KEEPING OUT OF HOT WATER
There is never any magic about household equipment. You must not expect
to do the impossible. If you have a dishwasher you must not expect it to
do any more processes of washing than you expect of your player piano of
playing. The dishwasher is to wash, the piano to play.
Many women have said, “I think a dishwasher is a nuisance, you have to
stack your dishes, hand-scrape pots and pans, carry water by the pailful
and then have the job of cleaning the dishwasher itself. The only thing
it does is to wash off some of the dishes.”
Well, it is only a dishwasher. Doesn’t the automobile have to be cleaned
and oiled? Why should the dishwasher be expected to polish silver.
Yet we do solemnly think that the dishwasher attached to the plumbing of
the house, so that the fresh water comes in unlifted by the operator and
goes out unheeded, is the only dishwasher to buy, regardless of how it
is worked--by hand, by water force or by electricity. This is only one
type.
Some of the best dishwashers are made unattached to the plumbing so that
they can be wheeled into the dining room and be stacked as they leave
the table. This is a rather perfect type for some homes, but you must
have it fixed so that when it arrives dish laden in the kitchen or
pantry it can be attached to the water supply and emptied through the
sewer. This is the only way to get maximum comfort, unless you or your
cook enjoy hauling pails of water.
Yet we can imagine many women who would rather haul water than handle
dish water. And here is where the “unattached” dishwasher wins out over
the old-fashioned style of washing dishes. The chances of breakage are
less where the dishes are not washed separately and rehandled for drying
separately. Dishes handled when dry do not slip so readily, to fall or
break.
For the most part these machines are equipped with a motor which propels
a fan or paddle to spray or “swish” and whirl the water about among the
dishes. The efficiency depends not only on the speed the water travels
but on the direction.
For example, one of the most interesting of dishwashers is not run by
hand or electricity, but it is attached to the drain and water supply.
The hot water is distributed and so forced against the dishes that,
without soap, they are washed noiselessly. No soap is required with this
machine.
It has taken us a long time to be sold to this dishwasher, but we are
convinced that it is the type to use when one has to do one’s own work.
If it is possible to use very hot water in your dishwasher, you can
leave the top of your machine off and the dishes will dry without
handwork. Of course, there will be no polish on the glass and silver,
but they will be dry.
The following is advice given by those who sell dishwashers:
1. You must have hot water--really hot water--to use an electric
dishwasher successfully.
2. Use the soap powder the manufacturer supplies or recommends. Remember
that suds are unnecessary for cleansing and are hard to rinse off,
anyway. You need an ash powder which will cut grease.
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of Whirlpool Mfg. Co._
A WAY TO KEEP OUT OF “HOT WATER”--THE PORTABLE DISHWASHER]
3. Dishes covered with egg, flour mixtures, etc., should first be held
under cold water. Hot water boils these mixtures and makes them stick
closer to dishes.
4. Follow the manufacturer’s directions as to placing dishes, silver,
etc. Get the knack--which is easily acquired--of putting in the dishes
with the fewest motions possible.
5. Experiment with the much disputed point of whether dishwashers will
wash pots and pans. Most dishwashers will clean them of everything
except burnt-on food or particles which have to be taken off with a
powder.
6. Note how easy it is to dry the silver and polish glassware, and that
while you are doing this the china dries itself and needs only to be put
away.
7. If you have a small family do not wash the dishes after every meal,
but stack them in the dishwasher and wash them once a day, say after
breakfast.
8. Remember that dishwashing is but one of a series of kitchen
operations. To begin at the beginning, and to get the utmost value out
of the electric dishwasher, glass, aluminum and enamel cooking utensils
are to be recommended, wherever possible without handles, so that they
do not take up too much space in the machine. In cooking and serving,
clean up as you go, using as few utensils as possible in your cooking
(all modern houseworkers recommend this procedure, although it does not
always meet with the approval of housekeepers generally), stacking
bowls, plates, spoons, etc., in the dishwasher as you work, thus having
a comparatively clean kitchen when you are ready to serve the meal.
9. See that the dishwasher is properly placed in relation to the entire
dishwashing performance. The ideal placement is near the dining room or
pantry door, so that it receives the dishes without extra steps, and
adjacent to cupboard where dishes are put away.
You will perhaps think this is a lot to do, but didn’t you have to learn
to “do” things on your vacuum cleaner, your washing machine, your
typewriter, too? Weren’t you willing to learn how to run your own car?
When buying a dishwasher, look at the racks. Be sure they are smooth and
easily cleaned, finished so that there is naught to peel off and catch
food. Also be sure these racks fit and are not cantankerous in going
back into the machine. If they are difficult to manipulate the misery is
untold.
In purchasing look for the following points:
1. The dishwasher must be smooth inside.
2. No corners to harbor bits of food.
3. Self cleansing.
4. Dishes placed so as to be unmoveable and not stick together.
5. Cost of electricity low, from one to two cents per washing.
6. Capacity to be convenient to your uses.
7. Operates in kitchen or pantry.
8. Operates from three to fifteen minutes.
9. The water penetrates all sides of dishes.
10. Easy to fill and empty whether attached or unattached to water and
outlet systems.
Some booklets advertise the fact that machines require only six quarts
of water--less water than in ordinary dishwashing. The water, unless it
is to be hand handled, need not trouble anyone. But it is a well known
fact that dishes to be washed satisfactorily must have water used on
them without stint.
The most satisfactory soaps are the white powders. A new powder, on the
market, which isn’t soap at all, does not leave a greasy residue and
make a difficulty of cleaning out the dishwater. In a good dishwasher,
however, the water force banishes residue of all kinds.
[Illustration:
_Courtesy of Western Electric Co._
THE DISHWASHER WHICH IS A TABLE WHEN NOT WASHING]
One manufacturer of a good dishwasher is honest enough to say that for a
good effect silver and glasses should always be polished coming out of
the dishwasher, because any method of washing will always leave a film.
Many a dishwasher has been sold on the pretext that this is unnecessary
and the result has been dissatisfaction and a psychological dislike of
the machine.
To be sure, an ordinary dirty pot or pan can be cleaned on a
dishwasher. The burnt-on type of dirt must be scraped off by hand.
Warning: don’t burn in food, so use utensils where you reduce this
possibility to a minimum. Some dishwasher concerns supply you with
hand-saving scrapers.
A dishwasher in the shape of a table, beautifully finished, makes it
unnecessary to have an extra table about. This does its work well. One
example of this table-high dishwasher has a device whereby the rack of
dishes is lifted to a reachable height by lifting the lid.
Another supplies you with extra baskets in which to stack your dishes
while the full basket is being used in the washer.
Yet another cylinder type has a cover that goes back flat, on which can
be laid the tray to be filled with dishes.
At present some of these machines make a slight noise in operation; yet
many do not mind this. But in telling a story we must tell it all. Of
course many other machines used in the home are no “modest violets”
either. We don’t need to listen hard to hear vacuum cleaners or patent
brooms, but they work well despite their blatansies.
Washing machines are made in cylindrical and rectangular form and can be
placed in small kitchens as well as large without inconvenience. Of
course there are some machines called “Domestic” that are meant for the
domesticity of a home where there are seventeen servants and other
things equally hotel-like. These are big and efficient but the ordinary
apartment or small home could not afford to house them.
The dishwasher really is the crux of the economic problem. Many a girl
would marry gladly without a maid, if the dishwashing was reduced to a
minimum. One of these days when lovers offer dishwashers in addition to
the conventional platinum solitaires, they will find winning a bride a
much easier task than it is at present.