively short period of time, often just 10 or 15 minutes. 41 00:02:46,503 --> 00:02:52,418 That initial fill of water is called the pre-wash because it happens before the wash. 42 00:02:52,418 --> 00:02:56,632 It will handle the easiest to clean stuff, but that's it. 43 00:02:56,632 --> 00:03:01,830 And so it's the detergent dispenser's job to make sure the product you added to the machine 44 00:03:01,830 --> 00:03:07,725 so it can mix with the water and create a cleaning solution to tackle the really difficult stuck on food 45 00:03:07,725 --> 00:03:12,312 doesn't get sent down the  drain right away with the pre-wash water. 46 00:03:12,312 --> 00:03:14,451 That's the whole point of the dispenser! 47 00:03:14,451 --> 00:03:18,815 The dishwasher needs to control when the detergent actually gets released. 48 00:03:18,815 --> 00:03:26,566 And in doing so, it can assure there's  detergent in the water during the longest, hottest part of its wash program. 49 00:03:26,566 --> 00:03:29,125 Now, here's my little bugaboo: 50 00:03:29,125 --> 00:03:31,709 the pre-wash water can do a lot, 51 00:03:31,709 --> 00:03:38,280 but some food soils, particularly oils and fats,  don't like to mix with plain water. 52 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:45,123 And because of that little incompatibility problem, those soils will be relatively unaffected by the pre-wash. 53 00:03:45,123 --> 00:03:52,807 But, what if you were to put a little extra detergent in the machine outside of the dispenser? 54 00:03:52,807 --> 00:04:00,010 That detergent would mix with the pre-wash water and thus it would allow it to absorb those fats and oils right away. 55 00:04:00,010 --> 00:04:03,517 Then when the machine drains the pre-wash water away, 56 00:04:03,517 --> 00:04:12,697 at least some of the fats and oils on your plates will have left the machine before the main part of the wash cycle has even begun. 57 00:04:12,697 --> 00:04:17,028 That's going to reduce the amount of work the main wash detergent has to do, 58 00:04:17,028 --> 00:04:20,933 potentially allowing for a smaller main wash dose. 59 00:04:20,933 --> 00:04:25,193 Well, it turns out that's exactly what you're supposed to be doing! 60 00:04:25,193 --> 00:04:28,690 Notice how this detergent dispenser has two cups. 61 00:04:28,690 --> 00:04:31,056 One is labeled main wash, 62 00:04:31,056 --> 00:04:34,397 and the other smaller cup says pre-wash. 63 00:04:34,397 --> 00:04:37,869 The pre-wash cup isn't actually sealed by the lid. 64 00:04:37,869 --> 00:04:39,854 In fact, it's got holes in the lid 65 00:04:39,854 --> 00:04:46,569 so whatever you put in there is just going to fall right out once you close the door and mix with the pre-wash water. 66 00:04:46,569 --> 00:04:51,856 Sometimes instead of two separate cups like this, you'll find a little divot for extra detergent. 67 00:04:51,856 --> 00:04:58,228 And other times, you won't find a marked spot for it because dishwasher manufacturers have, for some reason, 68 00:04:58,228 --> 00:05:02,859 decided to stop helping people understand what their machines actually do. 69 00:05:02,859 --> 00:05:08,878 And if they make any mention of pre-wash detergent at all, it's buried in the owner's manual somewhere. 70 00:05:08,878 --> 00:05:13,730 But let me just state this plainly: If your dishwasher has a detergent dispenser, 71 00:05:13,730 --> 00:05:15,729 which I'm fairly certain it does, 72 00:05:15,729 --> 00:05:20,855 then it's going to be doing a pre-wash on at least some of its cycles. 73 00:05:20,855 --> 00:05:25,626 Because if it didn't, there would be no reason for that detergent dispenser to be there! 74 00:05:25,626 --> 00:05:29,212 It would just have a spot which says, "Put detergent here." 75 00:05:29,212 --> 00:05:35,133 You know if they could get away with removing that costly moving part, they absolutely would. 76 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:41,176 But they haven't because the fundamentals of  automatic dishwashing have not changed. 77 00:05:41,176 --> 00:05:48,447 Yet, most detergent products on the market today by forcing people into a single predetermined dosing structure 78 00:05:48,447 --> 00:05:50,413 disrespect those fundamentals. 79 00:05:50,413 --> 00:05:55,200 And that is just one of the reasons I'm so cranky about the dang pods. 80 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:59,067 That's why I made my first video on dishwashers. 81 00:05:59,067 --> 00:06:02,738 There's a lot of people out there who think dishwashers can't clean well, 82 00:06:02,738 --> 00:06:07,385 often to the point of refusing to use them even if they have one at home. 83 00:06:07,385 --> 00:06:13,109 Yet, I have never had a dishwasher  which couldn't clean practically anything I threw at it! 84 00:06:13,109 --> 00:06:16,850 And I've used all kinds: from old machines from the early '90s 85 00:06:16,850 --> 00:06:19,422 to landlord specials of various vintages 86 00:06:19,422 --> 00:06:21,826 to mediocre machines like this Frigidaire 87 00:06:21,826 --> 00:06:25,979 and to high-end machines like the KitchenAid I now have at home. 88 00:06:25,979 --> 00:06:28,108 And with just a single exception, 89 00:06:28,108 --> 00:06:33,479 all it took to get great results was using cheap store-brand powders, 90 00:06:33,479 --> 00:06:39,811 using them as the machines expected with a little bit of pre-wash detergent in addition to the main detergent dose 91 00:06:39,811 --> 00:06:42,939 and selecting the normal wash cycle. 92 00:06:42,939 --> 00:06:49,617 The single "bad" machine in my life required the use of its heavy wash cycle for consistent results, 93 00:06:49,617 --> 00:06:53,236 but it could still wash great so long as you selected that. 94 00:06:53,236 --> 00:07:00,821 And hence explains my skepticism that the supposedly superior pods are really any better or worth the extra cost. 95 00:07:00,821 --> 00:07:02,687 Yet, after making those videos, 96 00:07:02,687 --> 00:07:09,087 while many people reported that switching to powder and using some pre-wash detergent made a huge difference for them, 97 00:07:09,087 --> 00:07:16,319 others couldn't get satisfactory results with powder but could with the higher-end detergent pods out there. 98 00:07:16,319 --> 00:07:19,770 The biggest issue seemed to be a residue left at the end of the wash. 99 00:07:19,770 --> 00:07:23,193 That can be a sign of using too much detergent, 100 00:07:23,193 --> 00:07:27,708 but when the same people reported they don't have that problem with pods... 101 00:07:27,708 --> 00:07:33,614 well, that gives some credence to the idea that the pods are a superior product. 102 00:07:33,614 --> 00:07:35,426 But here's my issue: 103 00:07:35,426 --> 00:07:37,942 Detergents are just chemicals! 