Quokk.auI was right about dishwasher pods, and now I can prove it | Technology Connections [41:26]
ProdigalFrogwww.youtube.com/watch?v=DAX2_mPr9W8
48 Comments
Comments from other communities
Can’t believe I’ve been through not one, but TWO whole videos on dishwasher detergents.
2? Lol you’re only half way to the TC’s dishwasher series achievement
There are now 4 total videos on it LMAO (or actually 5 because I think he has a mini followup on his secondary channel Technology Connextras
BallShapedManOMG I can’t wait for my wife to go to bed so I can watch this!!!
Boomer Humor Doomergod
I have no idea how I became the person this meme is about. I am also dying to hear about how Christmas lights are all slightly the wrong colour.
MimicJarA 40 minute video about dishwasher soap is either,
- A, Incredibly boring and will put her to sleep.
- B, Incredibly exciting and meant to shared.
Win. Win.
Also it’s B. Great video.Tap for spoiler
FenrirIIII have to watch videos about vacuum cleaners when she’s asleep so I don’t get laughed at
❤️, I feel you! My wife doesn’t laugh at me, she tolerates my quirks.
Cool! This guy changed how I use my dishwasher.
🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮Made me remember that my dishwasher’s detergent door opens when you close the thing, and not during a specific cycle. 😬
How even?! That defeats the purpose entirely!
I guess it prevents it from being yeeted out entirely as you’re closing the door? 🤷♂️
But, like… If it wasnt there, I’d just chuck it into the thing or maybe put it in the utensil thingy.
This is what we do ever since the dispenser door stopped opening properly. Made no difference at all.
CarbonIceDragonMine doesn’t even have a detergent door, just a divot to fill with powder before closing. It’s one of those countertop ones though, so I guess the available space and complexity was a bit limited.
halcyoncmdrIt probably doesn’t have a prewash at all. That’s the only reason the door is needed, to prevent the detergent from being used before the actual wash stage.
He didn’t change how I do, but only because I saw the video before I got a dishwasher and thus never used it wrong.
JessieHe’s actually wrong, the testing was off: https://foxchapelresearch.substack.com/p/draft-no-green-llama-did-not-just
YoSoySnekBoiFollowing the advice of TC has made my dishes cleaner, so this insight doesn’t really matter to me personally. It’s good to do research and find answers, but pods just don’t work as well in my experience, while also being worse for the environment.
But yes, Cascade ActionPacs were a genuine innovation when they launched because the mix of powder and liquid was an actual improvement, and for reasons that are not particularly achievable with powders, because the funny look of pacs really does have a functional purpose.
Great if it works for some folks, maybe they’re not testing with enough variables to account for all water types, and all environmental conditions. Perhaps there are common situations not being accounted for due to the markets incessant need to build a single device marketed at everyone, where conditions will always vary.
True to all your points; for me personally, pods work best. I find powder always leaves residue, and my water is hot enough so I know that’s not the issue…
RE: environmental concerns, do remember that grand scheme it’s 50 companies doing most polutting. And indeed using powders is better (tho one can argue wrt phosphates and results from that, but I guess just don’t use Finish then)
So now he’s selling shit?
Bummer, used to like him. Off to the block list.
Not thrilled about the back to back videos pushing merch.
I get that they’re “for a good cause” but it’s not why I watch the channel.
It’s also more than 10x as expensive as normal powder per oz (plus shipping). At some point you have to ask yourself if this is really better than just getting normal good detergent, donating a few bucks, and not have to worry about the impact of shipping. Maybe if you’re having issues with your dishwasher, but probably not otherwise.
I have no problem if he’s trying to sell things on his channel. As a matter of fact, trying to sort through the best, economical of something these days have become a nightmare. Try searching online for the ‘best’ of anything and you’re bombarded with so many choices. He’s done the heavy lifting for you already.
Keep it up with the quality content and promoting good products!
I use half of what is recommended with liquid dishwasher detergent with excellent results. With pods, I don’t have a choice. It’s forced overconsumption.
Could someone who watched the video please let us know what he was right about.
42 minute long video on dishwashers is a hard sell, life is too short to spend that much time on this
edit: a friend sent it to me after posting this and sure enough, I ended up watching nearly the whole thing lmao
quietly eats words in the corner
Here his 28 minute video on dishwashers, if that helps. Both are good.
See, that’s roughly what I thought when I first stumbled across Technology Connections. Then 40 minutes later, I was like “damn, I just watched a 40 minute video on [mundane technology] and I have no regrets”
I really don’t like this guy. Long winded and talks a lot about things he doesn’t fully understand.
He’s basically the guy that googles shit to answer questions on messageboards so he seems like hes got the big brain. His pinball video was a masterclass in bullshittery.
You should produce a pinball video then. Really put Alex in his place.
I do pinball and arcade repair for a living. If you have any questions about EM pinball machines I’m more than happy to discuss it.
Thanks but I’d rather watch a pleasant person who makes enjoyable videos, and since I’m not likely to ever need to repair them myself, I’ll just have to suffer the horrid misrepresentation.
You have fun though.
For sure. And you continue to be a smug asshole to people expressing their opinion as well. Maybe don’t take it so personally next time.
Someone’s taking things personal, that’s for sure lol.
In fact, this is a few levels of hilarity deep. You are the one being smug about your arcane knowledge, enough to bother declaring it to the world while putting down a pretty well liked and hard working YouTuber.
Anyways, thanks for the laugh.
Oh my god the legend dropped another 45 minute long dishwasher video. Unironically stoked.
two 46 min videos. check connextras.
sir, a second dishwasher pod video has hit the channel
I was just informed on another thread there are 5 dishwasher related ones.
Babe, 90 minutes of Alex just dropped!
The price of the eco-friendly detergent they’re advertising is way too high to justify (17x the cost of my store brand). It’s cool to know that a more powerful powder is possible, though.
Have to agree, it’s cool that they donate 100% of their profits, but I can’t really justify the cost of that stuff compared to bog standard cascade powder.
Technology connections is the reason I buy basic powder. I got a small little countertop dishwasher, and it with the cheap powder gets my dishes so fucking clean it’s insane! Had a badly burnt pan that came out looking factory fresh.
I can’t even buy powdered detergent around home. I’ve tried about 20 stores now.
I ended up getting some Nellie’s cubes, but honestly they kind of seem to suck.
Walmart is where we get ours, but normal grocery stores don’t tend to keep it, although I live in a generally more upscale area.
tbh I haven’t tried Walmart, as I’d prefer to not step foot in there
I’m surprised the dollar store across from it doesn’t even have powdered detergent though. not even a little bit. just small packs of sacs.
I’m with you, that’s the only reason we go there and it’s specifically for that. When we buy it, we buy quite a few boxes so we don’t have to go back.
They put the ingredients on the box. You can just mix your own. That’s what I’m doing.
I was so disappointed to see how expensive it is. I want to buy, I was prepared for it to be more expensive, and supporting charity is great. But they can’t make it only say 3x the cost of competitors and still donate some profits to charity?
As someone who doesn’t watch this guy, what’s the TL;DR?
Purging cold water from the pipes to your dishwasher with hot water before using it (by running the kitchen faucet on hot) can dramatically increase cleaning efficiency (Edit: though depending on if your dishwasher preheats the pre-rinse water with the heating element, may be a waste of water).
Powder detergent is better than pods because it allows you to put detergent in the pre-rinse cycle, and avoids adding microplastics to the water supply (the pods are contained in a dissolveable plastic).
The different modes on a washer can dramatically change its behavior and effectiveness (but seems to use a lot more water to do so).
