A rinse and hold cycle on your dishwasher is a handy feature designed to prevent food from drying onto your dishes when you're waiting to accumulate a full load before running a complete wash cycle.
What is a Rinse and Hold Cycle?
A rinse and hold cycle is a short, water-efficient program on your dishwasher. Its primary purpose isn't to clean dishes thoroughly, but rather to keep them moist. If you only want to run your dishwasher when it's full, then the rinse and hold button is your new best friend. By pressing it, your dishwasher will spritz the dishes with small jets of water to prevent the food from drying out until you fill it up and start a load. This helps prevent food particles from hardening, making the eventual full wash cycle more effective.
Why Use Rinse and Hold?
This cycle offers several practical benefits for household efficiency and cleanliness:
- Prevents Dried-On Food: The most significant advantage is keeping food residues soft, which significantly improves the cleaning performance of your main wash cycle. Dried-on food is much harder to remove, often requiring extra scrubbing or a second wash.
- Combats Odors: Lingering food particles in a closed dishwasher can create unpleasant smells. A quick rinse helps flush away some odor-causing residues.
- Water Conservation: While it uses water, it typically uses less than manually rinsing each dish under the faucet. It's an efficient way to manage dirty dishes over a day or two without running a full, energy-intensive cycle prematurely.
- Optimizes Dishwasher Use: It encourages you to wait for a full load, which is generally more energy- and water-efficient for your household.
How to Activate Rinse and Hold
Using the rinse and hold function is straightforward:
- Scrape Dishes: Before placing dishes in the dishwasher, scrape off any large food scraps. This is good practice for all dishwasher cycles.
- Load Dishes: Place your dirty dishes into the dishwasher as you normally would, even if it's not full.
- Close the Door: Ensure the dishwasher door is securely latched.
- Select Rinse & Hold: Locate the "Rinse & Hold," "Rinse Only," or "Pre-Rinse" button on your dishwasher's control panel.
- Start Cycle: Press the start button. The dishwasher will then perform its short rinse cycle.
Once the rinse cycle is complete, the dishes will remain in the dishwasher, lightly moistened, until you add more dishes and select a full wash program.
Benefits of Using Rinse and Hold
Here's a quick look at the advantages:
| Feature | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Food Prevention | Stops food from hardening and sticking firmly to dishes. |
| Odor Control | Minimizes unpleasant smells from dirty dishes sitting for hours. |
| Water Efficiency | Uses less water than manual pre-rinsing for interim dish storage. |
| Cleaning Power | Enhances the effectiveness of the main wash cycle. |
| Convenience | Allows you to load dishes as they accumulate without immediate washing. |
Rinse and Hold vs. Manual Pre-Rinsing
While both aim to address dirty dishes, the rinse and hold cycle offers distinct advantages over manual pre-rinsing:
- Automation: The dishwasher handles the spraying, saving you time and effort.
- Controlled Water Usage: Dishwashers are designed to use precise amounts of water for these cycles, often making them more efficient than an open faucet. For more on water efficiency, check out resources like the EPA's WaterSense program.
- Better Coverage: Internal spray arms ensure a more even wetting of all loaded items compared to a quick manual rinse.
Tips for Optimal Use
- Don't Use Detergent: A rinse and hold cycle does not require or benefit from detergent. Adding detergent to this cycle is wasteful and can lead to excessive sudsing when the full wash is eventually run.
- Run It Promptly: Use the rinse and hold cycle soon after loading dishes with food residue to maximize its effectiveness.
- Still Scrape: Always scrape large food particles into the trash before loading. The rinse and hold cycle is not designed to flush away large chunks of food, which can clog filters.
- Full Load Efficiency: Remember the primary goal is to allow you to wait for a full load. This is often the most energy-efficient way to use your dishwasher.
By integrating the rinse and hold function into your routine, you can maintain a cleaner kitchen and ensure your dishes come out sparkling clean every time, all while optimizing your dishwasher's performance.
