Why are high end dishwashers using stainless steel?? Why not have plastic tub?

[moulderhere]

I am in the market for a new (er) dishwasher. I see bosch, ikea's renlig, anything from home depot, or sears.

But it seems like anything with a higher price tag and all the features anybody would want they ALL come with stainless steel tubs.

Why?

Stainless steel tub is going to suck the heat out of the water unless you have your water heater in your house absolutely cranked, plus the heater on inside the dishwasher.

My old clunker from 90s' with 2 racks, 2 spinners (top and bottom) works great with my water heater temp. It works great with plastic tub. It just is old, the bearings on the motor have been changed about a million times (I used skate board bearings). So its time for a new.

Anybody ask themselves why this is the new norm for dishwashers?

Anybody else ask them self why the hell it takes 2 hours to do a wash.

My old one takes like 45 min at most. Unless I open the door after the last run to stop the steam dry. Then about 40 min.

 

[InvalidError]

The heat loss through the steel tub is negligible over a 40+ minutes wash cycle since insulation outside the tub is what does the bulk of the job of keeping heat inside. I bet modern models have far better insulation than your 90s one and lower heat loss as a result. IIRC, my mother's first dishwasher (from the 80s) had no insulation whatsoever.

As for why they take longer, I would guess the bulk of the reason is because they go through their wash cycle using less water and the reduced water consumption introduces extra steps.

 

[moulderhere]

My 90s washer has no insulation. The most insulation it has is the top of the washer to the underside of the counter top, which just is pink insulation. LOL

 

[makkem]

Hi
The steam from the drying cycle condenses on the stainless steel and then runs into the drain and so aids in drying the plates.

 

[Ralston18]

Ditto above postings: And plastic tends to start scratching, gets dingy/yucky, and harder to clean.

To expand:

Our new old stainless Bosch is great. Quiet, efficient, but does run a bit longer.

My only complaint was (at that time) that it had to be installed by the seller's technician. Some warranty requirement but the install did not add that much extra cost.

Plus the connection points (electrical, water, discharge) were somewhat different and the installer had to hardwire in an external junction box with an electrical outlet. Dishwasher had an actual 3-prong plug. Not a "wire from the wall" power cable that we previously just wire-nutted into the junction box on the dishwasher.

Basically netted out to saving me both money and time. And saved me hauling a dishwasher home plus a later trip to the recycling center with the old dishwasher.

So if you are a DIY guy - suggest you just let them do the install. And I understand any grimaces or cringing now taking place. I did the same. 🙂

 

[Math Geek]

i have a new one of those super efficient models and a load takes about 3 hours to run. however, it uses something like 4 gallons of water for the whole run.

the older models we grew up with used well over 15 gallons or more per load. it was brute force cleaning. now we use steam and high pressure small jets to get better results. only part i missed was the manual saying the first run of it could take 10 hours to calibrate. after about 5 hours or so, i started it over thinking it was messed up. the second tie i called the 800 number to say it was jacked up and the lady just asked if i had read the manual.

she told me the page to read and said "i'll wait" i'm sure she could here me blush when i read the page... she giggled and said i was her 64th call of the day for the exact same thing!! i felt like an ass, thanked her and vowed to read the manual even if i knew how to work something.

 

[mjslakeridge]

One thing to consider: If you live in an area where there are lots of minerals in the water, from time to time you will have to remove the "scale" buildup inside the dishwasher. I use toilet bowl cleaner (lime remover or similar). I don't know whether you would want to use a harsh chemical on a stainless steel unit. I have a low end GE brand with a plastic interior and the chemical cleaner does a pretty decent job. The trick is figuring out where in the cycle it discharges the water and refills it and stopping the machine and resetting it to a point in the cycle where it will wash for 10-15 minutes without refreshing the water, so I can repeat this for an hour or so to let the chemical do it's job.

Maybe this doesn't apply in your case, just my 2 cents worth.

 

[moulderhere]

I'm going to run some tests on power usage on my old dishwasher. I know for a fact though it doesn't chew through water. I can fill my dishwasher up with a standard plant watering can

The old plastic hasn't yellowed or gone gross at all. The only thing is the plate/cup trays have started to rust on the ends of the metal.

 

[mjslakeridge]

It may not be just how much water it takes to fill up the dishwasher once, but how many times it flushes and refills during the course of the entire wash cycle. I have never actually counted, but on the long cycle it fills and discharges multiple times. Maybe the newer one's don't do this as often, but spend more time in each phase of the cycle, thus the longer overall wash time.