Dishwasher debate: To rinse or not to rinse? - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

There's a big debate when it comes to doing the dishes. Do you have to rinse before loading into the dishwasher?

Chrissy Whitwell has two kids and does plenty of dishes. She falls on the "don't rinse" side of the debate.

"That's what the dishwasher is there for, isn't it? To wash your dishes? So why should I prewash them?"

For Consumer Reports' test, we rinsed one group of dishes before loading and left the other group covered with food. We also used an underwater camera to record what happens inside your dishwasher every time you turn it on.

The first load took about hour. Then it was time to unload, reload, lock the door and push start again.

We've heard from people worried about food flying around in the dishwasher, but the camera shows oatmeal sliding off the bowl and falling into the drain below, away from the other dishes.

When it comes to regular dishes, we couldn't tell which were pre-rinsed, and which were not. Both sets of dishes came out clean.

"Our test confirms that rinsing won't touch dried-on egg, or actually any food that's burned on a pan. That goes way beyond the rinse/no-rinse debate. For that you just have to scrub," said Ruth Spencer.

Consumer Reports says it found most dishwashers do a good to excellent job of cleaning dishes without pre-rinsing and rinsing wastes a lot of water.

If you're still not convinced, consider this: pre-rinsing can waste about 6,000 gallons of water per household each year. So you can save water, time and money if you stop pre-rinsing your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher.