Dishwasher – Eco settings dangerous?

Just had this edict from work:
“Just a reminder not to use the Eco setting on the dishwashers. To ensure we kill bacteria, you need to select the high temp settings such as normal or intensive”.
We don’t have such modern gadgets at home so I have no knowledge as to the wisdom/accuracy of the above advice and I can’t tell you the machine specs because WFH. Is it Covid vs Climate?

Arse covering directive I’d guess.

Wouldn’t worry about bacteria but it might be more about clogged pipes if the machine is run only on Eco setting. Food remains and grease can build up quite a mess in short time.

Ha, the eco setting will be hotter than most people would tolerate when washing by hand.

What bacteria specifically? People have hand washed dishes for centuries in 40C water, I think we’d have flagged that as a risk by now.

If you only use eco the dishwasher does accumulate a little more gunge than otherwise so it might need cleaning a bit more frequently, but it’s a price worth paying IMO.

eco mode takes for ever

it also leaves considerably more dirty dishes ime.

i just bump it up to 65c and use it when the sun shines.

Our eco mode does work fine FWIW but it does take longer, that’s the trade off. But it’s not an issue, I am rarely impatient for it to finish.

In any case I can handle a bit of food in a fork or two. I’m not a 50s housewife demanding uncompromising standards of sparkling dishes.

Thanks for the various replies. Probable arse covering as bruneep says as there is an insurance survey coming this week.

What bacteria specifically?

I’d imagine Covid, although that’s a virus.

People have hand washed dishes for centuries in 40C water, I think we’d have flagged that as a risk by now.

It’s the soap / washing up liquid which kills the bacteria not the water temp.

Being the house dishwasher, I only have the settings “tardy”, “grumpy” and “slow”.

It’s a rabbit hole!

Our eco mode does work fine FWIW but it does take longer, that’s the trade off. But it’s not an issue, I am rarely impatient for it to finish.

In any case I can handle a bit of food in a fork or two. I’m not a 50s housewife demanding uncompromising standards of sparkling dishes.

yeah im not needing sparkling but clean would do….. Eco mode on my last two dishwashers have not managed that.

Try a little powder in the wash for the first water cycle before the main dose/draw opens.

Washing the dishes using a manky dishcloth in luke warm water. Leaving it for the soap to drip off and then drying it with a manky tea towel.

Or put it in the dishwasher which has been set up to run on the correct water hardness setting, using salt and decent cleaner tabs on eco setting. My dishwasher also opens up and lets the stuff air dry so when we come to them in the morning they are sparkling clean and dry.

Every so often (Once a month) run it on a hot wash to kill off anything untoward and i can see the issue.

My dishwasher defaults to eco and after a few months of using it it started to get a bit pongy despite me using all manner of dishwasher cleaning products. After a while it started to form an orange slimy coating on everything that was pretty nasty and couldn’t be shifted by the various cleaning products available. One day I stripped it down only to find this stuff was coating the whole of the internal mechanism/pumps/waste pipework. Only fix was to turn off the eco mode and use it on high temp all the time which is what I do now.

I think the dishes were cleaned OK…the smell and orange residue was on the dishwasher and internal parts of it. Dishes seemed to come out clean, but who can tell…if stuff looks clean doesn’t mean it is.

And who washes dishes at 40 degrees C manually? Get the marigolds on and bump up those temperatures! Used to wash dishes with my marigolds on as hot as the water was that came out of the tap, so alot hotter than 40 degrees.

a quick google reveals its not just me.

Remembering that eco isnt just lower temp it also uses 1/3rd the water……

It’s the soap / washing up liquid which kills the bacteria not the water temp.

I’m pretty sure detergents help wash away bacteria as opposed to killing them – unless they contain a disinfectant.

Eco on our (Outgoing) Bosch dishwasher is a quick wash at 35 degrees.

Only fix was to turn off the eco mode and use it on high temp all the time which is what I do now.

Or run a high temp wash every week or two. We do the same with the washing machine.

I’m pretty sure detergents help wash away bacteria as opposed to killing them – unless they contain a disinfectant.

Detergents break down the membrane of the virus and bacteria, which effectively kills them.

Every so often (Once a month) run it on a hot wash to kill off anything untoward and i can see the issue.

We do the same here. And the same with the washing machine. Eco mode the rest of the time.

Detergents break down the membrane of the virus and bacteria, which effectively kills them.

This. Now wash your hands.

No one mentioned periodic filter clean? Suppose harder to do in an office as you need an operative to do it whereas at home I am that operative.

^^^ yeah filters…. Before you bung stuff in a dishwasher in any holiday property / centerparcs etc, check the filter then decide if you want to use / clean it! I’ve seen some really minhing ones in the past that obviously hadnt been cleaned for a long time!

Eco on our (Outgoing) Bosch dishwasher is a quick wash at 35 degrees.

Interesting, on our Grundig/Beko it’s 40C and takes twice as long, presumably that’s the trade-off.

Eco on our Hisense dishwasher take over 3 hours, or just over 2 if we press the speed up button!!

If it is work related then someone has probably done a risk assessment and decided to follow FSA guidlines which recommends thermal disinfection by the rinse cycle temp being at 82 Deg C

You can even get wee temperature sensitive stickers to put on the crockery to verify that the rinse water is 82 Deg C

How often is the machine running? If it goes once/twice a day in your office then there shouldn’t be a problem. In our place, where people would rather spend 10 minutes rearranging everything to maximise load, then walk off without starting it because there’s still space for a teaspoon and it would be environmentally irresponsible not to run a full load, it is set off once or twice a week. It stinks to the point where I now bring a flask in with me.

My dishwasher also opens up and lets the stuff air dry

That’s pretty neat, although as a kid the only highlight of having to unload the dishwasher my parents had was getting a face full of hot steam when opening it up :p

no idea about eco being dangerous… ours goes on normal or intensive, because those cycles get things clean

much like the laundry, 60 or the odd 90 degree empty service

Actually it can cause bacteria problems. The wife always puts it on eco mode. After a time all the glasses come out smelling like wet dog. Have to do a few empty cycles on the hot setting then it’s fine again for a while.