104 00:07:37,942 --> 00:07:41,413 The way those chemicals are packaged shouldn't matter, 105 00:07:41,413 --> 00:07:46,250 especially in a dishwasher which violently churns up the water as it runs. 106 00:07:46,250 --> 00:07:52,624 And lots of pods out there are nothing more than a small quantity of powder in a dissolvable membrane. 107 00:07:52,624 --> 00:07:56,628 So if loose powders perform worse than pods, 108 00:07:56,628 --> 00:08:01,302 that's probably because the manufacturers want them to. 109 00:08:01,302 --> 00:08:03,956 Which brings me back to this. 110 00:08:03,956 --> 00:08:08,394 When I was working with Good Store on the Technology Connections socks campaign 111 00:08:08,394 --> 00:08:11,906 (which by the way, thank you so much to everyone who purchased them. 112 00:08:11,906 --> 00:08:18,357 Numbers aren't final yet, but it's looking like we'll have raised close to $200,000 for the Maternal Center of Excellence, 113 00:08:18,357 --> 00:08:19,446 which is awesome! 114 00:08:19,446 --> 00:08:22,154 And by the way, it just had its ribbon cutting. 115 00:08:22,154 --> 00:08:27,186 Truly, thank you all so much and I can't wait for the socks to start arriving at your door). 116 00:08:27,733 --> 00:08:28,708 ... 117 00:08:29,255 --> 00:08:32,049 Okay, that was too long of a parenthetical, so let me restart. 118 00:08:32,049 --> 00:08:37,290 When I was working with Good Store, an old idea of John Green's was resurrected. 119 00:08:37,290 --> 00:08:40,201 Back in 2022, John contacted me and said, 120 00:08:40,201 --> 00:08:46,885 "You know what would be funny? If you made your own dishwasher detergent and we sold it to raise money for charity." 121 00:08:46,885 --> 00:08:53,302 I frikkin loved that idea, but we weren't sure how to pull it off so we decided to shove it for a while. 122 00:08:53,302 --> 00:08:59,466 Fast forward a few years and Good Store now exists and they've been selling eco-friendly cleaning products 123 00:08:59,466 --> 00:09:04,010 in partnership with Green Llama to raise money for the Coral Reef Alliance. 124 00:09:04,010 --> 00:09:06,899 While they were offering dishwasher tablets, 125 00:09:06,899 --> 00:09:11,245 lots of people were writing in to ask for a powder option. 126 00:09:11,245 --> 00:09:13,800 Weird. I wonder why that might be. 127 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,614 Maybe they saw some YouTube videos. 128 00:09:16,614 --> 00:09:18,697 So, since the demand was there, 129 00:09:18,697 --> 00:09:20,877 I got connected with Matt Keasey. 130 00:09:20,877 --> 00:09:25,435 And after explaining my whole deal and the importance of the pre-wash, 131 00:09:25,435 --> 00:09:29,875 he was excited to work on his own loose powder formulation. 132 00:09:29,875 --> 00:09:32,978 And this is the result of his work. 133 00:09:32,978 --> 00:09:35,752 And folks, this is fantastic. 134 00:09:35,752 --> 00:09:39,467 And best of all, you don't have to take my word for it. 135 00:09:39,467 --> 00:09:46,635 See, the team at Green Llama wasn't satisfied with simply coming up with a great formulation and calling it done. 136 00:09:46,635 --> 00:09:50,737 Matt arranged for independent, blinded ASTM testing 137 00:09:50,737 --> 00:09:54,923 where this product was put through a series of standardized scientific tests 138 00:09:54,923 --> 00:09:59,072 to measure its cleaning performance in several food stain categories. 139 00:09:59,072 --> 00:10:02,357 And it was compared against both a big name powder 140 00:10:02,357 --> 00:10:07,692 and the most premium detergent pod on offer by the same big name brand. 141 00:10:07,692 --> 00:10:11,306 The tests revealed two very interesting things. 142 00:10:11,306 --> 00:10:17,905 First, the powder that big name brand sells is in fact worse at cleaning than their pods. 143 00:10:17,905 --> 00:10:22,814 So, you are at least getting a better product when you buy their more expensive option. 144 00:10:22,814 --> 00:10:25,575 Which is good... I guess. 145 00:10:25,575 --> 00:10:32,443 But second, we also confirmed my long-held suspicion that the performance difference between Big Powder and Big Pod 146 00:10:32,443 --> 00:10:38,608 has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that one is a powder and one is a fancy pants pod. 147 00:10:38,608 --> 00:10:46,772 Because you see, Matt's powder formulation meets or exceeds the cleaning performance of the best pods that brand sells 148 00:10:46,772 --> 00:10:49,099 in nearly every category tested. 149 00:10:49,099 --> 00:10:54,985 The only test where this lost to the pod was the tea stain removal test, but it came in second. 150 00:10:54,985 --> 00:11:01,331 And the overall score for this formulation was slightly higher than the pod it was tested against. 151 00:11:01,331 --> 00:11:04,516 So, this is good stuff. 152 00:11:04,516 --> 00:11:09,509 Oh, and for the folks out there who have had problems with powders leaving some kind of residue, 153 00:11:09,509 --> 00:11:13,846 well, part of the testing procedure evaluated spotting and filming. 154 00:11:13,846 --> 00:11:20,182 And sure enough, Matt's formulation  is just as good as that brand name pod. 155 00:11:20,182 --> 00:11:22,695 No spotting was observed at all, 156 00:11:22,695 --> 00:11:27,320 and when it comes to filming, this got a slightly better score than the brand name. 157 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:32,978 It's almost like powders actually  can be excellent detergent products or something! 158 00:11:32,978 --> 00:11:35,563 I have also tested this myself, of course - 159 00:11:35,563 --> 00:11:37,165 Yeah, that's right. 160 00:11:37,165 --> 00:11:40,950 I got early access to a dishwasher detergent formulation. 161 00:11:40,950 --> 00:11:44,668 Way cooler than something boring like the latest phone or laptop. 162 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:52,850 Anyway, Matt's formulation passed my standard several-days-old-dried-out-cheese-and-bean-dip challenge with flying colors, 163 00:11:52,850 --> 00:11:58,102 and it took care of that hazelnut spread container, too, along with everything else in the machine. 164 00:11:58,102 --> 00:12:00,856 In fact, after using this a few times, 165 00:12:00,856 --> 00:12:07,051 I am pretty confident this is the best dishwasher detergent product I have personally used. 166 00:12:07,051 --> 00:12:13,706 Most of my dinnerware is glass, and while I've never had any washing issues using my cheapskate store brand powder, 167 00:12:13,706 --> 00:12:20,159 I did notice the glass seemed to be a little bit  clearer after using the Green Llama formulation. 