The creator argues that most dishwashers are designed to use a pre-wash dose and a main wash dose of detergent, a fundamental often ignored by single-dose pods, and presents independent ASTM testing confirming the new powder matches or exceeds the performance of a leading premium pod. The video also features a detailed demonstration using temperature logging and peanut butter to stress the importance of purging cold water from the hot water supply line before running a dishwasher, particularly in North America, to ensure the water reaches the optimal enzymatic temperature needed for effective cleaning. This is further reinforced by showing how adding pre-wash detergent dramatically improves the initial cleaning phase, especially with fats and oils.

Following his cleaning instructions and, subsequently, his usage advice, did the trick.

Regarding the latter, notably adding the recommended prewash dose of detergent in addition to the main dose, and running the kitchen sink's hot tap until the water is fully hot before starting the dishwasher. Here in the US with our lower power capacity, resulting in dishwasher heating elements being restricted to lower power to avoid circuit breaker trips, when the dishwasher is correctly connected to the hot water line (typically, of the kitchen sink), doing this results in a hotter prewash and often also wash.

This all really does make a substantial difference.

Take the time to watch his dishwasher videos. If you struggle at all with the performance of yours, you won't regret doing so.

I wish the description of the video was like an abstract.

At some point, I'll maybe post up the pics of repairing the door hinges - previously it was leaking badly because the chunky metal hinges had cracked and bent, pushing the door up enough to not squash the bottom lip seal. Unobtainable parts now, but if you have a welder...

If you don't use a JTAG cable and a MIG welder on the same project in the same day, can you really call yourself "full stack"?

They are more expensive, but I buy them on sale at Costco for about $16/100, so at $0.16 per load I really don't care if powdered detergent is only $0.03 per load or whatever.

There is clearly a revealed preference for pods among consumers for these things, and "proving" that everyone is wrong for liking them is just not a very interesting exercise imo.

I strongly doubt the stuff is good for your skin, so I've only done this a few times.

But he said that almost as a throwaway, with almost no explanation of his methodology in determining this, nor discussion about how common this problem might be.

That said, based on his advice in a previous video, now I run the hot water tap until it's hot. I put a pod in the dispenser, and I sprinkle some powder into the dishwasher. My issues with the dishwasher getting the dishes clean went away.

[0]: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_rBO8neWw04

Namely, (spoiler) he finds some schematics in the door that would have informed his analysis prior. The fact he didn't just say, "hey you might have this in your door and could be helpful,..." And then proceed to do the analysis with the full information provided from the data.

Secondly, the purging test only compares hot water and "cold" water, and doesn't actually test the duration to get hot water to temperature. That is, is the 25s it takes to get up to temp matter? From the timings in the video it does, but it just felt like he was comparing purging and not, instead of hot water vs cold water.

Thirdly, hows do these advice change for newer models? Surely the dishwasher companies know some of this and can make things better.

I will be taking some of this practices to my dishwasher, but it is a newer Bosch model, and I would imagine I need to do some research to understand what is applicable to my dishwasher.

- One of the key factors in powder over pods in his prior videos was cost. Cheap powder runs about 6.6¢/oz. The brand he’s promoting is $1.11/oz, nearly 17x more expensive than traditional powder. When comparing per-load costs, Cascade pods are about 39.5¢ per load and the promoted powder is 58.5¢ per load, or 48% more costly than pods. The price to performance is terrible and could only be justified if you also consider external factors like their sustainability practices and the donation of all profits to coral reef restoration. Not discussing price seems like a huge gap to me.

- I was disappointed that he only personally compared and tested washing performance against a pod and the promoted powder, rather than also evaluating a traditional powder. Could he have replicated and compared the subpar performance reported by others?

- I would have assumed that, if the pre-rinse is supposed to get hot, the heater would run until it reaches the temperature target. Is it normal for a unit to simply not care? Last I had done reading on this, whether to attach to the hot or cold side is actually a contentious issue, mostly around the gas vs. induction-based heating costs in water heaters, in addition to temperature losses in the pipes. If the pre-wash expects hot water, then that’s an extra point for the hot side backers. I guess one should always check their manual to determine best-practice on the purge and line placement.

Not sure if water can be introduced to bind the press, or maybe some other material.

Or did they not test the "putting some powder into the prewash" thing and so it was just "powder released all at once" vs "tablet released all at once".

Even there I'd expect some mild improvement from the powder mixing more easily than a plastic wrapped tablet (though maybe if the content inside is liquid this factor is reversed?).

Does this mean the big corps do have some chemical advantage that cancels out the crappy delivery mechanism?

Or does it mean that a mechanical spray prewash step isn't meaningfully improved by chemicals in most circumstances?

I was more alarmed by the wrappers being plastic. I had assumed they were some clever biodegradable thing but they're not.

One aspect I like about it is that they have a fragrance-free variant, and even the "fragrance" one is not too bad. A second aspect I like is that it's biodegradable, et cetera. So a bit lighter on the environment, I hope, and the SDS is prominently available on the website.

I think another thing which is under-appreciated is that you need to know how to do the basic cleaning chores for your dishwasher-- for example if it has a filter, learn to clean it! Otherwise its ability to clean will probably be compromised.

I mean, how come restaurants dishwashers wash things under 5 minutes? (Albeit with a lot of noise and with stronger water jets).

That way you prevent polluting drink water with microplastics.

But you can buy a large box of generic and very cheap no-bullshit pods at Costco, and simply put two or even three of them in a load.

If you're going the multi-pod route, you can put one in the dispenser and one or more right in with the dishes.

Perhaps part of the issue is that the presenter in the video is using a somewhat primitive machine.

is my experience of dishwashers extraordinary ?

The new one (Bosch 500 series) takes three hours on its default "auto" cycle. No prerunning the tap to get hot water for the first fill, no worries about rice cooker pots. It runs for so long (quietly!) that everything gets soaked properly and comes off, sparking clean, no problem. Both the consumable (brands) that came with the machine as samples - the tablets and the rinse aid - are stocked in large packages at Costco at a per-wash cost that's negligible. I do put in rinse aid because drying is a weakness in this machine compared to the old one. That, and you can't run two loads in the same evening after a party. Prewash? Who cares, the dishes come out clean.

And that's kind of the whole point isn't it? Not to have to geek out with your dishwasher. Just fill it, get it started and expect to have clean dishes in the morning.

I like pods because there is less of a chance my clumsy self, or younger kids can accidentally spill costly soap for my dog to try to lick up or overfill the dispenser. My dishes are almost never caked in fats and oils when I put them in. I do not use a pre-wash. If I do I break a pod in half and toss in the bottom.

This guy makes me roll my eyes. There is nothing more exhausting than a self-assured YouTuber lecturing others as if he has all the right answers. He is not wrong per se but not everyone has their own preferences and needs.

This guy has been incorrect in his yt posts so many times, I simply do not believe him anymore.

He is all about monetization and doesn't care about truth or accuracy.