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redundantly 8 hours ago

My kids would routinely put in too much powder, which would gunk up the dispensing mechanism, requiring my time and effort to clean it out and fix it. Eventually the dispenser broke entirely and had to be replaced. We since switched to pods and haven't had any problems with the dispenser. The pods are worth every extra cent.

jkern 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

He says that having the ability to tailor the amount of powder for the size of the load is one of the selling points of powder. But I'm guessing most people would much rather waste the few cents of savings in exchange for not needing to think about their dishes even that tiny bit extra.

bombcar 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I just want a dishwasher and washing machine that I can load with gallons of soap once a month or whatever, and let it do the detail work for me.

I know they exist in the commercial realm, but I'm not 100% certain the wife is ready for a Hobart machine in the kitchen ...

koiueo 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I've used a washing machine like this. For the feature to be useful, it has to be correctly implemented. Unfortunately, all r&d budget apparently, goes into developing vendor's mobile application and wifi connectivity, not on basic mechanics inside.

shalmanese 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Miele has home dishwashers that do this now. But like all things consumer, it's a proprietary system that's designed to keep you locked into a subscription relationship with the company.

amluto 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I have one of these. The detergent gizmo is a hard plastic shell with an interesting shape, powdered detergent inside, and a plastic film cover that looks like it’s heat-sealed on. It contains no electronics whatsoever. You can refill it, and the only limitation is that it’s kind of awkward to open, fill, and re-seal. The easiest way IMO is to cut a large flap in the hard plastic on the sides, then tape it down after refilling. It works fine.

Also, the Miele powdered detergent, in my personal opinion, sucks. And it leaves some residue behind. Yuck.

edb_123 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

True for their dishwashers. But to their credit, Miele's washing machines actually come with two additional cassettes that you can fill with your (liquid) detergent of choice. You don't have to use Miele's proprietary ones.

JumpCrisscross 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

PowerDisk? As long as you load salt and rinse aid, it works like a charm. As you said, if you want to save a bit of money, you can 3D print a replacement. But they last long enough that I don’t mind the cost.

seanmcdirmid 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My Samsung bespoke combo washer dryer has that feature. It uses less detergent than we are used to so my wife uses pods, but I think this is better un general since the clothes come out clean even if they don’t smell like detergent. So not only do I not need to load detergent, I don’t need to transfer to the dryer. Still have to load sanitizer in unfortunately.

dustbunny an hour ago | parent [-]

I heard the dryer in those is slow and breakable. Does it take forever to dry stuff?

derekbreden 43 minutes ago | parent [-]

In the few months I’ve had the Samsung All-in-One my experience has been at least a 50% increase in time spent drying compared to an LG stack I had previously. Also, when complete, if you do get to it within 5 to 10 minutes of finishing, it feels damp, but that clears on its own after 15 to 30 minutes or so if it sitting in the dryer with the door automatically opened.

Very pleased with the experience personally. I am very happy to trade not having to transfer the laundry in the middle with it simply being done when I get back to it a few hours later. YMMV.

tstrimple an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I was almost tempted into buying an all-in-one unit that washes and dries. Only a few brands are releasing these heat-pump based models currently and it doesn't seem quite ready for mainstream release. But the LG model I found did have the ability to preload it with detergent and run up to 60 cycles before filling again. I almost bought it just for that feature. But went with the older more reliable model instead. Maybe in 10 years after this washing machine dies the feature will be more prevalent and reliable.

https://www.lg.com/us/washcombo-all-in-one

I think long term, having two "all-in-one" combo washer and driers would make way more sense than separate washing and drying units. But the price for functionality just isn't there yet.

inferiorhuman an hour ago | parent [-]

Both the LG and GE heat pump all-in-one units come with auto detergent dispensers. For the life of me I can't imagine wanting one more thing to break, especially on an LG product as LG is notoriously poor with parts availability.

ThePowerOfFuet 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

https://www.mieleusa.com/c/powerdisk-automatic-dishwasher-de...

vel0city 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I had that on a GE Profile from I think 1999 if I remember right. It was pretty nice. I think it's still a feature on some of them.

That dishwasher was great and lasted over 20 years. The previous owners had definitely abused it and never cleaned it. I repaired it and had about the best dishwasher for a few more years. Eventually the main logic board went out (can't blame it too much, had electrical issues that killed a few things) and a replacement board was going to cost a few hundred dollars in parts even from questionable third party sellers. Seemed to be a good bit to sink on what was a highly abused >20 year old washing machine at the time.

teepo 5 hours ago | parent [-]

as someone who's gone down the rabbit hole of dishwasher home repair, I've created more problems than I've solved. I agree that maintenance is important, but when you get into replacing the seals and gaskets that can result in water flooding into your kitchen, i decided recently to draw a line. I'm now the proud owner of some fancy leak detection / moisture detection IOS products as a result. (and yes I'm aware there are better, low tech solutions like the "frog" on the market, but I chose to torture myself instead)

edoceo 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Put a drop of food colour on a paper towel. Let dry. Then leave that where drips might happen. The colour will run. I leave it for a few days after every plumbing repair.

tguvot 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

miele dishwashers as mentioned below.

LG washing machines. And I think Miele washing machines as well

yumraj 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My process is to use cheap Walmart powder for prewash and Kirkland pods in the dispenser. Avoids any over filling issues.

I used to just use the Kirkland pods and they worked fine too. The reason I started using powder in prewash is to get any loose fat dissolved so that it doesn’t clog over a period of time, not sure if that’s a valid concern. And yes, I do run hot water before starting the dishwasher.

kurttheviking 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

My issue is the pods fail to dissolve ~5% of the time and leave a gunk that clogs the dispenser which again requires time and effort to clean. I'm convinced by the video to try powder again but I've had the filming issue with almost every powder I've tried. So, we'll see what happens...

hackama 7 hours ago | parent [-]

I'm convinced pods broke my dishwasher. I switched to powder years ago and haven't had a problem since.

Mistletoe 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Is it not possible to teach your children to put the proper amount of detergent?