168 00:12:20,159 --> 00:12:23,704 And just a single run through the dishwasher with this stuff 169 00:12:23,704 --> 00:12:30,733 cleared up a faint ring of white hazing that had built up on the sides of that same bean dip pan over time. 170 00:12:30,733 --> 00:12:36,521 I truly did not expect that, and I wish I had taken a photo of that hazing before I made the dip. 171 00:12:36,521 --> 00:12:40,031 This really does a fantastic job at cleaning. 172 00:12:40,031 --> 00:12:41,817 And you know what's even better? 173 00:12:41,817 --> 00:12:44,698 Because this is a loose powder, 174 00:12:44,698 --> 00:12:51,076 if you want to try and use different amounts of detergent based on how dirty your dishes actually are - 175 00:12:51,076 --> 00:12:53,096 YOU CAN! 176 00:12:53,496 --> 00:12:56,315 The standard dose is just a single tablespoon, 177 00:12:56,315 --> 00:13:03,373 which as independent testing has confirmed is just as good as the most premium pod products out there. 178 00:13:03,373 --> 00:13:08,990 But you may very well not need that much all the time, or perhaps ever! 179 00:13:08,990 --> 00:13:12,492 Maybe you've got soft water which makes detergents more effective. 180 00:13:12,492 --> 00:13:18,863 Or perhaps you've got a particularly good dishwasher model that just doesn't need so much detergent no matter what. 181 00:13:18,863 --> 00:13:21,490 Or even if you're not in either of those boats, 182 00:13:21,490 --> 00:13:28,856 perhaps tonight's load of dishes just isn't that dirty and won't need a whole pod's worth of detergent. 183 00:13:28,856 --> 00:13:31,312 That's why I like loose powders. 184 00:13:31,312 --> 00:13:34,143 You're in control of how much detergent you use! 185 00:13:34,143 --> 00:13:37,358 Not some executive at some company who thinks they know what's best for 186 00:13:37,358 --> 00:13:40,849 your dishwasher and your water supply and what you're washing right now. 187 00:13:40,849 --> 00:13:44,554 And if you've been persuaded  by the power of the pre-wash, why, of course, 188 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:45,990 you can do that, too. 189 00:13:45,990 --> 00:13:53,163 In fact, you could split the single tablespoon into three teaspoons: use one in the pre-wash and two for the main wash. 190 00:13:53,163 --> 00:13:57,560 That might very well work better for you than putting the whole tablespoon in the dispenser, 191 00:13:57,560 --> 00:14:00,640 especially when you're washing greasy, oily stuff. 192 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:07,367 So, obviously part of why I'm telling you about this new detergent product is because it's available for sale. 193 00:14:07,367 --> 00:14:13,363 And as a Good Store product, all of the profit from its sales will be donated to the Coral Reef Alliance. 194 00:14:13,363 --> 00:14:17,276 There are links in the description and the pinned comment which will take you to its product page, 195 00:14:17,276 --> 00:14:18,763 and I hope you check it out. 196 00:14:18,763 --> 00:14:22,273 I even made an instructional video for those who choose to buy it! 197 00:14:22,273 --> 00:14:30,719 But the other part of why I'm telling you about this detergent is because its development has proven that powders can be great. 198 00:14:30,719 --> 00:14:35,995 So good detergents absolutely don't have to be sold like that. 199 00:14:35,995 --> 00:14:37,382 They don't need pretty colors. 200 00:14:37,616 --> 00:14:39,299 They don't need fragrances - 201 00:14:39,299 --> 00:14:44,104 honestly, what is even the point of a fragrance in automatic dishwasher detergent? 202 00:14:44,104 --> 00:14:45,707 They don't need to be pre-dosed. 203 00:14:45,980 --> 00:14:47,969 They don't need any weird gimmicks. 204 00:14:47,969 --> 00:14:51,040 And they don't need wasteful packaging. 205 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:59,312 I can't stand that in order to buy value quantities of detergent pods, you get a giant plastic tub thrown in for some reason. 206 00:14:59,312 --> 00:15:02,971 Get this, detergent could just come in a paper bag! 207 00:15:02,971 --> 00:15:07,768 And even though this one is resealable, it's made from compostable materials. 208 00:15:07,768 --> 00:15:09,184 Pretty neat. 209 00:15:09,184 --> 00:15:18,200 And let's not forget those detergent pods are often held together by PVA, a kind of dissolvable plastic which uh... 210 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:24,466 perhaps we shouldn't be dumping down the drain and into our environment every time we run the dishwasher. 211 00:15:24,466 --> 00:15:26,733 I get that those products are more convenient. 212 00:15:26,733 --> 00:15:29,989 I really do, and some folks out there truly need them. 213 00:15:29,989 --> 00:15:33,253 So, honestly, I'm glad they exist. 214 00:15:33,253 --> 00:15:37,633 But for what it's worth, Green Llama's  dishwasher tablets also prove 215 00:15:37,633 --> 00:15:42,740 you don't actually need that PVA wrapper to make a pre-dosed product. 216 00:15:42,740 --> 00:15:48,887 But personally, I will always want to control how much detergent I use and how I use it, 217 00:15:48,887 --> 00:15:53,167 which is why I'm so happy there's a new powder option out there. 218 00:15:53,167 --> 00:15:59,622 Thanks so much to Matt for developing this formula and of course for sending it to be tested in a lab. 219 00:15:59,622 --> 00:16:02,960 It's nice to know that the bad powders out there 220 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:08,431 are only bad because whoever makes them isn't putting their best foot forward. 221 00:16:08,431 --> 00:16:12,502 And we can only wonder just why exactly that might be. 222 00:16:12,502 --> 00:16:14,351 All right. And for my next trick, 223 00:16:14,351 --> 00:16:17,116 it's time to show you why it's so important 224 00:16:17,116 --> 00:16:25,363 that you open your kitchen faucet and run the hot water until  it's actually coming out piping hot before you start your dishwasher. 225 00:16:25,363 --> 00:16:31,701 Again, for those of you who live where household voltage is 230 volts, you almost certainly don't need to do this. 226 00:16:31,701 --> 00:16:36,970 But for those of us with 120 volt power on tap, we do. 227 00:16:36,970 --> 00:16:46,079 Why? Well, with very few exceptions, domestic dishwashers sold here are meant to be hooked up to a hot water supply. 228 00:16:46,079 --> 00:16:50,416 Usually, it's connected to the  same hot water line as your kitchen faucet. 229 00:16:50,416 --> 00:16:57,942 And we do this because thanks to our lower voltage,  our dishwashers don't have very powerful heating elements. 230 00:16:57,942 --> 00:17:01,988 Side note, that's not technically because of our lower voltage. 231 00:17:01,988 --> 00:17:05,543 Our dishwashers could have 1,500 watt heating elements 232 00:17:05,543 --> 00:17:11,322 or even 2 kilowatt heating elements if they were wired to a dedicated 20 amp circuit. 