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Why plastic items in a dishwasher take longer to dry than metal,glass or ceramic (nytimes.com)
70 points by bookofjoe on March 3, 2018 | hide | past | favorite | 36 comments



I pop open the dishwasher as soon as it's "done" and take plastic items out so they can air-dry in the regular drying rack next to the sink. This robot doesn't actually have a drying cycle; just circulating air and venting should be sufficient, no heating element needed.

Found a good explanation here: http://dishwashers.reviewed.com/features/why-doesnt-my-dishw...


I wish there was some way to vent the hot, humid air to the outside in the summer (like a dryer duct) and open the door in the winter.

For my dryer, I have a valve that redirects the hot, humid exhaust back into the house during winter.

I love opening the dishwasher and that "whoosh" of steam coming off the racks in the winter.


Newer dishwashers actually pop open by themselves at the end of the cycle. Makes much more sense energy-wise.


I pop open the dishwasher as soon as I can after too. But rather than taking plastics out to dry in a counter rack I put away the dry nonplastics then just shake the upper and lower trays to shake as much water off the plastics and let them air dry in the dishwasher with the door cracked.


A great domestic tip that I did not expect to find on HN. Thanks!


Even though it's not needed when you have all-in-one tablets, filling the rinse aid compartment does wonders for drying. It's a tip I picked up recently, and it really improves the drying of plastics and things like wine glasses.


Yep. This is because rinse aid contain surfactants that lower the surface tension of the water. The point is so instead of forming droplets, the water tends to sheet off.

Another thing that helps is getting a dishwasher with a stainless steel interior. The interior then retains a higher temperature which aids the drying process (more complete dry, and faster dry).

Last, as mentioned in the article, is to ditch the plastic where possible. For storage containers, switch to glass (preferably stackable ones) so the nuisance no longer remains. As someone else mentioned, for any plastic that remains, get thicker pieces that are designed without ridges, divots or depressions that can trap water inside them.

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I got a Bosch Benchmark series dishwasher and had it installed in my apartment when I moved, since I knew the one already installed was going to be a huge disappointment. Additionally it uses a filter instead of a disposal, so it runs nearly silent, which is good when you work out of your living room. No issue save for the plastics, which I replaced with glassware. Never a drop on anything anymore, even without using the hidden heating element the Bosch has (a step-up feature in the Benchmark Series). Worth every cent for the 15 years I'll likely use it before replacing it.


The surfactants are also xenoestrogens and probably not good for you..


Also disgusting. I tried a rinse aid on a new washer without a heating element, and instead of simply covered in water they were now also slick to the touch. They also stank with a headache inducing chemical smell. I'd end up having to hand rinse them.

In the end I figured out I needed to move my dishwasher a half inch forward to make steam ventilation easier. I also try to remember to prop open the door when the cycle's over to vent even more steam to get top shelf plastic items dryer than my previous dishwasher with a heating element.


I've noticed that a lot of the "all-in-one" tablets omit a rinse aid. Buying tablets that specifically include a rinse aid has helped tremendously.


Buried deep in the comments from a Wirecutter review:

Before turning on your dishwasher, run your kitchen sink's hot water until its hot.

Obviously lots of pros and cons, but for me, it's a great tip.

Cons: Takes time. May be completely unnecessary

Pros: Hot water is "free" for me, electricity is not. Cleaner dishes. Shorter wash cycles.


What? Does your dishwasher have a hot water feed?


In the United States, dishwashers are typically hooked to the hot water line. It is common that our water is heated with natural gas, which is significantly cheaper than the electric heater in the dish washer.

As dishwashers reduced their water consumption, (old ones might be 12 gallons, new ones are about 4 gallons), the amount of fill water which is "cold, before the water gets hot" increases. A dishwasher probably adds water at least twice, so that is two cold flushes in that 4 gallons.


Most dishwashers are actually made to be hooked up to the hot water line, though it depends on the brand. The tip will not work if it's supplied with cold water.

I've seen some people/articles recommend hooking the dishwasher up with cold water, because the dishwasher's own heater is more efficient than your house/apartment hot-water heater. I don't know if this is true.


tl;dr:

- plastic is less dense than ceramic or steel, and thus when brought to a certain temperature it holds less heath. This is true even if plastic's specific heath (kJ/Kg K) is higher.

- plastic is hydrophobic, so water does not spread over the surface as a thin film, but collects in larger drops. These drops have a lower surface/volume ratio, and so take longer to evaporate


Manufacturers can also help by modifying pan lids, handles and some utensils so than water drains off or out of them more easily.


.... or you can just toss the still-wet plastic in a drying rack and forget the entire problem?

Interesting, but not really a problem that needs solving in daily life.


Is there any way to hide links from walled garden news site like nytimes and others from HN list? It's kind of spam if you think about, because I can't read without paying.


The NYT has a 10 free articles a month.

If the article is good, the discussion on HN can be worth reading. In fact, it can be more valuable than the story.


I would be very curious to see some analytics on how many HN readers actually click the link, rather than just read (or participate in) the comments.


Delete their cookies and there's no limit.


You can even automate deleting their cookies on Firefox (at least) with the "Cookie AutoDelete" extension:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-autode...


Or it's the opposite of spam: it could be a testimonial from paying customers that the content is worth it.

90% of the time I'd rather see a link to a paid source than one to the ad-revenue-hunting blogging-with-a-fancy-name Business Insider, Forbes, etc sites of the world.


There is a misunderstanding here. I am not saying NYT is doing something wrong or shouldn't do this, but I don't want to pay for their content (I have other priorities). I am just saying that HN is a much better experience without the frustration to click the link because the subject is interesting, and realize that I can't read. The content is "good" or not is irrelevant.


I share your frustration, but with Financial Times links: tantalizing headlines, regularly linked here, but with an ABSOLUTE paywall, i.e.: NO free articles at all ever.


Don’t know of any way short of making your own HN client, or you could make a userscript to remove entries from view based on domain. Maybe someone else has made either of those already.

Aside from that there was also a domain someone set up called like fullnyt.com or something that would redirect to the full article by sending you via Facebook outgoing link wasn’t there? Anyone remember what it was called?


The one I was thinking of was for WSJ. fullwsj.com. Used like for example https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14511605


I believe that loophole was very quickly closed by WSJ. fullwsj.com links paywall me now.


The link in the comment I referenced above leads me to the full article while still showing a pop up about subscribing to get access to full articles.

Did you check that the article really was cut short?


Just open the link in a private browsing tab (called different things in different browsers).


Ok, this is a workaround. But actually, they are saying that I shouldn't read anymore because my "quote" is over. I prefer simple don't read because I don't want to pay for that.


A New York Times subscription is $80/year (for the first year, and all future years if you remember to cancel/resubscribe once a year).

If you're routinely triggering their metered paywall, maybe it's worth paying it. Not for everyone, obviously. But they do give basically all that money to writers, and they do quite often devote time and money to investigate serious issues, far more important than dishwasher physics.


I'd happily pay $0.50 per article à la carte.


Wow. If a lot of people concurred, MSM would be back in business BIG TIME!


You do realize that they offer an annual subscription at $80/year? I assume many readers are paying well less than $0.50/article with that. I'd be more than happy to reward good content, even if I pay more each year.


I "triggering" their paywall because I was checking HN. And also, "serious issues" is relative.




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