I really wish powder detergent worked with the fucking rock hard water we have here, but it creates a godawful crust on everything on the first wash. I just use an enzyme based liquid detergent instead, and it works perfectly well if I otherwise follow the same steps he recommends.
I also have hard water where I live, and I’ve found that leaving a cup (or two, if it’s really bad) right-side up in the top rack and filling them with white vinegar before a wash will completely prevent any mineral buildup from forming in the load, as the acidity in the vinegar allows the minerals to dissolve into the water.
(if your water is only kinda hard, you can try only adding vinegar every second or third load, once you notice the mineral build-up. Even if you’re in a really hard-water area, worth experimenting with how much you really need).
I’ll have to give that a try! I use citric acid for cleaning cycles, but vinegar is cheaper.
Acid no bueno for the aluminum basket spindles on all modern washers. Better off sending in softened water.
Citric acid is the primary ingredient in most dishwasher cleaners. Of course, not a good idea to use it in every load. However, my DW manufacture suggests up to 10% citric acid solution as an alternative to rinse aid.
I haven’t seen any aluminum in a dishwasher, and I have noted that if I send any aluminum through it tarnishes like crazy and pits on repeat offenses. I don’t think that hot caustic water is any environment in which to design an aluminum part.
That said, again, dishwasher detergent is basic, so you’re right in that adding acid probably won’t improve the efficacy of the wash cycle.
Is there a way to do that with a sink hookup that also allows my sink hookup dishwasher to attach to it? I rent and don’t have access to the water heater, or the OK to mess with the guts of the sink, or open up a wall or anything like that.
Either way it’s not a big deal, worst case scenario I keep doing what’s been working fine.
Have you tried dishwashing salt?
I have a dishwasher with a water softener, but have no idea where to buy the salt for it. (and I ain’t looking on Amazon)
Lowe’s
Most grocery stores have it where I live.
Have you varied the dosage? It may take some effort to overcome the chemistry. My DW manufacturer suggests as an alternative to rinse aid using a solution with no more than 10% citric acid, which may be an option.
Another option is to keep an eye out for used European style dishwashers; they often have softeners built in with a salt reservoir in the base. That assumes you can change the dishwasher which you may not be able to.
He pinned a comment in the Connextras video pointing out that if you’ve have a decent dishwasher (yeah, I know he says any dishwasher works, but I’m an appliance elitist), running the water beforehand is probably a waste of resources as they have heaters in them. He alludes to this in the Connextras video too, noting that the water temp was rising.
I have solar water panels on my roof so hot water costs nothing except just the water. Having the machine warm up cold water would cost electrical power. Glad to see this confirmed so I don’t feel as nerdy about it.
Ah well in that case, definitely.
Have you considered a recirculating pump?
That would have been nice, but our plumbing doesn’t allow it. We would have to put in return pipes and that means tearing up the walls. Hard no, sadly.
Grundfos makes a valve that bridges hot and cold and automatically opens when the hot side is cool. It means your cold isn’t always cold and if your hot side isn’t potable it’s a problem, but might be a possibility. I use one in my system, because with on demand hot water I was running gallons down the drain waiting for hot water. https://www.amazon.co.uk/595926-Valve-grundfos-Recirculating-Bypass/dp/B0DN1D9P5B
I knew the pods were sus. It’s dissolveable plastic around them? Fucking excellent idea, right after leaded gas!
Thanks ProdigalFrog! Good to know. I switched to pods a while back since they seemed to work better, but going on the conversation I may have to try the vinegar method.
Yeah but pods are delicious.
This man does not understand the meaning of “no effort”.
“No effort”, adjective, 1. A state of ease, i.e. a thing not requiring effort. 2. Alt., the state of spending months researching, testing, and involving lab work from dozens of people confirming an earlier niche hypothesis and to develop a new product, wiring “blinkin lights”, running multiple experiments and make a 40 minute video showcasing all of this, i.e. a thing requiring more effort than is remotely reasonable.