The purchase of a dishwasher greatly facilitates the process of cleaning the house. Even a child can quickly arrange the dishes used for food in the cells and set the desired washing program. The dishwasher helps to cope with traces of all fatty dishes, stains from food coloring, cloudy coating on transparent crystal, thoroughly disinfects all used dishes. Caring for the cleanliness of the washed dishes, you need to correctly select active agents for use in the machine. They will help not only to clean, but also to quickly dry all accessories.
Preparing the machine for washing dishes
After reviewing the operating instructions supplied with each machine, you can install it yourself or call the wizard. Having spent dishwasher installation, a washing cycle should be carried out with an empty machine in order to wash off any traces of factory production and possible dust particles from it. Knowing how to use the dishwasher, you can fill the compartments on the door with pre-prepared components for washing and drying dishes. It is not only one powder or liquid. In dishwashers such as Zanussi, Hansa and others, several compounds are used:
- salt needed to soften water and quickly decompose pollution;
- activating liquid for gentle washing, rinsing and quick effective drying of all products placed in the machine;
- actually powder or tablets of a combined type for washing dishes of any quality and varying degrees of contamination.
Salt softens the supplied water, making up for the lack of sodium ions in the ion exchanger integrated in the heating element of the machine. The degree of consumption of regenerating salt is different for different machines, it also depends on the composition of the water used, so the salt consumption will be different. Starting the car for the first time, you need to pour a rather large amount of salt in accordance with the pointer on the neck of the socket built into the bottom of the machine. It may seem that it takes too much. This is quite normal, for a year several packs of salt are required, depending on the hardness of the water. Without exception, all machines need salt, and it is impossible to replace salt with food. Specially designed salt has other components, it dissolves better and is cleaner in composition.
In a separate compartment on the door of the dishwasher there is a tank for holding liquid for rinsing the dishes. Rinse aid helps to cope with traces of powder, eliminates unclear traces and stains on freshly washed dishes. Excess rinse aid can cause a bluish coating on dishes. Most likely, one half-liter bottle of rinse aid will last more than a month of use. The main components of washing dishes will, of course, powder or tablets and water. You can select funds at your discretion, more environmentally friendly ones are a little more expensive. The main thing is not to invent them yourself, not to add to your machine the means and combinations of substances of your own production, then it will last a long time.
Program selection
Each modern machine is equipped with systems for indicating the presence of consumable components in it. Having familiarized with the signs on the digital panel, you can easily understand what the device informs about. Also with the choice of programs: they are not only described in the instructions that are attached to the device, on the panel of the machine you can see numbers indicating washing programs, next to it there is a decryption, informative pictures, pointers.Having placed everything to start the first washing cycle, you need to think about what dishes we are going to wash and think about which mode we will use. You can also roughly estimate how long the washing cycle will take, taking care of energy savings or the height of the voltage in the power supply network. In all modern models, it is possible to delay the launch of the machine for several hours, with which the launch can be carried out, for example, at night. Monitoring the implementation of washing dishes is not needed, you can safely leave the machine running and go on business. A full cycle with rinsing and drying the dishes usually takes about 2 hours or a little more. As a result, you get sparkling hot dishes. The pre-rinse cycle is usually much shorter in time, it takes from 20 to 40 minutes for different machines. This mode is necessary if you need to rinse the soiled dishes before the general large washing program, and also if it seems to you that the soiled dishes may dry before the wash starts. All dishwashers have a crystal washing function, this is a gentle mode with good rinsing, it takes a little more than an hour.
You can wash the dishes, but not dry them. In this case, the cycle will become much more economical in terms of energy consumption, such as in the Electrolux and Leran machines, and will be faster. To select such a program, you need to carefully read the instructions for your car. In general, before starting to wash the dishes, you need to study all the possibilities of your dishwasher system and find out for yourself which programs you prefer to use, which ones will be used often, and which ones less often.
Filling the machine with dishes
There are two types of loading of such machines - regular, that is, horizontal, and more rare - vertical. Vertical loading is necessary in some cases:
- when there is no room for horizontal opening of the machine, vertical, as a rule, are more compact, ergonomic;
- It’s not always convenient for people with health problems, such as lower back pain, to bend down to place or take out dishes. Vertical loading of dishes in this case can help in solving the problem.
When loading dirty dishes, make sure that no food residues, paper, such as labels from cans, and other other items that can clog the installed filter do not get into the machine. At the bottom of the dishwasher there is a cleaning filter trap, it consists of two cylindrical containers with large and small cells, which contain all insoluble food fragments or accidentally trapped foreign objects.
Important: If the filter does not catch a piece of insoluble food residue, and it gets further into the mechanics of the machine, serious damage can occur. Only a master can cope with such a problem, fortunately, this is very rare.
As a rule, the net of the lower tier is intended for arranging dinner utensils - plates, salad bowls, knives, spoons and forks are also placed in a specially designated container with vertical cells. It is necessary to place cutlery in it so that they do not interfere with the rotation of the rain guide rails of the irrigation systems, namely, we put the forks and knives with their pointed upwards, do not put the longest objects in this container, we make sure that the ends of the cutlery do not interfere with the rotating elements of the machine.
When arranging dirty dishes in all models, we pay attention to the economical use of available space, but at the same time we do not lean plates and other objects against each other, otherwise they will not wash well and will not rinse properly.
