how does this work? I put a little tablet in the dishwasher tablet section and close the little covering. Does this then open at some time during the wash? at what time? does the tablet then just randomly float around the interior?
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When a cycle starts, the first thing a dishwasher will do is fill the tub with hot water and aggressively spray to get everything hot and soaked so most of the food particles will fall off. Then the pump kicks on and pumps that water out. The next cycle will do the same but this time it will signal the dispenser to open and expose the detergent. This is where the “clean” happens. The third cycle will be a brief rinse. Older dishwashers may have had a dry cycle where a heating element evaporates the water on the dishes to get them mostly dry. Now with energy saving appliances, that last cycle is a half-ass drying that only relies on the heat from the last cycle to evaporate *some* water.
The table contains chemicals that will release when it gets wet. The dishwasher begins with a rinse/drain cycle where everything just gets super wet and washed first, then it does the soapy washing.
So if you just put the table right in, it would make the rinse water sudsy and be immediately drained, then the heavy washing water wouldn’t have soap.
so the little door is just a plastic latch that released *after* the rinse water is drained and *before* the heavy washing water starts pouring in.
Most dishwashers’ default cycle have two washing stages: pre-wash and main wash. Pre-wash is a brief cycle meant to get the majority of loose soil off the dishes with minimal effort. The detergent cover is closed, so only pre-wash soap, if available, is used in this stage.
When the main cycle comes, the machine opens the detergent cup to allow the soap to fall into the water. For a tablet, every part of it, even the shiny casing, is water-soluble, so it will quickly dissolve as the water runs. Some dishwashers have a water-jet angled specifically to blast the detergent cup to get out any stuck bits of detergent.
By the way, dishwasher gel is more effective than the tablets. Technology Connections on YouTube has a very thorough video on this topic.
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