233 00:17:11,322 --> 00:17:17,173 But dishwashers sold here usually have heating elements in the neighborhood of 800 to 1,000 watts. 234 00:17:17,173 --> 00:17:19,796 And there's a simple and pragmatic reason why. 235 00:17:20,734 --> 00:17:25,093 See, there are plenty of homes that were not built with a dishwasher. 236 00:17:25,093 --> 00:17:32,454 So, if someone wants to add one later, it's probably going to end up sharing its circuit with something else in the kitchen, 237 00:17:32,454 --> 00:17:36,749 like the outlets above the countertop or perhaps the refrigerator. 238 00:17:36,749 --> 00:17:41,184 And so rather than make specific models for retrofits, 239 00:17:41,184 --> 00:17:47,512 manufacturers limit the current consumption of all their dishwashers to something like 10 amps. 240 00:17:47,512 --> 00:17:51,628 This gives some overhead  which reduces nuisance trips of circuit breakers, 241 00:17:51,628 --> 00:17:58,385 but it means North American dishwashers just aren't very fast at heating the water inside of them. 242 00:17:58,385 --> 00:18:04,093 But if they fill with water that's already hot, then the heating element gets a head start. 243 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:07,502 That's the entire reason they're hooked up to hot water. 244 00:18:07,502 --> 00:18:14,059 However, they won't necessarily get hot water when you start the machine unless you've purged the pipes 245 00:18:14,059 --> 00:18:20,090 between your water heater and the kitchen faucet of the cold water that's currently resting in them. 246 00:18:20,090 --> 00:18:26,375 That's what I'm telling you to do when I say "run the kitchen faucet until the water comes out piping hot." 247 00:18:26,375 --> 00:18:31,734 That will clear the cold water from the line before the dishwasher starts filling itself. 248 00:18:31,734 --> 00:18:34,274 And just in case you think I'm making that up, 249 00:18:34,274 --> 00:18:39,529 here is that exact advice in the owner's manual of this Frigidaire dishwasher. 250 00:18:39,529 --> 00:18:43,961 How important this is to do depends on your dishwasher and your home. 251 00:18:43,961 --> 00:18:48,862 But this is the only way to get consistent performance out of your machine. 252 00:18:48,862 --> 00:18:54,035 Otherwise, it may start filling or completely fill with room temperature water, 253 00:18:54,035 --> 00:18:58,846 which not only defeats the point of being hooked up to hot water in the first place, 254 00:18:58,846 --> 00:19:04,300 but more importantly will  dramatically hurt its cleaning performance. 255 00:19:04,300 --> 00:19:07,538 And it hurts cleaning performance in two ways. 256 00:19:07,538 --> 00:19:14,368 First, many food soils need the help of high temperatures to soften and detach from what they're stuck to. 257 00:19:14,368 --> 00:19:17,528 That's why you use hot water when handwashing. 258 00:19:17,528 --> 00:19:24,014 But dishwashers especially need hot water because of how modern detergent products work. 259 00:19:24,014 --> 00:19:28,583 The phaseout of phosphates from automatic dishwasher detergent was a messy ordeal 260 00:19:28,583 --> 00:19:34,967 and there was a brief period of time where dishwasher detergents really were pretty awful. 261 00:19:34,967 --> 00:19:38,232 Some folks are still hung up about that. 262 00:19:38,232 --> 00:19:46,485 But modern detergents use enzymes, usually protease and amylase, which chemically break down starches and proteins. 263 00:19:46,485 --> 00:19:53,545 In a sense, those enzymes digest the food on your plates and stuff and allow it to dissolve into the water. 264 00:19:53,545 --> 00:20:00,641 However, in order for those enzymes to be maximally effective, the washing water needs to be quite hot, 265 00:20:00,641 --> 00:20:05,084 ideally 60° C or 140° F. 266 00:20:05,084 --> 00:20:11,094 And here's where the trouble lies: if your dishwasher doesn't actually fill with hot water, 267 00:20:11,094 --> 00:20:18,229 then because of its slow heating element, it may not be able to reach that temperature before it drains the wash water away 268 00:20:18,229 --> 00:20:20,116 and moves on to rinsing. 269 00:20:20,116 --> 00:20:26,846 Or even if it does make it, it may very well spend less time washing at the optimal temperatures 270 00:20:26,846 --> 00:20:30,682 before its wash program calls for moving to the next step. 271 00:20:30,682 --> 00:20:33,803 And with the help of my trusty temperature data loggers, 272 00:20:33,803 --> 00:20:38,470 a plastic bag, some rubber bands, a zip tie, and a dishwasher with a hole in its side, 273 00:20:38,470 --> 00:20:43,405 I can show you the difference between a dishwasher which fills with room temperature water 274 00:20:43,405 --> 00:20:47,266 and a dishwasher that fills with hot water. 275 00:20:47,266 --> 00:20:53,355 I hooked ol' Fridgy up to this utility sink using an adapter,  basically turning it into a portable dishwasher. 276 00:20:53,355 --> 00:20:57,128 Which by the way, did you know those exist? 277 00:20:57,128 --> 00:20:59,088 I don't mean a countertop dishwasher. 278 00:20:59,088 --> 00:21:01,412 I mean a full-size dishwasher. 279 00:21:01,412 --> 00:21:06,067 You can buy a machine much like this but encased in a box on wheels 280 00:21:06,067 --> 00:21:09,805 and which uses an attachment to hook it up to a kitchen faucet. 281 00:21:09,805 --> 00:21:15,244 If you don't have a dishwasher but would like one, those are an option worth looking into. 282 00:21:15,244 --> 00:21:17,861 My grandparents had one, and it worked great! 283 00:21:17,861 --> 00:21:24,981 Just roll it over to the sink and hook up the combined fill and drain hose thing to the faucet using the adapter it comes with, 284 00:21:24,981 --> 00:21:29,044 plug the machine into a power outlet, set the faucet to hot water 285 00:21:29,044 --> 00:21:33,421 (and purge the line of course, which you can do with a little button on the adapter thing) 286 00:21:33,421 --> 00:21:35,577 and then start the machine. 287 00:21:35,577 --> 00:21:40,384 Those of you who insist on handwashing really seem quite funny to me 288 00:21:40,384 --> 00:21:46,542 when put in contrast to what my grandma did every day specifically to avoid washing dishes. 289 00:21:46,542 --> 00:21:53,754 Anyway, because I had it hooked up to a faucet, I could choose whether the machine would fill with hot or cold water. 290 00:21:53,754 --> 00:21:59,291 And I devised a test using a food which really needs hot water to be dealt with effectively: 291 00:21:59,291 --> 00:22:00,430 Peanut butter. 292 00:22:00,430 --> 00:22:02,594 And a whole lot of it. 293 00:22:02,594 --> 00:22:09,102 I melted almost half a jar's worth of peanut butter and swirled it  around in a series of mason jars and glass mugs 294 00:22:09,102 --> 00:22:12,142 to completely coat them in delicious goop. 295 00:22:12,142 --> 00:22:16,421 And then I let it all cool back to room temperature so it resolidified. 