To rinse or not to rinse dishes: Debate over dishwasher habits settled by cleaning experts

Many people assume that rinsing your plates before putting them in the dishwasher will help with the cleaning process — but those who don’t may be onto something.

Turns out that while you should scrape excess food off your dishes, rinsing them can actually damage your dishwasher.

Most dishwashers have built-in food sensors that identify how much is on dishes and determine how long a cycle should last, as well as what the water temperature should be.

Rinsing off dishes can damage your dishwasher. Home-stock – stock.adobe.com

“So if you rinse the dishes off first, the dishwasher isn’t going to do as heavy of a cycle as it would otherwise,” Ian Palmer-Smith, an appliance repair expert at Domestic & General, explained to HuffPost.

He added that rinsing off the dishes might cause the dishwasher not to clean it as well since the grime won’t wash away as easily.

Holly Moore, founder and owner of in-home cleaning company Maids and Moore, also explained to HuffPost that the built-in sensor is a light that scans the dishes and will adjust the cycle based on how much food and grime is detected.

Continuing to run the dishwasher with pre-rinsed dishes can eventually “skew the sensor’s sensitivity or result in less effective cycles in general,” she claimed.

Rinsing dishes could cause a dishwasher not to clean as well, an expert suggested. Odua Images – stock.adobe.com

Dishwashers that were made in the last 20 years likely have a built-in sensor, but if you’re unsure, Moore said checking the user manual or the dishwasher’s settings will tell you.

“Look for terms like ‘soil sensor,’ ‘auto-sensing cycle’ or ‘smart sensor technology’” in the manual, Moore said.

“Dishwashers with food sensors often have an ‘auto,’ ‘sensor wash’ or ‘smart wash’ cycle. These settings indicate the dishwasher can adjust water use, temperature and cycle duration based on the dirtiness of the dishes.”

On top of the food sensors, Palmer-Smith said rinsing plates is unnecessary due to dishwasher cleaners getting better at scrubbing dishes.

“The enzymes in dishwasher cleaner attach themselves to food, so if you pre-rinse your dishes, it has less to attach to,” he explained.

Another expert agreed with the overall sentiment last summer, telling UK “This Morning” co-host Cat Deeley that there is no point in pre-rinsing — simply scraping them first is adequate.

“Rinsing is basically a waste of water, time and money,” Good Housekeeping guru Katie Mortram said.

“Dishwashers are advanced enough now that they’ll basically remove all greasy residue or sauces in a single cycle anyway, so you’re just wasting time and effort [if you rinse].”