In the upper tier we load cups, saucers, sockets, glasses. If necessary, here you can put long knives, cookers, ladles, non-standard items. Do not put objects in the dishwasher that are not intended to be washed in it.Fragile crystal products need to be washed in a separate mode, it is better to wash products with a printed pattern in a delicate mode. Glasses must be placed in specially designated cells, put on separators, without leaning against other dishes to avoid splitting under a stream of water.
Having placed all the dirty dishes and choosing the mode, you can finally start the dishwasher. In the instructions for the device you can always read how to use the dishwasher, find answers to all questions.
What the indicator shows
Most often, there are compartments on the door of the machine for filling with detergents, and also an indicator on the top of the lid. This is a whole series of different icons informing the owner about the condition of the machine, about filling with detergents, about the selected dishwashing mode. Next to the indicator, manufacturers place a short list in pictures - which mode is suitable for washing certain dishes. Indicator and control panel usually placed on the door only fully built-in models of machines Bosch, Indesit, Electrolux and many others.
In addition to the ON-OFF function button with an indication, there are a few more buttons, namely - allowing you to select a program and launch with a delay. In this case, the number of the selected program and the number of hours of delayed start are displayed on the indicator.
Most machines have an eco-program that runs a longer washing cycle, but consumes a small amount of electricity, while polluting the environment less. In order to protect the environment and save resources, you should take care of the full load of the unit, use the table with the recommendations provided by the manufacturer. Modern models have a half load function, this program also makes sense to use if the machine is not fully loaded. To maintain a clean environment, it is advisable to use products that do not contain chlorine and phosphate. Funds containing enzymes in their composition become active at lower temperatures, and therefore, when working with them, you can use the regime with colder water - they work already at 55 degrees Celsius. The rational use of detergents will also help to avoid unnecessary negative effects on the environment.
Dishwasher Care
The operation of any dishwasher is quite simple, if you study all the points that require special attention, which include loading the machine with dirty dishes and systematic dishwasher care.
Do not think that this type of technology needs special care, not at all. The surface of the freestanding machine is made of innovative materials that are easy to clean. This dishwasher surface is easy and convenient to clean.This can be done once every few days. The inner surface in systems like Siemens and many others is made of stainless metal, it is also easy to clean, as well as the outer one. You should look after washing to see if there are any food particles left on the walls and on the bottom of the machine, regularly rinse the filter built into the bottom of the machine.
During the implementation of the program, the door can be opened and dishes added to the machine for washing, but it is better to complete everything in advance.
What the unexpected can happen and how to fix the problem
Provided that you know how to use the dishwasher correctly, there should not be any troubles in the first years of use. Sometimes problems arise due to an inattentive attitude to technology or a combination of different circumstances.
Consider possible problems that you can fix yourself. Suppose that it seems to you that the operation of the machine has become unusually noisy. This, indeed, can happen due to incorrect loading of elements. If the dishes touch the blades of the irrigators, noise will occur. Also, the appearance of a noise effect occurs when using an unsuitable detergent with excessive foaming.
Another frequently occurring nuisance - dishes are poorly washed. There may be several reasons:
- overloaded washing baskets or dishes poorly located, shifted during washing;
- rotation of the sprinklers is prevented by some element of the dishes and everything is not washed enough with water;
- the filter is clogged and the water does not drain completely;
- The regenerating salt has ended.
It also happens that there are traces of limescale, whitish spots on the dishes, this indicates insufficient filling of the compartment with salt. It is necessary to check whether the compartment lid is well closed, add salt if necessary, and then continue washing dishes.
Find out how much and why pour salt into the dishwashercan be here.
Stains on glasses and other utensils can become noticeable with excessive pouring rinse aid into the dishwasher. In this case, the stains will have a bluish tint, after a few cycles the problem will disappear by itself.
The use of any dishwasher is impossible in the absence of water in the hose, it happens that the house turns off the water, and the owner starts the machine. Many models are equipped with an indication of a closed tap water supply and a special alarm. Short beeps are heard when there is such a problem with Indesit brand machines and many others, and the on and off indicator also blinks, as for example with a Hansa dishwasher. In the event of the presence of such signals, it is worth checking the presence of water in the tap, as well as the absence of kinks in the hose that supplies water to the machine.
Of easily eliminated faults, it is worth noting insufficient drying of disheswater droplets on dry dishes. This happens with Teflon and plastic dishes, which are not recommended to be washed in the machine at all, and also in the absence of a sufficient amount of rinsing liquid. You can try to eliminate the trouble yourself, in which the machine does not drain the water. To do this, check whether the washing cycle is really completed, if the drain hose is bent, and finally check the filter and the drain in the sink.
Professionally developed detergents will help reduce the likelihood of a breakdown in your equipment, helping to effectively and easily care for household appliances. If a serious malfunction is found, it is worth contacting an authorized service center.
Tip: To check the health of the machine, you always need to reset the existing commands, completely drain the water and restart the machine.
In the case of reinstalling the machine or moving, the system is transported in an upright position, lifting all the hoses and securing the wire with construction tape. If absolutely necessary, a completely empty machine can be placed with the back side down.
Domestic use of the dishwasher in accordance with the instructions ensures its trouble-free use during the warranty period and more. The beauty and convenience of modern household appliances greatly facilitate homework, save time and resources, get a good result - clean sparkling dishes.