296 00:22:16,421 --> 00:22:20,652 I hope you'll pardon the food  waste when you see how well this demo worked. 297 00:22:20,652 --> 00:22:26,578 In addition to the peanut butter, I also melted some regular butter and swirled it around in the same glass mugs. 298 00:22:26,578 --> 00:22:33,176 Some went on the top rack and others went on the bottom rack where they'd be visible to the camera peering in through the glass. 299 00:22:33,176 --> 00:22:37,194 Also present were a couple of plates coated in honey. 300 00:22:37,194 --> 00:22:43,921 Being fresh, I didn't really think that was going to be a problem for cold water, but I decided to try it anyway. 301 00:22:43,921 --> 00:22:50,663 Throughout this testing, a temperature logging device was positioned directly above the center of the lower spray arm. 302 00:22:50,663 --> 00:22:53,566 I would have liked it to be sitting in the water, 303 00:22:53,566 --> 00:22:57,854 but the design of this machine's spray arm made that not so possible. 304 00:22:57,854 --> 00:23:02,102 Now, for this test, I did not use any pre-wash detergent. 305 00:23:02,102 --> 00:23:05,269 At least... the first two times I ran the test. 306 00:23:05,269 --> 00:23:06,228 We'll get there. 307 00:23:06,228 --> 00:23:10,415 However, the machine's detergent dispenser was filled with detergent - 308 00:23:10,415 --> 00:23:12,745 in this case, a store brand product. 309 00:23:12,745 --> 00:23:16,899 I didn't use Matt's formulation because at the time I didn't have enough left. 310 00:23:16,899 --> 00:23:21,465 But to be honest, even if I did, I wouldn't want to waste it on this nonsense. 311 00:23:21,465 --> 00:23:28,687 So, with everything in place, I set the faucet to cold and started the machine on its normal wash program. 312 00:23:28,687 --> 00:23:32,264 Once full of water, it began its 15-minute pre-wash. 313 00:23:32,264 --> 00:23:36,128 But because this machine doesn't turn on the heating element during the pre-wash, 314 00:23:36,128 --> 00:23:41,606 that meant it spent 15 minutes "washing" with cold water. 315 00:23:41,606 --> 00:23:46,483 Some of the peanut butter did manage to get knocked off by the mechanical action of the water. 316 00:23:46,483 --> 00:23:47,932 And though it took a while, 317 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:53,040 the butter in the bottom of the mug on  the bottom rack was eventually dislodged. 318 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:54,927 But not much else happened. 319 00:23:54,927 --> 00:23:57,100 Once it had finished draining the pre-wash water, 320 00:23:57,100 --> 00:24:03,103 I opened the machine to take a peek at the top rack, and everything up there looked completely untouched. 321 00:24:03,103 --> 00:24:09,657 The honey, though, did all dissolve and got pumped away, so there probably wasn't a point to including that. 322 00:24:09,657 --> 00:24:11,459 Oh well, live and learn. 323 00:24:11,459 --> 00:24:16,331 Once I closed the door and the cycle resumed, the machine did its little purging and rinsing dance 324 00:24:16,331 --> 00:24:23,222 then filled again with cold water, switched on its heating element, resumed washing, and opened the detergent dispenser. 325 00:24:23,222 --> 00:24:26,654 The water inside is still just at room temperature, 326 00:24:26,654 --> 00:24:32,447 so while we now have the help of detergent, we don't yet have the help of any heat. 327 00:24:32,447 --> 00:24:37,972 And because the heating element in this machine is only putting 900 watts of heat output into the water, 328 00:24:37,972 --> 00:24:44,002 it took quite a long time for the peanut butter to start softening and for the detergent to get to work. 329 00:24:44,002 --> 00:24:47,289 Though it did eventually all clear up. 330 00:24:47,289 --> 00:24:52,031 The water was absolutely filthy with all that peanut butter and actual butter in it, 331 00:24:52,031 --> 00:24:57,111 but the machine was just barely able to get it all off before it started draining. 332 00:24:57,111 --> 00:25:02,312 Now, I needed to do this test again so I let the machine finish the wash cycle. 333 00:25:02,312 --> 00:25:09,035 It didn't do a very good job of rinsing, which I wasn't super surprised by given the ridiculous amount of peanut butter in there. 334 00:25:09,035 --> 00:25:11,912 So, I had to do a rinse only cycle afterwards. 335 00:25:11,912 --> 00:25:15,005 But once everything was clean, I reset the test. 336 00:25:15,005 --> 00:25:22,129 I tried to make this as consistent with the last test as possible, and I put everything exactly where it was in the first test. 337 00:25:22,129 --> 00:25:29,494 I even put honey in there again just in case it was somehow doing something to affect how well things dissolved or not. 338 00:25:29,494 --> 00:25:32,745 But this time I switched the faucet to hot water 339 00:25:32,745 --> 00:25:38,996 and I disconnected the hose and purged the line of cold water before reconnecting it and starting the machine 340 00:25:38,996 --> 00:25:43,969 which made sure the water which entered was actually piping hot. 341 00:25:43,969 --> 00:25:48,960 If you're wondering why there's a whole bunch of other stuff in the dishwasher alongside what's actually dirty, 342 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:55,899 well this was to make sure the test is representative of the actual conditions a dishwasher typically sees. 343 00:25:55,899 --> 00:26:02,098 The gallon-ish of hot water that it's about to take in doesn't have that much heat energy in it, 344 00:26:02,098 --> 00:26:07,622 and all those plates (and the dishwasher itself) have quite a lot of thermal mass. 345 00:26:07,622 --> 00:26:13,076 So, I wanted to know how much the water would be cooled down by all that stuff. 346 00:26:13,076 --> 00:26:18,051 Or put another way, how much heating the incoming water actually does. 347 00:26:18,051 --> 00:26:24,679 And, well, after it drained this water out, I measured its temperature at just under 81°. 348 00:26:24,679 --> 00:26:28,268 That's about 14° above the ambient temperature. 349 00:26:28,268 --> 00:26:34,193 That may not seem that significant, but now that everything inside is already at 81° 350 00:26:34,193 --> 00:26:39,517 we've given the main wash at least a 10-minute head start when  it comes to heating - 351 00:26:39,517 --> 00:26:44,318 if not more, depending on how hot the next fill of water is. 352 00:26:44,318 --> 00:26:47,647 That's going to depend on your home's particularities. 