I was having a rough morning but ran the dishwasher anyways because it was full and I was out of bowls. I’ve long put everything away. Now at the end of the night I’m wondering if in my off state, I forgot to put detergent in. I do see a history on Reddit of people discussing forgetting dishwasher detergent. One case the person did it 3 days in a row without detergent and putting in dishes that had raw meats on them. Another person mentioned feeding stray cats and using Pine-sol to pre-clean the dishes for the cats.
Both situations definitely sounded like it needed a rewash with detergent, but I saw a few “under other circumstances you’d be fine” type comments.
My situation is that I don’t cook/prepare with raw meat with the exception of an egg in the morning. I pre-rinse and/or wash with dish soap if there’s tougher stuff on the dishes/pots/pans. I do have an indoor cat that I feed wet food to on ceramic saucers. I pre-rinse any remaining food residue off before putting those in the dishwasher.
Dishes visually look fine but I have a pretty old dishwasher. Should I round up those dishes in case I did forget to put detergent in this morning or will I be fine this once?
Edit: additional, it was a several hours before I had the chance to put the dishes away. If there is moisture, Idry off most of the moisture before putting away but when I was looking them over for food residue a bit ago I notices some drops remaining on some plates/cups.
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Do you have a heating element inside your dishwasher? To me, it matters because the water that’s cleaning your dishes will be a temperature that’s higher than the hot water that comes out of your faucet.
When I was crossing the prairies in the back of a Conestoga wagon, we cleaned our dishes with sand and grass.
You’ll be fine.
I’ve been told by washing machine repairmen that around every 6 washes you should run a load with no detergent or conditioner or anything. There is a lot of undissolved detergent n everyone else in the hoses.
I assume a dishwasher goes by the same principles. If you open it immediately after a load, look at how much steam you get in the face.
The dishes pretty much get a trip through an autoclave every time. Companies that reuse glass bottles used to only clean them with steam.
Take a bold leap into the unknown n don’t rewash them!
Even if you ran the dishwasher without detergent, it’s unlikely that your dishes have anything on them that can make you sick, especially if you don’t cook with raw meat. The most likely problem you’ll encounter is a thin sheen of grease on the dishes. It isn’t likely to make you sick, it’s just unappetizing. If you find any like that, throw them back in the dishwasher in the next load.
A lot of people belive that dishwashers santize dishes, but they don’t, with or without soap. Unless your machine specifically has a sanitize feature, it’s just a regular wash, which is just fine in most cases.
I think you’re experiencing a bit of excess paranoia about this. Have you ever been diagnosed with OCD or something adjacent?
With regard to the filter, going forward remember that any machine that runs air or water through it will have a filter that needs to be cleaned or changed occasionally. That includes dishwasher, A/C, washer (most) and dryer (the dryer is the lint trap, obviously, but the washer might be harder to find or some old ones don’t have one), the vent above the stove, and vacuums. For the dishwasher, it’s usually either a big round plastic plate at the bottom or a smaller round plastic tube that looks like a pop out within the larger circle in the bottom. Either way, once you find that, try twisting it then pulling up (at this point, if it’s never been cleaned, it may smell, brace yourself). Clean it with regular dish soap. Set yourself a calendar reminder to clean it once a month. If you notice it’s not that dirty, maybe every other month. If you check all your filters at once, it’s easier to remember.
As for this time, it’s probably okay from the detergent perspective. I would only rewash anything I found visible gunk on.