353 00:26:47,647 --> 00:26:55,667 15 minutes have passed since it last filled with water, so  the water resting in the pipes will have cooled down a fair bit. 354 00:26:55,667 --> 00:27:02,545 Here, the lil' baby water heater, which is supplying the dishwasher with hot water is right next to the sink. 355 00:27:02,545 --> 00:27:06,739 So, I'll note that it's going to fill again with pretty hot water, 356 00:27:06,739 --> 00:27:11,561 and it's probably got a bit of an advantage here compared to most installations. 357 00:27:11,561 --> 00:27:15,448 Regardless, let's take a side by side look at how this goes. 358 00:27:15,448 --> 00:27:21,026 This is a time lapse which ended up causing some flashing light effects, so here's your warning for that. 359 00:27:21,026 --> 00:27:24,613 I'll let you know when it's off screen by saying "persnickety." 360 00:27:24,613 --> 00:27:28,228 During the pre-wash, we don't actually see much of a difference. 361 00:27:28,228 --> 00:27:32,306 In fact, the cold fill side appears to be doing slightly better 362 00:27:32,306 --> 00:27:38,612 since we are not seeing the peanut butter get dislodged from the bottom of the mason jars like we were before. 363 00:27:38,612 --> 00:27:45,317 But we do see that the pad of butter was dislodged much more quickly from the mug on the hot fill side 364 00:27:45,317 --> 00:27:50,833 thanks to the blasts of warm water helping it to soften and detach from the glass. 365 00:27:50,833 --> 00:27:55,575 However, once we move on to the main wash and the detergent dispenser opens, 366 00:27:55,575 --> 00:27:58,063 the difference is dramatic. 367 00:27:58,063 --> 00:28:02,272 While nothing seems to be happening yet on the cold fill side, 368 00:28:02,272 --> 00:28:09,399 the detergent and the water immediately gets to work melting and dissolving the peanut butter on the hot fill side. 369 00:28:09,399 --> 00:28:13,904 My temperature logger reacts fairly slowly to sudden changes in temperature, 370 00:28:13,904 --> 00:28:16,970 but based on the similarity in the curve shapes here, 371 00:28:16,970 --> 00:28:21,627 I would estimate that the wash water was immediately at about 95°, 372 00:28:21,627 --> 00:28:23,850 whereas on the cold fill side, 373 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:29,285 the water is only just now starting to move above room temperature. 374 00:28:29,285 --> 00:28:38,240 In fact, by the time the data logger was reading 100° on the hot fill side, the cold fill side was only reading about 78°.   375 00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:42,933 That's why nothing seemed to be happening for such a long time. 376 00:28:42,933 --> 00:28:46,698 The upshot here is that when the machine filled with hot water, 377 00:28:46,698 --> 00:28:55,134 it had completely finished getting the peanut butter off the jars and stuff about 20 minutes earlier than when it filled with cold water. 378 00:28:55,134 --> 00:28:56,153 Persnickety. 379 00:28:56,153 --> 00:29:02,685 And because this machine always spends the same amount of time in this part of the washing cycle before it drains, 380 00:29:02,685 --> 00:29:12,260 this means the actually effective washing time was extended by 20 minutes simply by filling with hot water rather than cold. 381 00:29:12,260 --> 00:29:18,098 That could very well be the difference between perfectly clean dishes and disappointment. 382 00:29:18,098 --> 00:29:21,578 But before I show you what adding  a little pre-wash detergent did, 383 00:29:21,578 --> 00:29:25,947 you may have noticed something about where the temperatures peaked. 384 00:29:25,947 --> 00:29:30,770 This testing revealed something about this dishwasher which I honestly didn't expect 385 00:29:30,770 --> 00:29:36,570 and assuming others out there are like it makes it even more important that you do that whole 386 00:29:36,570 --> 00:29:41,035 "run the tap until the water comes out hot" thing I keep harping on about. 387 00:29:41,035 --> 00:29:44,034 This machine is controlled by a microprocessor, 388 00:29:44,034 --> 00:29:50,505 and when I made my first videos with it and discovered that there were two temperature sensing devices below the washtub, 389 00:29:50,505 --> 00:29:56,439 I figured one of them would be a thermistor or some other temperature sensor that the control board is monitoring 390 00:29:56,439 --> 00:30:00,206 to make sure it attains a target temperature. 391 00:30:00,206 --> 00:30:07,336 But these two temperature graphs suggest the machine is simply running its heating element for a fixed period of time. 392 00:30:07,336 --> 00:30:14,050 When it filled with cold water, it didn't even hit 120 Fahrenheit before it switched off the heating element. 393 00:30:14,050 --> 00:30:18,875 It actually got hotter during the final rinse than it ever did in the main wash. 394 00:30:18,875 --> 00:30:23,491 With a hot water fill, it peaked slightly above 130 Fahrenheit, 395 00:30:23,491 --> 00:30:28,709 but you can see that the heating element switched off at precisely the same time. 396 00:30:28,709 --> 00:30:35,620 I figured the cold fill wash would run the heating element longer, but since it apparently didn't... 397 00:30:35,620 --> 00:30:43,373 well, you really, really need to purge the cold water from the line for this thing's normal wash cycle to do a good job. 398 00:30:43,373 --> 00:30:46,153 But this machine has more than just one cycle. 399 00:30:46,153 --> 00:30:53,500 In fact, it offers four different wash cycles with two optional modifiers: high temp wash and sanitize. 400 00:30:53,500 --> 00:31:00,595 And I wanted to see how the heating element's behavior might change using those other cycles and options. 401 00:31:00,595 --> 00:31:08,169 So, I decided to wire an indicator light in parallel with the heating element so I could record what it's doing. 402 00:31:08,169 --> 00:31:13,342 And then I thought, why don't I add indicators for everything else it does? 403 00:31:13,342 --> 00:31:16,283 So, I gave the machine some blinkenlights! 404 00:31:16,283 --> 00:31:19,406 I wasn't expecting to install them in the control panel like this, 405 00:31:19,406 --> 00:31:23,058 but when I opened it up to get access to the detergent dispenser's wiring, 406 00:31:23,058 --> 00:31:28,299 I realized there was clearance below the vent and... well, I couldn't resist. 407 00:31:28,299 --> 00:31:31,740 We can now see exactly what  the machine is actually doing: 408 00:31:31,740 --> 00:31:36,418 Filling with water, draining that water out, running its wash  pump, dispensing detergent, 409 00:31:36,418 --> 00:31:40,832 and of course, the thing I mostly did this for, heating the water. 410 00:31:40,832 --> 00:31:45,922 And in a more than slightly annoying twist, while I was inside the control panel 411 00:31:45,922 --> 00:31:51,913 I discovered a little sheet of paper clipped to the stainless steel on the inside of the door panel. 412 00:31:51,913 --> 00:31:53,787 I took it out and... 413 00:31:53,787 --> 00:31:56,771 whaddya know, a service data sheet! 414 00:31:56,771 --> 00:32:02,800 It's got a wiring diagram, an exploded parts diagram on the back, and some troubleshooting stuff. 415 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:09,401 And it also has charts which explain what all the cycles do and when. 416 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:12,628 I wish I knew that was in there - 417 00:32:12,628 --> 00:32:16,258 and honestly, all appliances should come with something like this. It's great! 418 00:32:16,258 --> 00:32:19,815 Maybe don't hide it inside the door next time. 419 00:32:19,815 --> 00:32:26,024 Anyway, with this, I confirmed there is in fact a thermistor which the control board is monitoring, but... 420 00:32:26,024 --> 00:32:33,652 it only actually uses it to control the heating element if you select the sanitize or high temp wash options. 421 00:32:33,652 --> 00:32:41,391 If you don't, it simply heats the water for a predetermined period of time depending on which cycle you chose. 422 00:32:41,391 --> 00:32:45,427 That seemed kind of strange, but  here's where things get weirder. 423 00:32:45,427 --> 00:32:50,763 The high temp wash option doesn't simply make the wash a high temp  wash. 424 00:32:50,763 --> 00:32:52,070 That's what you'd think, right? 425 00:32:52,070 --> 00:32:53,528 That's what it says. 426 00:32:53,528 --> 00:32:58,114 But in fact, it wildly changes the normal wash sequence. 427 00:32:58,114 --> 00:33:00,919 Select that modifier and you get not one, 428 00:33:00,919 --> 00:33:01,876 not two, 429 00:33:01,876 --> 00:33:02,926 not three, 430 00:33:02,926 --> 00:33:08,227 but four pre-washes,  the last of which is actually heated, too. 431 00:33:08,227 --> 00:33:14,816 So, you get a half hour of pre-washing with four water changes before the main wash even starts. 432 00:33:14,816 --> 00:33:23,648 And with the final pre-wash also heated, everything inside  is already at about 110° when the dispenser opens. 433 00:33:23,648 --> 00:33:28,373 This obviously uses much more water, but it  makes the main wash extremely effective 434 00:33:28,373 --> 00:33:32,322 and gives those enzymes lots of time to go to town. 435 00:33:32,322 --> 00:33:40,000 Plus, at the end of the cycle, you also get two complete rinses rather than the one and a half you get otherwise. 436 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:44,358 When it does that purging dance, which it apparently claims is a pre-rinse, 437 00:33:44,358 --> 00:33:47,434 it never sends any water to the top sprayers. 438 00:33:47,434 --> 00:33:52,798 So, whatever residual dirty water is left from the main wash inside the two upper spray arms 439 00:33:52,798 --> 00:33:58,417 and the tubing which feeds them is gonna end up in the final rinse. 440 00:33:58,417 --> 00:34:04,640 Honestly, this machine's unmodified normal wash cycle... is not very good. 441 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:10,318 It washes okay, assuming you purged the line of cold water, but rinsing leaves a lot to be desired. 442 00:34:10,318 --> 00:34:16,338 Oh, and fun fact, you know how much energy the energy saver cycle saves over the normal cycle? 443 00:34:16,338 --> 00:34:18,614 Turns out none at all! 444 00:34:18,614 --> 00:34:21,479 And it uses more water. 445 00:34:21,479 --> 00:34:23,003 So that's neat. 446 00:34:23,003 --> 00:34:27,411 The moral of this story is since the cycles are so wildly different, 447 00:34:27,411 --> 00:34:33,616 if you haven't yet, you really need to try the other cycles and options on your machine. 448 00:34:33,616 --> 00:34:40,138 If you've been having residue issues, other cycles may very well do extra rinses which will take care of that. 449 00:34:40,138 --> 00:34:45,816 And if your machine is on the older side and enzyme-based detergents weren't common when it was made, 450 00:34:45,816 --> 00:34:53,772 those heavier wash options might be the only way to assure the water actually reaches optimal enzymatic temperatures. 451 00:34:53,772 --> 00:34:56,437 I'm going to talk more about this on my second channel 452 00:34:56,437 --> 00:35:01,529 because I've uncovered a lot about this dishwasher which isn't even on these charts. 453 00:35:01,529 --> 00:35:06,371 For instance, I was also curious whether the delay start option would change its heating behavior. 454 00:35:06,371 --> 00:35:08,108 Spoiler: 455 00:35:08,108 --> 00:35:09,096 nope. 456 00:35:09,096 --> 00:35:12,673 And some of its cycles and options are not listed here. 457 00:35:12,673 --> 00:35:16,419 I'll also show you the peanut  butter test with the high temp wash option. 458 00:35:16,419 --> 00:35:18,668 It made a dramatic difference. 459 00:35:18,668 --> 00:35:21,952 But this video has already gotten quite a bit longer than I anticipated, 460 00:35:21,952 --> 00:35:26,189 so I'm going to finish up with the third time I ran the peanut butter test. 461 00:35:26,189 --> 00:35:32,724 This time, I included just a single teaspoon of Matt's marvelous detergent formula for the pre-wash water. 462 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:38,880 Okay, it was a bit of a heaping teaspoon, but this  is well less than half the standard washing dose.   463 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,820 And I simply placed it on the door and let it fall inside. 464 00:35:42,820 --> 00:35:48,194 I started the machine on the unmodified normal cycle again with the hot water line purged. 465 00:35:48,194 --> 00:35:55,033 And the first thing you'll notice is that the butter was dislodged much, much faster with some detergent in the water. 466 00:35:55,033 --> 00:35:59,454 In fact, the sides of the mug cleared up almost immediately. 467 00:35:59,454 --> 00:36:03,493 Now, the rest of what the pre-wash detergent did is a little more subtle, 468 00:36:03,493 --> 00:36:05,773 but it's pretty evident in the time lapse. 469 00:36:05,773 --> 00:36:09,466 Again, flashing lights ahead, and I'll say persnickety when they're gone. 470 00:36:09,466 --> 00:36:16,876 As the pre-wash continues, we see the water start to get much cloudier with the addition of pre-wash detergent. 471 00:36:16,876 --> 00:36:24,635 Even with just this tiny amount, the detergent is allowing the water to absorb the fats in both types of butter immediately. 472 00:36:24,635 --> 00:36:27,428 And that's why we're seeing it start to get cloudy - 473 00:36:27,428 --> 00:36:30,877 it's actually starting to dissolve those butters. 474 00:36:30,877 --> 00:36:33,838 Yet, nothing else about this wash is any different. 475 00:36:33,838 --> 00:36:38,736 In fact, the temperature graph is pretty much identical to the last demo. 476 00:36:38,736 --> 00:36:42,911 Now, admittedly, it doesn't look  like a dramatic difference in this footage. 477 00:36:42,911 --> 00:36:47,132 But if we look at the water which was drained out of the machine at the end of the pre-wash, 478 00:36:47,132 --> 00:36:53,472 persnickety, the addition of detergent clearly increased how much peanut butter was drained out. 479 00:36:53,472 --> 00:36:56,938 The water is much cloudier and more uniform. 480 00:36:56,938 --> 00:37:00,419 Without the detergent, a good deal of stuff came out, 481 00:37:00,419 --> 00:37:06,812 but the water was a fair bit clearer, and what managed to make it out were more like chunks than anything else. 482 00:37:06,812 --> 00:37:11,654 I opened the door once it was finished  draining the pre-wash water to check out the top rack. 483 00:37:11,654 --> 00:37:14,921 And here, too, we see a pretty significant difference. 484 00:37:14,921 --> 00:37:19,104 Stuff on the top rack doesn't get sprayed for several minutes into the pre-wash, 485 00:37:19,104 --> 00:37:23,842 so the water cools down quite a bit before stuff up here gets a good spraying. 486 00:37:23,842 --> 00:37:31,881 Still, in a first, both mugs of butter had the big pad dislodged with only a small ring remaining on one of them. 487 00:37:31,881 --> 00:37:37,120 And if we check on the bottom of the machine, we can see that although some of the butter remains inside, 488 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:39,680 it's all been broken down into chunks. 489 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:45,600 I am very annoyed with myself because I forgot to  check the bottom of the machine for what the butter   490 00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:51,592 that fell out of the mugs looked like when I ran the test the second time with hot water but without pre-wash detergent. 491 00:37:51,592 --> 00:37:53,377 So, my apologies there. 492 00:37:53,377 --> 00:37:55,711 However, another flashing light warning, 493 00:37:55,711 --> 00:38:00,195 if we go back to the time lapse, we can see that during the main wash, 494 00:38:00,195 --> 00:38:05,617 the water was much dirtier in the fill with only a single dose of detergent. 495 00:38:05,617 --> 00:38:09,167 While the pre-wash detergent certainly didn't get everything out, 496 00:38:09,167 --> 00:38:14,956 I think it's clear from this footage that it made a significant difference to how much food soil was left 497 00:38:14,956 --> 00:38:17,605 when the main wash detergent was released. 498 00:38:17,605 --> 00:38:21,402 And that's the entire reason I like to use pre-wash detergent! 499 00:38:21,402 --> 00:38:26,357 Taking the same amount of detergent and spreading its work between two fills of water 500 00:38:26,357 --> 00:38:30,792 is often more effective than asking it to do everything all at once. 501 00:38:30,792 --> 00:38:32,107 Persnickety. 502 00:38:32,107 --> 00:38:39,985 I don't always use pre-wash detergent to be clear, but if I've got anything in the dishwasher which is oily or fatty or greasy, 503 00:38:39,985 --> 00:38:46,643 I will be sure to add some additional detergent so the main wash fill doesn't have to deal with all of that on its own. 504 00:38:46,643 --> 00:38:50,295 Remember how the butter was dislodged so much faster? 505 00:38:50,295 --> 00:38:54,837 It took a little over 5 minutes for it to get knocked out of the mug without pre-wash detergent, 506 00:38:54,837 --> 00:38:59,266 but it only took about 60 seconds when there was some soap in the water. 507 00:38:59,266 --> 00:39:04,133 It's almost like detergents help fats to mix with water or something! 508 00:39:04,133 --> 00:39:09,284 Now, I didn't do the best job being consistent with how much butter was in the bottom mug, 509 00:39:09,284 --> 00:39:13,196 so here's a teaser of the high temp wash test that you'll find on my second channel. 510 00:39:13,196 --> 00:39:19,791 I put way more butter in this mug, and still it only took 70 seconds for the butter to start to release, 511 00:39:19,791 --> 00:39:24,236 and just a few more spins of the sprayer were all it took for the rest to come out. 512 00:39:24,236 --> 00:39:27,729 If this doesn't convince you, I don't know what could. 513 00:39:27,729 --> 00:39:31,027 And now that someone has developed a powdered detergent product 514 00:39:31,027 --> 00:39:37,964 which doesn't have to fit into an overly complicated product lineup which needs to justify wildly different price points somehow, 515 00:39:37,964 --> 00:39:43,923 we know that there's absolutely no reason you  should not be able to get the freedom of powder 516 00:39:43,923 --> 00:39:46,503 without sacrificing washing performance. 517 00:39:46,503 --> 00:39:51,315 Powders don't have to be relegated to a sad spot on the bottom shelf of the store. 518 00:39:51,315 --> 00:39:55,052 They could in fact be a premium product. 519 00:39:55,052 --> 00:39:58,122 So, thank you so much to everyone who worked on this project, 520 00:39:58,122 --> 00:40:00,342 but especially Matt Keasey. 521 00:40:00,342 --> 00:40:03,460 If one person can develop a detergent formulation 522 00:40:03,460 --> 00:40:11,286 which works just as well as what the big guys have convinced so many people is the only way to get a good wash... 523 00:40:11,286 --> 00:40:16,741 Well, I'll just say perhaps those stubborn, crotchety Midwesterners out there 524 00:40:16,741 --> 00:40:20,085 might have a point about marketing gimmicks. 525 00:40:21,269 --> 00:40:23,821 ♫ vindicatedly smooth jazz ♫ 526 00:40:24,925 --> 00:40:27,238 I was right! 527 00:40:28,566 --> 00:40:30,271 Why might that be? 528 00:40:30,271 --> 00:40:31,665 Weird vocal flub. 529 00:40:32,017 --> 00:40:33,921 Oh no. Is that a leaf blower? 530 00:40:33,921 --> 00:40:35,269 On Friday? 531 00:40:35,269 --> 00:40:38,275 We will patiently wait for the leaf blowering to stop. 532 00:40:38,275 --> 00:40:43,558 I strongly prefer loose powders for dishwashers... [thud] 533 00:40:45,394 --> 00:40:48,739 Are they leaf blowing on the roof? 534 00:40:48,739 --> 00:40:50,067 They might be. 535 00:40:50,067 --> 00:40:53,626 And that's the entire reason I like to use main - 536 00:40:54,446 --> 00:40:55,149 gah! 537 00:40:55,149 --> 00:40:59,025 I'm going to finish up with the  third time I ran the peanut butter test. 538 00:41:02,590 --> 00:41:03,612 FFAAH[bleep] 539 00:41:03,612 --> 00:41:05,354 ...time I ran the peanut butter test. 540 00:41:09,065 --> 00:41:09,565 Godd- 541 00:41:11,518 --> 00:41:15,284 I don't want to hear another word about how much better those pods are. 542 00:41:15,284 --> 00:41:20,847 Or I guess, I don't want to hear another word about how pods are some kind of "innovation" which favors the consumer. 543 00:41:20,847 --> 00:41:24,642 Because while they might be innovative, I don't think it's us who's really benefiting. 544 00:41:24,642 --> 00:41:25,758 My hat was never tinfoil!